intercountry adoption

The number of intercountry adoptions by Americans continues to freefall, according to recent figures released by the State Department, down 13 percent from last year and 84 percent from 15 years ago.

Founded in 1944, Bethany Christian Services has evolved over the years from an adoption agency into a world-wide social services agency supporting family preservation, foster care and adoption. The organization has foster care programs in nine states, and is growing a network of foster care programs globally.

Intercountry adoption advocates fear that the fee structure planned by a new State Department accreditation contractor could threaten the operation of the largest American placing agencies. The fees required by the Intercountry Adoption Accreditation and Maintenance Entity (IAAME), a recently formed nonprofit that now serves as the sole accreditor for international adoption agencies, are pegged to the number of children placed instead of a fixed structure.

Earlier this year, Ambassador Susan Jacobs retired from her post as special advisor for the State Department Office of Children’s Services (OCS), leaving the position she’d held for seven years vacant.

The Council on Accreditation (COA), the lone firm handling accreditation for international adoption agencies, has announced that it will break its contract with State due to recent changes in regulations. From a statement by the State Department: On October 6 … the Council on Accreditation (COA), the agency responsible to accrediting intercountry adoption agencies, informed the Department that it would be unable to perform its duties as an accrediting entity (AE) due to “unforeseen circumstances.”

A bill was introduced yesterday that would establish a new State Department bureau, with a Senate-confirmed leader, to handle international child welfare issues, including the increasingly thorny issue of international adoptions.