Hague Accreditation/Approval Standards

The Hague Accreditation and Approval Standards were created by the Department of State to protect children and families involved in intercountry adoption based on the provisions of the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption (Convention). The Convention is a international treaty that provides a safeguards for protecting children and families involved in intercountry adoption. It was developed by an organization known as the Hague Conference on Private International Law (the Hague Conference).

In its efforts to fully implement the Hague Convention in the US, in 2001, the Intercountry Adoption Act became law, requiring accreditation or approval of all adoption service providers seeking to offer adoption services in cases that involve countries that are members of the Hague Convention. The IAA delegated oversight responsibility to the Department of State and required the Department to draft regulations that would include provisions for the accreditation process and the accreditation standards. In 2006, the Department of State issued the final regulations on the accreditation and approval of agencies and persons which established the accreditation and approval standards. Subpart F of the Regulations provides the standards (Hague Standards) for adoption service providers seeking to achieve Hague Accreditation, Hague Approval, or Renewal.

The Hague Standards are organized in a three-tier structure: chapter, section, and sub-section (standard). This structure contains increasing levels of specificity as you move from the chapter to the sub-section.

Chapters:
The chapters reflect the titles of the general categories of management and service delivery that are included in the Hague standards. COA utilizes the following acronyms for each chapter of the Hague Standards:

Sections:
Each chapter includes multiple sections that represent an overall theme for an aspect of the agency's management or service delivery. The sections provide a more detailed title for the practices addressed in the sub-section (standards). For Example, State Licensing is a section of the standards within the Licensing and Corporate Governance Chapter. Each section is designated by the specific number designated in the Regulations (e.g. LCG 96.30).

Sub-sections (Standards):
The sub-section is commonly referred to as the "standard" and is the only level of the standards for which the adoption service provider is evaluated and required to demonstrate compliance. Each sub-sections/standard addresses a specific area of practice and some standards contain multiple elements or address multiple areas of practice. The standard is designated with by the letter noted after the section number (e.g., LCG 96.30 (a)).