As the U.S. State Department searches for new accrediting entities for intercountry child-placement adoption service providers, U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) and a bipartisan group of colleagues last week requested that the department prioritize policies to promote intercountry adoption.
“Since the designation of the first accrediting entities in 2006, it has become clear that the intercountry adoption process can be influenced as much by the policies and procedures of an accrediting entity as the laws or regulations that govern intercountry adoption,” wrote Sen. Blunt and U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), co-chairs of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption, along with consignors including U.S. Sens. Richard Burr (R-NC) and Roger Wicker (R-MS), in an Oct. 26 letter sent to Carl Risch, assistant secretary in the State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs.
“The selection of a new accrediting entity or entities — with the right priorities in mind — can play an important role in ensuring that the federal government will facilitate rather than encumber the ability of a child in need to have a family willing to provide a stable and loving home,” they wrote.
The senators asked Risch to consider the fee schedules that prospective accrediting entities intend to adopt, stressing the need to ensure they do not impose undue financial burdens on families seeking to adopt internationally, especially low-income families, families seeking to adopt sibling groups, or families seeking to adopt children with disabilities.
“Even if prospective adoptive parents can provide a positive family environment and meet all of a child’s needs, we are concerned that the sheer costs of intercountry adoption could essentially disqualify otherwise suitable families because they are below a certain level of income,” the senators wrote.
Additionally, Sen. Blunt and the lawmakers requested that the department provide more information on the changes made in 2019 to the Substantial Compliance System, which helps determine whether a service provider substantially complies with governing regulations.
The senators have received feedback from intercountry adoption stakeholders concerned that the updates increase demand for compliance in some existing measures without increasing flexibility in others. “Once the department designates another accrediting entity, substantial compliance should be measured consistently between the accrediting entities,” they wrote.
Sen. Blunt and his colleagues also requested that Risch answer several questions toward improving the federal government’s ability to assist in the intercountry adoption process.