Take Action Today!
Adoption advocacy is critical in helping uplift children and bring families together.
Recently, the Department of State issued a series of proposed changes to regulations for intercountry adoptions which will have profound negative impact on your ability to bring a child home and far worse, a child’s right to a permanent and loving family.
Adoption advocacy is critical in helping uplift children and bring families together.
Recently, the Department of State issued a series of proposed changes to regulations for intercountry adoptions which will have profound negative impact on your ability to bring a child home and far worse, a child’s right to a permanent and loving family.
The public comment period ends on November 7. The proposal states that implementation would begin immediately.
Hopscotch Adoptions, Inc. and members of the National Council for Adoption have carefully reviewed the proposed regulations and conducted an independent cost analysis to determine the real impact on adoptive parents. The proposed changes will further negatively impact waiting children-often medically fragile children-who need to be brought home sooner, not later.
If you have already adopted a child, would your child have benefited from coming home sooner? Absolutely!
If you have not yet brought your child home, do you feel an additional extended wait is in the child’s best interest? Absolutely not!
The authors of the proposed regulations failed to consider the tremendous financial burden which will be passed on to families like yours. Adoption is financially beyond the reach of many families today. Additional costs will tragically result in fewer families being able to adopt children, leaving more waiting children without hope. The regulations will require a significant increase in expense for agencies to remain operational and compliant.
Hopscotch and other concerned agencies are formulating a reply to these changes during the public comment period, but your voice and support matter now too.
You can read the proposed rules in their entirety on the Federal Register.
More importantly, we thank you for taking action by Signing the Petition or Adding a Comment. Your voice matters. Collectively, we can stand up for every child’s right to grow up in a loving family. We can be each waiting child’s voice.
Please contact us with any questions.
Sign the Petition
(This link directs to www.saveadoptions.org, a collaborative website supported by adoption advocates which has been established to share a petition against the proposed rules. The goal is to obtain 100,000 signatures during the public comment period)
Add a Comment
(This link directs to the proposed rules on www.federalregister.govwhere there is a large Green button to Submit a Comment. These are the formal comments which will be reviewed by the Department of State)
Highlights of the Proposed Rules
The Department of State (DOS) proposes…
To require a second level of accreditation, called Country-Specific Authorization (CSA).
The DOS intends to determine which countries would be subjected to CSA and block agencies access to country programs.
To set the compensation for in-country representatives.
The service providers and partners we work with are attorneys, social workers, and other professionals who have their own businesses, nonprofits, etc. and have the right to fair compensation for their country, region, and amount of work contributed to adoption cases.
To require families adopting internationally to go through state foster care training.
While the MAPP system is preferred for foster care training, it does not address the many specific educational requirements for parents adopting a child internationally. Feedback from local government agencies suggests that adding an influx of adoptive parents into the already limited MAPPs training sessions would create backups and leave both domestic and international children in care for longer than necessary.
Costs of the Proposed Rules
Country-Specific Authorization (CSA) application, per country program = $1,500
Hopscotch operates 9 country programs as primary provider. Total cost, if each country were subjected to CSA = $13,500
Materials and training so home study preparers could offer assistance with MAPPs training for those families not able to take county-offered sessions = $4199
The adoption community believes these proposed changes will limit adoptions, leaving more children without a forever family.
Thank you for taking action today!
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