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| Service Planning and Delivery | 96.44 – 96.46 | ||||||||||
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The Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (done at the Hague, May 29, 1993), S. Treaty Doc. 105-51 (1998), 1870 U.N.T.S. 167 (Reg. No. 31922 (1993)); The Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000, 42 U.S.C. 14901-14954; The Intercountry Adoption Universal Accreditation Act of 2012, Pub. L. 112-276, 42 U.S.C. 14925.
71 FR 8131, Feb. 15, 2006, unless otherwise noted.
89 FR 57265, July 12, 2024, unless otherwise noted.
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Subscribe to: 22 CFR Part 96 Subpart F - Service Planning and Delivery
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(a) When required by § 96.14(a), the agency or person acts as primary provider and adheres to the provisions in § 96.14(b) through (e). When acting as the primary provider, the agency or person develops and implements a service plan for providing all adoption services and provides all such services, either directly or through arrangements with supervised providers, exempted providers, public domestic authorities, competent authorities, Central Authorities, public foreign authorities, or, to the extent permitted by § 96.14(c), other foreign providers (agencies, persons, or other non-governmental entities).
(b) The agency or person has an organizational structure, financial and personnel resources, and policies and procedures in place that demonstrate that the agency or person is capable of acting as a primary provider in any intercountry adoption case and, when acting as the primary provider, provides appropriate supervision to supervised providers, and verifies the work of other foreign providers in accordance with §§ 96.45 and 96.46.
(a) The agency or person, when acting as the primary provider and using supervised providers in the United States to provide adoption services, ensures that each such supervised provider:
(1) Is in compliance with applicable State licensing and regulatory requirements in all jurisdictions in which it provides adoption services;
(2) In providing any adoption service, complies with the relevant section of the Convention, the IAA, the UAA, and regulations implementing the IAA and the UAA for the particular adoption service being provided;
(3) Does not engage in practices inconsistent with the Convention's principles of furthering the best interests of the child and preventing the sale, abduction, exploitation, or trafficking of children; and
(4) Before entering into an agreement with the primary provider for the provision of adoption services, discloses to the primary provider the suitability information listed in § 96.35.
(b) The agency or person, when acting as the primary provider and using supervised providers in the United States to provide adoption services, ensures that each such supervised provider operates under a written agreement with the primary provider that:
(1) Identifies clearly the adoption service(s) to be provided by the supervised provider and requires that the service(s) be provided in accordance with the applicable service standard(s) for accreditation and approval (for example: home study (§ 96.47); parent training (§ 96.48); child background studies and consent (§ 96.53));
(2) Requires the supervised provider to comply with the following standards regardless of the type of adoption services it is providing: § 96.36 (prohibition on child buying), § 96.34 (compensation), § 96.38 (employee training), § 96.39(d) (waivers of liability), and § 96.41(b) through (e) (complaints);
(3) Identifies specifically the lines of authority between the primary provider and the supervised provider, the employee of the primary provider who will be responsible for supervision, and the employee of the supervised provider who will be responsible for ensuring compliance with the written agreement;
(4) States clearly the compensation arrangement for the services to be provided and the fees and expenses to be charged by the supervised provider;
(5) Specifies whether the supervised provider's fees and expenses will be billed to and paid by the client(s) directly or billed to the client through the primary provider;
(6) Provides that, if billing the client(s) directly for its service, the supervised provider will give the client(s) an itemized bill of all fees and expenses to be paid, with a written explanation of how and when such fees and expenses will be refunded if the service is not completed, and will return any funds collected to which the client(s) may be entitled within 60 days of the completion of the delivery of services;
(7) Requires the supervised provider to meet the same personnel qualifications as accredited agencies and approved persons, as provided for in § 96.37, except that, for purposes of § 96.37(e)(3), (f)(3), and (g)(2), the work of the employee must be supervised by an employee of an accredited agency or approved person;
(8) Requires the supervised provider to limit the use of and safeguard personal data gathered or transmitted in connection with an adoption, as provided for in § 96.42;
(9) Requires the supervised provider to respond within a reasonable period of time to any request for information from the primary provider, the Secretary, or an accrediting entity with jurisdiction over the primary provider;
(10) Requires the supervised provider to provide the primary provider on a timely basis any data that is necessary to comply with the primary provider's reporting requirements;
(11) Requires the supervised provider to disclose promptly to the primary provider any changes in the suitability information required by § 96.35; and
(12) Permits suspension or termination of the agreement on reasonable notice if the primary provider has grounds to believe that the supervised provider is not in compliance with the agreement or the requirements of this section.
(a) The agency or person, when acting as the primary provider and using foreign supervised providers to provide adoption services in foreign countries, ensures that each such foreign supervised provider:
(1) Is in compliance with the laws of the foreign country in which it operates;
(2) Does not engage in practices inconsistent with the Convention's principles of furthering the best interests of the child and preventing the sale, abduction, exploitation, or trafficking of children;
(3) Before entering into an agreement with the primary provider for the provision of adoption services, discloses to the primary provider the suitability information listed in § 96.35, taking into account the authorities in the foreign country that are analogous to the authorities identified in that section;
(4) Does not have a pattern of licensing suspensions or other sanctions and has not lost the right to provide adoption services in any jurisdiction for reasons germane to the Convention or the Convention's principles of furthering the best interests of the child and preventing the abduction, exploitation, sale, or trafficking of children; and
(5) Is accredited in the foreign country in which it operates, if such accreditation is required by the laws of that foreign country to perform the adoption services it is providing.
(b) The agency or person, when acting as the primary provider and using foreign supervised providers to provide adoption services in foreign countries, ensures that each such foreign supervised provider operates under a written agreement with the primary provider that:
(1) Identifies clearly the adoption service(s) to be provided by the foreign supervised provider;
(2) Requires the foreign supervised provider, if responsible for obtaining medical or social information on the child, to comply with the standards in § 96.49(d) through (j);
(3) Requires the foreign supervised provider to adhere to the standard in § 96.36(a) prohibiting child buying and to have written policies and procedures in place reflecting the prohibitions in § 96.36(a) and to reinforce them in training programs for its employees and agents;
(4) Requires the foreign supervised provider to compensate its directors, officers, and employees who provide intercountry adoption services on a fee-for-service, hourly wage, or salary basis, rather than based on whether a child is placed for adoption, located for an adoptive placement, or on a similar contingent fee basis;
(5) Identifies specifically the lines of authority between the primary provider and the foreign supervised provider, the employee of the primary provider who will be responsible for supervision, and the employee of the supervised provider who will be responsible for ensuring compliance with the written agreement;
(6) States clearly the compensation arrangement for the services to be provided and the fees and expenses to be charged by the foreign supervised provider;
(7) Specifies that the foreign supervised provider's fees and expenses will be billed to and paid by the client(s) through the primary provider. The primary provider provides a written explanation of how and when such fees and expenses will be refunded if the service is not provided or completed, and will return any funds collected to which the client(s) may be entitled within 60 days of the completion of the delivery of services;
(8) Requires the foreign supervised provider to respond within a reasonable period of time to any request for information from the primary provider, the Secretary, or the accrediting entity that issued the primary provider's accreditation or approval;
(9) Requires the foreign supervised provider to provide the primary provider on a timely basis any data that is necessary to comply with the primary provider's reporting requirements;
(10) Requires the foreign supervised provider to disclose promptly to the primary provider any changes in the suitability information required by § 96.35; and
(11) Permits suspension or termination of the agreement on reasonable notice if the primary provider has grounds to believe that the foreign supervised provider is not in compliance with the agreement or the requirements of this section.
(c) The agency or person, when acting as the primary provider and, in accordance with § 96.14, using foreign providers that are not under its supervision, verifies, through review of the relevant documentation and other appropriate steps, that:
(1) Any necessary consent to termination of parental rights or to adoption obtained by the foreign provider was obtained in accordance with applicable foreign law and Article 4 of the Convention;
(2) Any background study and report on a child in a case involving immigration to the United States (an incoming case) performed by the foreign provider was performed in accordance with applicable foreign law and Article 16 of the Convention.
(3) Any home study and report on prospective adoptive parent(s) in a case involving emigration from the United States (an outgoing case) performed by the foreign provider was performed in accordance with applicable foreign law and Article 15 of the Convention.