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Hague a Step Closer to Going into Force

By Susan Soon-keum Cox, Vice-President of Public Policy and External Affairs

The U.S. Department of State solicited and has received comments regarding its proposed regulations for the Intercountry Adoption Act and will now consider these comments before the act is put into force.

The Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000, the U.S. legislation implementing the United States’ participation in the Hague Convention on International Adoption, is a multilateral treaty that includes 66 prospective member countries.

The Convention sets internationally agreed upon norms and procedures for countries that participate in intercountry adoption. The goal of the Convention is to protect children, birth parents, and adoptive parents involved in intercountry adoptions, and to prevent child-trafficking and other abuses.

The public comment period ended on Dec. 15, 2003. Holt supports the Hague Convention overall, and submitted comments regarding certain aspects of the regulations. Visit Holt’s website at www.holtinternational.org for information about the Hague Convention and Holt’s official comments regarding the Intercountry Adoption Act.

As of Nov. 2003, 14 countries had accessions; 41 countries had ratified, and 8 had signed but not yet ratified the Convention.