To become an accredited adoption service provider there must be strict adherence to the standards set forth within the Hague Convention. Within the United States the Department of State has selected two agencies to perform the accrediting - Council on Accreditation (COA) and the Colorado Department of Human Services. Any agency or person wishing to be an ASP (Adoption Service Provider) must demonstrate their compliance to the standards to these two agencies.
Accredited adoption service providers are to provide prospective adoptive families the following six services:
- identifying a child for adoption and arranging the adoption
- securing the consents to terminate parental rights
- conducting an adoption home study and background report on the child
- making a determination of a child's best interest and whether an adoptive placement is an appropriate match
- monitoring a case after the child has been placed until the adoption is finalized
- assuming custody of a child in the case of a disruption
The primary provider is responsible for these six services. The primary provider may utilize other agencies or individual, called a supervised provider, to provide one of the services. Supervised providers may be agents, faciliators, attorneys or other organiations within the US or in another Convention country.
