Kentucky Adoption Services, Inc.

4501 Bridle Ridge Ct.

Owensboro, KY 42303

Phone -- (270) 684-2598 Fax -- (270) 684-6748

www.kentuckyadoptionservices.org

Specialists in Domestic and International Adoption

US Department of State

Adoption Regulations

RE: Comments on Proposed Regulations to Implement the Hague Convention &
IAA

To Whom It May Concern:

Please accept these comments on behalf of Kentucky Adoption Services,
Inc., 4501 Bridle Ridge ct., Owensboro, KY 42303, December 15, 2003,
phone (270) 684-2598. These comments are in addition to the comments
submitted by the Joint Council on International Children Services, with
which Kentucky Adoption Services concurs and incorporates herein.

Kentucky Adoption Services is a non-profit organization formed in 2002
to assist the children of the world in need of permanent, loving
families. We first and foremost believe in the rights of children and
believe that every child has a fundamental right to be in a family where
they are loved, nurtured and appreciated for their own unique
characteristics. It is our desire to work with only overseas
counterparts who share our commitment to children and who behave in
ethical and honest ways. We subscribe to the basic tenets of the Hague
Treaty and have been supportive of its ratification in the United
States.

However, there are several concerns we have with the proposed
regulations that will govern agencies working in international
adoptions. First and foremost, is the belief that several of the
regulations go above and beyond statutory authority and are in fact, in
excess of what is practical and legitimate.

The first section I would like to address is 96.33 (h) with regard to
the risk and liability insurance, as is also presented in 96.39 (d),
96.45 and 96.46. The requirement that agencies have 1 million dollars in
coverage per incidence is highly excessive and promotes frivolous
litigation. It is also impractical because liability insurance for
agencies is almost impossible to obtain anyway. When it is obtainable
the cost is often prohibitive. A requirement such as this with no means
of guaranteeing availability at a reasonable cost will result in several
agencies having to stop serving children in various parts of the world.
It is our suggestion that the State department should provide some
mechanism for ensuring this availability through underwriting the
policies or otherwise taking into account the difficulty of this
situation.

It is also this agency's belief that the requirement presented with
96.45 and 96.46 will increase the difficulty of obtaining insurance. The
exclusion of a blanket waiver is unclear. It is unreasonable to expect
that agencies be responsible for supervised providers who are often
chosen by families, as well as all overseas contacts. While it is
reasonable to expect agencies to research their overseas counterparts it
would be impossible to oversee every step of the adoption process in a
foreign country. This provision in and of itself will result in many
local service, homestudy and post-placement providers, going out of
business , because accredited agencies will not want to work with others
who are not accredited and whom they could not bring litigation against
if a family brought litigation against them for the local service
providers' negligence or mistake.

There is little provision in the proposed regulations to safeguard
agencies who are doing their best to serve a high risk population. There
are risks inherent in adopting from overseas, as there are with several
other choices families make. It is unreasonable for an agency to be
prohibited from passing these risks along to families. When surgery is
done there is a risk. This is passed along to the patient in an informed
consent \-- so it is with adoption. I understand that the courts have
upheld the legality of informed consent and that making a change such as
this would be a significant difference in the court's opinion, and also
actual practice in adoption, as well as other fields. While there is a
need for accountability is it an adoption provider's fault if a 4 month
old dies of SIDS? There is no reason that an adoption provider located
in another country should have a greater degree of responsibility than
surgeons, day care directors, etc. This will force many agencies out of
business.

It is further this agency's opinion that the requirement that adoption
homestudy workers have a Masters degree is unnecessarily restrictive
96.37 (f). There are several qualified personnel with a bachelors degree
and experience in adoption that are in fact more qualified to do
homestudy investigations than a person with only a Masters degree. This
requirement, as well as the others will unnecessarily increase the
financial burden of adopting substantially.

There is also the issue of accrediting bodies. It is our concern that
only one or two accrediting bodies will be available, resulting in a
monopoly where fees are not competitive and where agencies have little
to no choice. For Kentucky Adoption Services to begin the accrediting
process with COA it is a minimum fee of \$6000 not including travel
expenses and the personnel to prepare the documentation for accrediting.
This fee is prohibitive for a small agency and will definitely increase
the cost of providing services so that children can find families or it
will result in us and many other agencies shutting down. It is the
belief of this agency that the State Department should ensure that
accrediting bodies charge reasonable fees and that some of this fee
should be provided by the government, through either a grant to the
accrediting bodies or a contract via the government or some other
arrangement. It also appears as if the accrediting bodies will have too
much power and control over agencies with a possibility of favoritism or
blackballing an agency for personal reasons, with agencies having no
recourse.

Thank you for your attention to these matters,

A. Lucy Armistead

Founder & Executive Director