II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 5101 

To modify the Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000 to provide a specialized 

accreditation option for performing a background study on a child or 

a home study on prospective adoptive parents, and reporting on such 

a study. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 16, 2022 

Mr. WICKER (for himself and Ms. KLOBUCHAR) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To modify the Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000 to provide 

a specialized accreditation option for performing a background study on a child or a home study on prospective 

adoptive parents, and reporting on such a study. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Voluntary Specialized 

5 Accreditation for Background and Home Studies Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

7 It is the sense of Congress that— 


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•S 5101 IS

1 (1) prospective adoptive parents should receive 

2 high-quality services from experienced providers for 

3 their child background studies and home studies; 

4 (2) the number of accredited adoption service 

5 providers is declining in the United States, leading 

6 to fewer options of accredited service providers; 

7 (3) some foreign countries, primary providers 

8 and many adoptive families have a preference that 

9 only accredited adoption service providers conduct 

10 intercountry home studies and post adoption report11 ing; 

12 (4) accreditation and approval ensures compli13 ance with standards and requires accrediting entities 

14 to provide oversight, enforcement, and data and re15 port collection for accredited and approved adoption 

16 service providers; and 

17 (5) United States intercountry adoption prac18 tices can be enhanced by supporting an accreditation 

19 system that includes a new, limited accreditation op20 tion for the provision of a background study on a 

21 child or a home study on a prospective adoptive par22 ent, in addition to current, comprehensive, manda23 tory accreditation for primary providers. 


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1 SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO THE INTERCOUNTRY ADOPTION 

2 ACT OF 2000. 

3 (a) DEFINITIONS.—Section 3 of the Intercountry 

4 Adoption Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 14902) is amended— 

5 (1) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘specialized 

6 accreditation’’ after ‘‘adoption services’’; 

7 (2) by redesignating paragraph (17) as para8 graph (18); and 

9 (3) by inserting after paragraph (16) the fol10 lowing: 

11 ‘‘(17) SPECIALIZED ACCREDITATION.—The 

12 term ‘specialized accreditation’ means voluntary ac13 creditation that is limited to the provision of 1 or 

14 more of the following services: 

15 ‘‘(A) Performing a background study on a 

16 child in an outgoing case and reporting on such 

17 a study. 

18 ‘‘(B) Performing a home study on a pro19 spective adoptive parent in an incoming case 

20 and reporting on such a study.’’. 

21 (b) ACCREDITATION AND APPROVAL.— 

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 202(b)(1) of the 

23 Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 

24 14922(b)(1)) is amended to read as follows: 

25 ‘‘(1) ACCREDITATION AND APPROVAL.—Accred26 itation of agencies, and approval of persons, to proVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:06 Nov 18, 2022 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5101.IS S5101

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1 vide adoption services or other specialized services in 

2 the United States in cases subject to the Convention 

3 or Intercountry Adoption Universal Accreditation 

4 Act of 2012 (Public Law 112–276). At the time of 

5 initial or renewal of accreditation of agencies, and 

6 approval of persons, the applying entity shall indi7 cate whether the entity seeks accreditation as— 

8 ‘‘(A) an accredited agency or approved per9 son; or 

10 ‘‘(B) an agency with a limited home study 

11 or child background study.’’. 

12 (2) EXEMPTION FROM PAPERWORK REDUCTION

13 ACT.—Section 503(c) of the Intercountry Adoption 

14 Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 14953(c)) is amended by in15 serting ‘‘202(b)(1),’’ after ‘‘104,’’. 

16 SEC. 4. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION. 

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Nothing in this Act or the amend18 ments made by this Act may be construed to require that 

19 intercountry adoption service providers have a specialized 

20 accreditation (as defined in section 3(17) of the Inter21 country Adoption Act of 2000, as amended by section 

22 3(a)(3)), to provide a home study on prospective adoptive 

23 parents pursuing an intercountry adoption. 

24 (b) DEFINITION OF ADOPTION SERVICE.—Nothing 

25 in this Act or in the amendments made by this Act may 


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1 be construed to modify the definition of ‘‘adoption service’’ 

2 under section 3 of the Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000 

3 (42 U.S.C. 14902). 

4 SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

5 This Act shall take effect on the date that is 90 days 

6 after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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