II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 3551 

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

accreditation option for performing certain adoption services. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 14, 2023 

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 limited accreditation option for performing certain 

adoption services. 

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 Limited Ac5 creditation for Adoption Services Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

7 It is the sense of Congress that— 

8 (1) prospective adoptive parents should receive 

9 high-quality services from experienced providers for 

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•S 3551 IS

1 their child background studies, home studies, and 

2 post-placement reports; 

3 (2) the number of accredited adoption service 

4 providers is declining in the United States, leading 

5 to fewer options of accredited service providers; 

6 (3) some foreign countries, primary providers 

7 and many adoptive families have a preference that 

8 only accredited adoption service providers conduct 

9 intercountry home studies and post-placement/post10 adoption reporting, if required; 

11 (4) accreditation and approval helps to ensure 

12 compliance with standards and requires accrediting 

13 entities to provide oversight, enforcement, and data 

14 and report collection for accredited and approved 

15 adoption service providers; and 

16 (5) United States intercountry adoption prac17 tices can be enhanced by supporting an accreditation 

18 system that includes a new, limited accreditation op19 tion for the provision of a background study on a 

20 child, a home study on the prospective adoptive par21 ents, or a post-placement report, in addition to cur22 rent, comprehensive, mandatory accreditation for 

23 primary providers. 

3 

•S 3551 IS

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 ‘‘or limited 

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

7 (2) by redesignating paragraphs (13) through 

8 (17) as paragraphs (14) through (18), respectively; 

9 and 

10 (3) by inserting after paragraph (12) the fol11 lowing: 

12 ‘‘(13) LIMITED ACCREDITATION.—The term 

13 ‘limited accreditation’ means voluntary accreditation 

14 that is limited to the provision of 1 or more of the 

15 following services: 

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

17 child in an outgoing case and reporting on such 

18 a study. 

19 ‘‘(B) Performing a home study on a pro20 spective adoptive parent in an incoming case 

21 and reporting on such a study. 

22 ‘‘(C) Monitoring a case after a child has 

23 been placed with prospective adoptive parents 

24 until final adoption, including preparing post25 placement reports.’’. 

26 (b) ACCREDITATION AND APPROVAL.— 

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•S 3551 IS

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

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

3 14922(b)(1)) is amended to read as follows: 

4 ‘‘(1) ACCREDITATION AND APPROVAL.—Accred5 itation or limited accreditation of agencies, and ap6 proval of persons, to provide adoption services in the 

7 United States in cases subject to the Convention or 

8 Intercountry Adoption Universal Accreditation Act 

9 of 2012 (Public Law 112–276). At the time of ini10 tial or renewal of accreditation or limited accredita11 tion of agencies, and approval of persons, the apply12 ing entity shall indicate whether the entity seeks ac13 creditation as— 

14 ‘‘(A) an accredited agency or approved per15 son; or 

16 ‘‘(B) an agency with a limited accredita17 tion.’’. 

18 (2) EXEMPTION FROM PAPERWORK REDUCTION

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

20 Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 14953(c)) is amended by in21 serting ‘‘202(b)(1),’’ after ‘‘104,’’. 

22 SEC. 4. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION. 

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—Nothing in this Act or the amend24 ments made by this Act may be construed to require that 

25 intercountry adoption service providers have a limited acVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:30 Jan 03, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3551.IS S3551
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•S 3551 IS

1 creditation (as defined in section 3(13) of the Intercountry 

2 Adoption Act of 2000, as amended by section 3(a)(3)), 

3 to provide a home study on prospective adoptive parents 

4 pursuing an intercountry adoption. 

5 (b) DEFINITION OF ADOPTION SERVICE.—Nothing 

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

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

8 under section 3 of the Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000 

9 (42 U.S.C. 14902). 

10 SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

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

12 after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

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