Many foreign governments, in particular those where adoptions are regulated by a central legal authority, find it hard to accept that the national government of the U.S. cannot provide such assurances. The Convention and its implementation will help to resolve this problem, by requiring that a Central Authority be established at the national government level. The third major problem area in intercountry adoption is lack of uniformity in rules and procedures for state licensing of adoption agencies. The vast majority of state licensing standards relate to domestic adoptions and therefore lack the means to ensure that agencies are competent to offer services for intercountry adoptions. Only a handful of states have international adoption licensing requirements.
Information concerning complaints about providers is held by the states.
Because prospective adoptive parents may often work with providers in a state other than the one in which they reside, parents generally have little recourse for complaint if problems arise. An agency may not be involved in any adoptions in the state in which it is licensed, but may be placing children in states that have no oversight authority. The Convention and its implementation will require that all adoption service providers for intercountry adoption be screened uniformly and meet the same standards for accreditation approval. The fourth problem we see is that some adoptive parents are not adequately prepared and counseled for an international adoption, and the adoption placement is disrupted, resulting in the child s removal from the home. The Convention will not cure this problem, but it will help by requiring that all prospective adoptive parents receive intercountry adoption counseling before the adoption.