Spence-Chapin Services to Families and Children has received notification that it has achieved Renewal of Hague Accreditation through the Council on Accreditation (COA) as authorized by the U.S. Department of State, according to an announcement made to Adam Cotumaccio, President of the organization.
Renewal of Hague Accreditation attests that Spence-Chapin Services to Families and Children is in substantial compliance with the Hague Convention Accreditation Standards. Spence-Chapin Services to Families and Children’s Hague Accreditation Expiration Date is January 31, 2021.
Spence-Chapin’s international adoption programs are in Bulgaria, Colombia and South Africa. The organization brings over 40 years of international adoption experience to the mission of finding families for the children who are in the greatest need of adoption: school-age children, sibling groups, and children of all ages with special needs.
The Hague Convention is an international treaty created to ensure that intercountry adoptions are in the best interests of children and to prevent abduction, exploitation, sale, or trafficking of children. In 1994 the United States signed this treaty and agreed to develop regulations and a monitoring process for adoption service providers in the U.S. that worked with agencies in countries that signed onto the Convention. For more information about the Hague Convention, including a full list of participating countries, please visit the Hague Conference on Private International Law’s website at www.hcch.net.
Congress passed The Intercountry Adoption Act (IAA) in October 2000, which serves as the implementing legislation for the United States. The IAA names the U.S. Department of State (State Department) as the Central Authority for the United States and the federal agency responsible for implementing the Convention. The IAA requires agencies and persons providing adoption services in cases involving Convention countries to be accredited or approved. In July, 2006 the U.S. Department of State named COA as the only national accreditor for adoption service providers under the Hague Convention.
