Many prospective adoptive parents have expressed concerns over the DOS list of Hague Accredited and Approved Entities that was published on Friday, February 29, 2008. The published list is substantially shorter than the list of agencies that applied for accreditation. According to the DOS, the accrediting agencies, COA and Colorado, will continue to review applications on a daily and weekly basis and new agencies can be
accredited at any time. All agencies that are accredited before April 1 will be able to work on Hague Convention cases from the day the Convention enters into force for the U.S. Many of the agencies that applied by the November 2006 deadline are pending and may very well be accredited in the short or medium term if the accrediting entity determines they have met the accreditation standards.
If you know that your agency applied for accreditation but they do not appear on the DOS list – don’t panic. Contact your agency or the accrediting entity and ask for their current status.
Contact Information for COA:
Phone: (212) 797-3000
FAX: (212) 797-1428
120 Wall Street, 11Floor
New York, NY 10005
Richard Klarberg
President/ Chief Executive Officer
rklarberg@coanet.org
Jayne Schmidt
Hague Project Manager
jschmidt@coanet.org
Contact Information for Colorado:
Marva Livingston Hammons
Executive Director
Department of Human Services
State of Colorado
1575 Sherman Street
Denver, CO 80203-1714
Tel: 303.866.5700
Fax: 303.866.4047
Gina Pollock
www.pear-now.org