The U.S. Department of State is
committed to upholding the ethical standards, professional practices, and
principles set forth in the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption, the
Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000 (IAA), and the Federal implementing
regulations. The Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoptions Complaint Registry
will forward your complaint to the appropriate Accrediting Entity for action,
and the Department will monitor complaints about accredited agencies or
approved persons after receiving information from you.
Do you have a complaint
about an accredited/approved agency or person providing adoption services in
accordance with the
Hague
Convention on Intercountry Adoptions Complaint Registry that you want to share
with the U.S. Department of State?
Does this complaint involve one or more
of the following?
-
the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption
-
the Intercountry Adoption Act
-
the Federal implementing regulations (22 CFR 96, 97, 98)
-
a Hague Convention adoption case
If so, please fill out the complaint
form below.
If your complaint does NOT involve the
Hague Convention, the IAA, or the Federal regulations implementing the IAA and
the Convention, you may wish to contact your State’s adoption agency licensing
authority. For a list of these authorities, go to the
National Adoption Directory Search.
Please
note: Individuals must first try
to resolve a complaint through their Adoption Service Provider before
submitting a complaint to the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoptions
Complaint Registry. Resolution of
complaints is the responsibility of the Accrediting Entity.
If this is an emergency,
please contact the U.S Central Authority for the Hague Convention in the
Department of State Call Center toll free at
(888) 407-4747.
Call Center hours are from
8:00 a.m.
to
8:00 p.m.
EST. If
you need assistance after hours, an automated message will direct you to an
emergency duty officer for assistance.
Submitting
a Complaint
To submit a
complaint, simply click on the link to the Complaint
Form and click the Confirm button when finished.
If you wish, you may also print out a form and fax it to the U.S.
Central Authority at 202-736-9080 or mail it and any supporting documents to:
Attn:
U.S. Central
Authority
U.S. Department
of State
Bureau
of Consular Affairs
Office
of Children’s Issues, Adoption Unit (SA-29)
2201 C Street, NW
Washington
, DC
20520
You
can also request that we send you these forms by calling the Department of
State at (888) 407-4747.
If
you wish to view the Hague Convention, IAA, or the Federal regulations
implementing the IAA and the Convention,
click here.
Privacy
The
Department of State is committed to ensuring that any personal information
received by our overseas embassies and consulates pursuant to the registration
of complaints received by the U.S. Central Authority about the Hague
Intercountry Adoption process, whether in person or otherwise, is safeguarded
against unauthorized disclosure. The data that you provide the Department of
State is subject to the provisions of the
Privacy Act (5 USC 552a). This means that the Department of State will
not disclose the information you provide us in your complaint to any third
parties (except as described below) unless you have first given us written
authorization to do so, or unless the disclosure is otherwise permitted by the
Privacy Act.
Authority: 22 U.S.C 2715, and 22 U.S.C
4802 (b).
Purpose: To allow individuals to
register a complaint regarding the ethical standards, professional
qualifications/practices, and procedures provided by the Hague Convention on
Intercountry Adoption, IAA, or Federal implementation of regulations.
The information solicited on this form
may be made available as a routine use to appropriate agencies whether federal,
state, local, or foreign, to assist the Department in the oversight and
management of Hague adoption complaints, or for law enforcement and
administration purposes or pursuant to court order. The information is also
made available to public and private Accrediting Entities (AEs) that have
signed a Memoranda of Agreement with the Department of State, to assist in
investigation and resolution of complaints on Hague Convention adoptions.
For a complete statement of the routine uses to which this information may be
put, see the Prefatory Statement of Routine Uses and the listing of routine
uses set forth in the systems description for Overseas Citizens Services
Records (State-05), found at
http://foia.state.gov/issuances/priviss.asp. Lastly, while this
internet site uses secure encryption to safeguard your privacy and therefore
any unauthorized interception by third parties of the information you send via
the internet is unlikely, please keep in mind that the Department of State is
not responsible for any such interception.
|