The Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption is an international agreement between countries to establish best practices for intercountry adoptions. It aims to consider the best interests of children and prevent exploitation. Each country designates a Central Authority to facilitate accurate information sharing. The U.S. State Department is the Central Authority and making the U.S. compliant is a top priority. The Convention was completed in 1993 and the U.S. ratified it in 2007, requiring accredited adoption agencies for adoptions between the U.S. and other signatories starting in 2008.

1. Introduction:
The Hague Convention on Inter country Adoption is an international
agreement between participating countries on best adoption procedures.
These procedures have basically two goals in mind:
• The best interests of children are considered with each inter country
adoption.
• The prevention of abduction, exploitation, sale, or trafficking of
children.
The guidelines and procedures that are set forth in the Hague Convention are
also for the protection of birth families, as well as adoptive families. Part of
the Convention's guidelines ensures that one Central Authority is in place in
each country so that adoptive parents get the most accurate information
regarding adoption. The Department of State is the U.S. Central Authority
for the Convention. According to the State Department's Web site,
implementing the principles of The Hague Convention on Inter country
Adoption is the State Department's top priority at this time. They hope that
the U.S. will be a Hague Convention country by late 2007 or early 2008.
History of the Hague Convention on Inter country Adoption:
On this day in 1899, the First Hague Convention was signed at the
international peace conference at The Hague in the Netherlands.
Together with the Second Hague Convention in 1907, these two
conventions make up the foundation of international laws regarding
the conduct of war. The first conference was called at the suggestion
of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, and the second by US President
Theodore Roosevelt. Most of the provisions of the Hague
Conventions were violated during the First World War. On this day in
1794, Maximilien Robespierre, Louis Antoine de Saint-Just, Georges
Couthon and many of their peers were executed by guillotine in Paris.
Robespierre, Saint-Just and Couthon were leading figures in the
French Revolution and were radical Jacobins. They served on the
Committee of Public Safety, which ruled France during the bloody
‘Reign of Terror’ which saw mass violence and executions of
‘enemies of the revolution’. There was a coup against the Committee
on July 27th 1794, which prompted a reactionary movement against

2. the bloody policies of the Reign of Terror. For their role in the
violence, Robespierre, Saint-Just and Couthon were executed.
• The Hague Convention on Private International Law has been around
since 1893, but the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and
Co-operation in Respect of Inter country Adoption was completed for
comments by member countries on May 29, 1993.
• The United States signed the Convention on March 31, 1994.
• In 1998, President Clinton sent the Hague Convention on Inter
country Adoptions to the U.S. Senate for ratification.
• In 2000, both Houses of Congress passed bills for implementation of
the Convention, the Inter country Adoption Act of 2000 (the IAA),
Public Law 106-279.
• President Clinton signed the IAA into law on October 6, 2000.
• The United States ratified the Hague Convention on Inter country
Adoption on December 12, 2007 in the Netherlands.
• The Hague Convention on Inter country Adoption entered into force
for the United States on April 1, 2008.
This means that private adoption service providers will need to be
accredited, temporarily accredited, or approved, supervised by a provider
that is accredited, temporarily accredited, or approved, in order to provide
adoption services involving the U.S. and another Convention country.