As many of you are aware, the United States implemented the Hague on April 1, 2008 in the USA. Many thousands of people and equally as many hours of concentrated effort have been put forth to bring this to a point of success.

What is the Hague?

The Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (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. The Convention generally requires that agencies and persons be accredited or approved to provide adoption services for intercountry adoptions when both countries involved are parties to the Convention. The United States signed this treaty in March 1994. For more information about the Convention and an up-to-date list of countries that are parties to the Convention, please visit the website for the Hague Conference on Private International Law athttp://www.hcch.net/index_en.php?act=conventions.text&cid=69


FULL Hague Accreditation/Approval UND Notification

As of June 13th, 2008, Tree of Life Adoption Center has completed the process of applying for and received the status of FULLY HAGUE ACCREDITED! We are proud to have completed all steps required and congratulate all who have supported our efforts to be able to add this accreditation to our level of accountability. This confirms for all that wish to proceed through Tree of Life and to adopt from a Hague country may do so with full assurance that we can reliably represent you at all points.
Our status as a primary provider is the highest level of accreditation. A primary provider is responsible to develop and implement all six adoption services required by the Hague for Convention country adoptions. Those six adoption services include:

1. Identifying a child for adoption and arranging an adoption

2. Securing the necessary consent to termination of parental rights and to adoption

3. Performing a background study on a child or a home study on prospective adoptive parents and reporting on such a study

4. Making non-judicial determinations of the best interest of a child and the appropriateness of an adoptive placement of the child

5. Monitoring a case after a child has been placed with the prospective adoptive parents until finalization of the adoption

6. Assuming custody of a child and providing child care or any other social services, when necessary because of a disruption pending alternative placement.

It is important to note that the vast majority of sending countries for adoption are Hague Convention countries, and even some non-Hague Convention countries require that the agency is Hague accredited. When choosing an adoption service provider, especially for a Hague Convention country adoption, prospective adoptive parents should know that only an accredited primary service provider, like TOL can provide these services for adoption.

For more information, visit http://adoption.state.gov/