Since January, 2018, on average, an international adoption agency has lost accreditation every two weeks. In fact, there were 168 accredited adoption agencies beginning in 2018, and today there are only 112. The main reason agencies are losing accreditation regards disputes with the accrediting entity about how to interpret regulations.
If your agency loses accreditation, we recommend the following steps:
- File a complaint with the US State Department’s Office of Children’s Issues if you suspect the accrediting entity has acted unfairly toward your adoption agency. You can contact them at adoption@state.gov
- Look for a new accredited adoption agency to represent you as a Primary Provider. You can see the list of possibilities here.
- Please be advised that fees you paid to your prior agency are not likely to transfer to the new agency. The fees you paid were for services rendered, and your agency did provide services. It is possible that your new agency will provide a courtesy waiver of some fees.
- Also please be advised that if your agency goes out of business, which is often the case, you are not likely to recover any of the documents for your case because there will not be any employees to help you. So you should gather all the documents you can immediately.
- If you are unable to find a Primary Provider after a diligent effort, notify adoption@state.gov that you have not been able to find an agency.
- Consider joining a class action lawsuit with other families who have been affected. If you would like your name on a list of possible families affected, email info@saveadoptions.org Keep in mind that in order to join a suit, you must have suffered a loss such as
- Inability for you to complete your case
- Loss of documents
- Loss of fees