Sense of Congress

It is the sense of Congress that— (1) prospective adoptive parents should receive high-quality services from experienced providers for their child background studies, home studies, and post-placement reports; (2) the number of accredited adoption service providers is declining in the United States, leading to fewer options of accredited service providers; (3) some foreign countries, primary providers and many adoptive families have a preference that only accredited adoption service providers conduct intercountry home studies and post-placement/post-adoption reporting, if required; (4) accreditation and approval helps to ensure compliance with standards and requires accrediting entities to provide oversight, enforcement, and data and report collection for accredited and approved adoption service providers; and (5) United States intercountry adoption practices can be enhanced by supporting an accreditation system that includes a new, limited accreditation option for the provision of a background study on a child, a home study on the prospective adoptive parents, or a post-placement report, in addition to current, comprehensive, mandatory accreditation for primary providers.