U.S. ups fee for adopting overseas; agencies protest
NEW YORK — The U.S. government has raised fees and made a series of regulatory changes recently for American families adopting children overseas, fueling resentment toward the State Department among agencies fearing further reductions in the already dwindling number of foreign adoptions.
The number of foreign children adopted by U.S. parents has plummeted steadily since a peak of 22,884 in 2004. The total for the 2016 fiscal year was 5,372, a decrease of more than 76 percent.
The National Council for Adoption, which represents scores of adoption agencies, is leading a campaign against the new fees. They were announced Feb. 1 as part of broader changes in how the agencies offering international adoptions undergo a required accreditation process.
Chuck Johnson, the council’s CEO, said the new policies will make adoptions too costly for many families and force agencies out of business “due to the burdensome costs of maintaining accreditation.”
The ranks of international adoption agencies in the U.S. already have dropped from more than 200 a decade ago to about 160 now.
Many of the remaining agencies are faith-based, and view adoption as a means of carrying out a Christian mission. Leaders of some of these agencies have voiced frustration over their strained dealings with the State Department under President Donald Trump at a time when several other departments in the White House are taking steps welcomed by Christian evangelicals.
The process for American families seeking to adopt foreign children has been surrounded lately.
Corruption scandals have led to suspensions of adoptions from a few countries, contributing to the drop in international adoptions.
In China, which accounts for the most children adopted in the U.S., the numbers have plummeted as more Chinese people adopt domestically. Russia used to account for hundreds of U.S. adoptions a year, but has halted them due to political strains.
In November, the organization that oversaw the accreditation process for nearly a decade, the New York-based Council on Accreditation, announced it was withdrawing from that role after a public exchange of differences with the State Department.
The State Department said its most recent performance review of the council revealed “numerous concerns and deficiencies,” including alleged laxity in enforcing regulations governing the adoption agencies’ foreign employees by turmoil and partners.
The council, in turn, accused the State Department of unilaterally altering their business agreement and pushing for fee increases.
Greg Eubanks, CEO of a large adoption agency known as WACAP, said he was dismayed that the fee increase was imposed without an opportunity for public comment.
“We all have confusion,” he said. “It feels like it’s being rushed.”
He said agencies might face other higher costs due to being billed by IAAME for travel and per diem expenses related to a beefed-up regimen of onsite inspections in the U.S. and overseas.
WACAP — based in Renton, Wash. — processed more than 300 international adoptions in 2010, Eubanks said. That number has dropped to about 170 — mostly children with special medical or psychological needs.
“For some of these kids, this is a life-and-death issue,” he said.