7 AAC 56.670. Intercountry adoption requirements

(a) In addition to meeting the requirements of 7 AAC 56.150(g) , 7 AAC 56.370(b) (1) and (7), and 7 AAC 56.380(b) , an agency providing intercountry adoption services shall meet the requirements of this section.

(b) Before an adoption or placement with a family in this state or another state of the United States, the agency shall cooperate with the agency in the country of origin of the child in the completion of a plan that defines financial and social services responsibilities.

(1) provide adopting parents with health and other information about the child per 7 AAC 56.150(g) ;

(2) provide adopting parents with information about naturalization proceedings; and

(3) provide the country of origin all follow-up information as that country requires before final adoption.

(d) An agency providing intercountry adoption services shall ensure that the following legal processes occur properly:

(1) consent to adoption and transfer of parental rights;

(2) legal responsibility for the child in the new country;

(3) validity of the adoption in the country of origin, if the child is adopted in that country;

(4) referral to an attorney in the adopting parents' state of residence regarding application to adopt or re-adopt the child in the United States, as applicable.

(e) When a child is adopted in the child's country of origin and the adopting parents' state of residence in the United States does not require re-adoption, including post-placement supervision, an agency shall at least ensure post adoption services to include

(1) a home visit within the third month of the adopted child entering the home of the adopting parents; and

(2) an offer of counseling or referral to post placement services to attempt to remediate any difficulties with the adoption found during the home visit.

(f) Adoptive home study reports for out-of-country children must meet the requirements of 8 C.F.R. 204.3(e) and the home study requirements of the adoptive applicant's state of residence. If the state of the adoptive applicant does not publish home study requirements, the requirements contained in 7 AAC 56.660 apply.

(g) An agency providing intercountry adoption services shall do the following:

(1) provide all applicants with policies governing refunds when adoption services that have been promised are not rendered or when there is a disruption of services that may nullify an adoption;

(2) notify adoptive applicants within five working days whenever the agency receives information that a foreign country is suspending its adoption program;

(3) verify the credentials and qualifications of agents in foreign countries working in the agency's behalf on adoption matters;

(4) disclose data to adoptive applicants on the agency's rates of successful adoptions, such as the number of adoptions in the previous year, number of requests for adoption, and number of adoptions that disrupted within a year of placement;

(5) comply with ICPC, when appropriate.

History: Eff. 1/1/2001, Register 156

Authority: AS 44.29.020

AS 47.35.010

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