About IAAME

Who is IAAME?

Intercountry Adoption Accreditation and Maintenance Entity, Inc. (IAAME) is an Accrediting Entity (AE), under the authority by the Secretary, and as allowed by 22 CFR 96.7. ( https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-2017-title22-vol1/xml/CFR-2017-title22-vol1-part96.xml )  An accrediting entity is an entity that has been designated by the Secretary to accredit agencies and/or to approve persons for purposes of providing adoption services in the United States in intercountry adoption cases.

 

Intercountry Adoption Accreditation and Maintenance Entity (IAAME) is a 501(c)(3) organization created for the sole purpose of the accreditation, approval, monitoring and oversight of adoption service providers providing intercountry adoption services.  IAAME is operated by staff with extensive experience in providing child welfare services, administering child welfare standards, contracting, licensing, monitoring, and domestic adoption services.

Accrediting Entity Responsibilities:

As an Accrediting Entity, IAAME is responsible for performing tasks related to intercountry adoption accreditation and approval.  Such tasks include:

 

  • Determining agencies eligibility for accreditation
  • Determining persons eligibility for approval
  • Monitoring and oversight of accredited/approved agencies/persons compliance with applicable requirements
  • Investigating and responding to complaints about accredited agencies and approved persons (including their use of supervised providers)
  • Taking adverse action against an accredited agency or approved person, and/or referring an accredited agency or approved person for possible action by the Secretary
  • Determining if an accredited agency or approved person is eligible for renewal of their accreditation/approval
  • Collecting data from accredited/approved agencies/persons, maintaining records, and reporting information to the Secretary, State courts, and other entities
  • Assisting the Secretary in taking appropriate action to help an agency/person in transferring its intercountry adoption cases and adoption records

Key Terms:

Agency – a private, nonprofit organization licensed to provide adoption services in at least one State.

Person  – an individual or a private, for-profit entity (including a corporation, company, association, firm, partnership, society, or joint stock company) providing adoption services. It does not include public domestic authorities or public foreign authorities.

 

Agencies are accredited and persons are approved by an Accrediting Entity utilizing the standards set forth in 22 CFR 96 part F( https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-2017-title22-vol1/xml/CFR-2017-title22-vol1-part96.xml )

 

For information on the accreditation/approval process click here.

What is Intercountry Adoption Accreditation? 

For specific information related to Intercountry Adoption Accreditation click here.