Announcement Regarding CAII’s Hague Accreditation

Announcement Regarding CAII’s Hague Accreditation

May 30, 2008

In follow up to the earlier notices on CAI’s Hague Accreditation status, CAI submitted an in-depth response to Council on Accreditation (COA) with the information and changes demanded by them in the Post Commission Review report dated May 7, 2008.

None of the items listed as out of compliance was in anyway related to any ethical or legal wrongdoing. They are simple administrative details which we feel were sufficiently cleared up in our response sent May 19, 2008.

CAI received an email from the Council on Accreditation (COA) on May 29, 2008 that our Hague Accreditation has been denied. COA has not disclosed to us the reasons for denial and stated that there is no process for judicial review.

At this time, CAI is forced to take further steps to fight for our right to act as a legal, ethical agency whose focus is on finding safe, loving homes for orphaned children. We feel it is a violation of CAI’s civil rights and puts families and children in jeopardy of not being able to complete the adoption process. It is an outrage that COA has denied us for minor administrative details and refuse to offer an explanation of their findings.

Some of the steps we will be taking at this time include:

Filing a Formal Grievance with COA
Petitioning for an Administrative Review of the denial.
Securing legal counsel to help us fight at the state and/or federal level
Contacting senators and congress people
Asking staff and families to contact COA, the Department of State and their congressional representatives to demand more information on our denial and an objective review of our case with a new commission.

We are currently assessing the potential ramifications this may have on existing families. At this present moment there shouldn’t be any direct impacts. We will be reassessing this daily. We encourage you to contact your senators and congress people and explain that the Department of State and COA may be potentially violating your rights to adopt internationally and ask them to investigate the legitimacy of this denial. We may call on you shortly to be even more proactive in helping us fight this extraordinary result.

Sincerely,
CAII Staff