DOS: Cancellation of the Accreditation of Adoptions International, Inc. (of Texas)UPDATED

From here:
“Effective August 22, 2019, the Intercountry Adoption Accreditation and Maintenance Entity (IAAME) cancelled the accreditation of Adoptions International, Inc., licensed in the state of Texas, for failing to maintain substantial compliance with accreditation standards. This notice supersedes the Suspension of Adoptions International, Inc. (of Texas) from June 21, 2019.

As a result of this cancellation, Adoptions International, Inc. must immediately cease to provide adoption services in connection with intercountry adoption cases. If you have an open case with Adoptions International, Inc., please contact them directly to find out how the cancellation will affect your case. Adoptions International, Inc. is required to transfer its cases to another accredited provider. In addition, the agency must issue any reimbursements or refunds due to clients in accordance with 22 CFR 96.33(e) and 96.40(h).

Families working with Adoptions International, Inc. should contact them directly with questions about case or record transfer. We also encourage families to review the information published by IAAME about selecting a primary provider/adoption service provider and the accreditation/approval requirements.

The Department of State does not review or approve case transfer plans and has a limited role in their execution. The Department does, however, communicate with competent adoption authorities about the accreditation status of agencies and persons and case transfer plans, as needed.

Affected families may wish to review information about Case Transfer Responsibilities on the Department of State’s website and information about If Your Agency is No Longer Accredited/Approved on the USCIS website.

We also encourage families with outstanding post-adoption reports to contact Adoptions International, Inc. for guidance on how to proceed. Information about post-adoption reporting requirements is available on the country-specific information pages on the Department of State’s website. Requirements vary by country with respect to frequency of submission, information to be included, and methods of submission.

For more information, see IAAME’s website.”

REFORM Puzzle Piece

Update:“A Texas adoption agency that worked with birth mothers from the Marshall Islands must stop all international adoptions after losing its accreditation on Thursday, according to an announcement from the U.S. State Department.

Adoptions International  failed to comply with standards, the announcement said. The agency that yanked the accreditation, Intercountry Adoption Accreditation and Maintenance Entity, did not respond to a request for details.

But in June, Civil Beat reported that Texas attorney Jody Hall, who ran Adoptions International, was arranging adoptions involving birth mothers flown from the Marshall Islands to the U.S., through Hawaii, in defiance of a treaty between the two nations.

“Yes, it’s legal to pay for tickets,” Hall wrote a prospective adoptive mother. The attorney wrote that it was easier to “control” the women from the Marshall Islands, compared to Marshallese already in the U.S., because they had to cooperate to get the plane tickets.

“We placed 3 in the past 3 weeks,” she wrote.

Five days after that story, IAAME suspended Adoptions International. IAAME is the only organization authorized by the federal government to screen international agencies, as required by law.

After Thursday’s cancellation, the State Department advised those with open cases to contact Adoptions International, which is required to transfer the cases to another provider. The adoption agency also must issue refunds.

Hall did not respond to a request for comment.

Her agency is still licensed by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission.  In response to a complaint, the agency in July found some “deficiencies,” including that its licensing staff did not have access to records when it did an inspection. But the agency did not revoke or suspend the license.

Hall remains in good standing with the State Bar of Texas.

Two of Hall’s clients told Civil Beat that they tried to adopt from Marshallese birth mothers already living in the U.S., which is legal. But then the adoptions fell through, and Hall offered an alternative – flying in a birth mother living in the Marshalls.

One client’s fees included money paid to “helpers in Honolulu” whose job was to pick up birth mothers at the airport and take them to hotels during their layovers before flying on to Dallas.

Hall told some clients that her contact in the Marshall Islands helped birth mothers get together the documents they needed to travel and go to government appointments.

Until recently, she worked with Justin Aine, a well-known adoption fixer who in March was charged in the Marshall Islands with human trafficking.

Other U.S. lawyers also fly Marshallese women to the U.S. for adoptions, as documented in a Civil Beat investigation in November, despite reforms two decades ago intended to give the Marshallese government control over international adoptions. None of these attorneys have faced sanctions for their activities.”

Texas Agency Forced To Shutter Marshallese Adoption Business

[Honolulu Civil Beat 8/27/19 by John Hill]