[pequele]

What is the story?? I look on a particular agency's website (don't think I can name names...let me know if this is not the case) and they say they are accredited but when I look at the US Embassy in Moscow and JCICS (or whatever it is called) they aren't listed! I had a meeting on Saturday with the agency and I was told they had just receieve temporary accredidation or something like that...I just don't get it! I am confused and worried.

[bdaddy]

If they ar enot on the us embassy website of JCICS website, then they are not accredited. If they really and truley are accredited,then they would be able to provide you a document for the RUssian gov. that shows they are accredited.

[keithww]

Last May, all the agencies rushed to get copies of their documents on the web. If they will not publish, I would be very wary.

Please PM with the agency name.

[kizibits]

There are different types of accreditation. There is a national organization here in the US that accredits adoption agencies for providing adoption services. If it's the agency I think it is, the accreditation they refer to on their website is the US accreditation. Then each country that an agency works in may accredit the agency to work in that country. With regard to Russia, many of the agencies which had their accreditation expire in May have received "temporary" accreditation allowing them to continue to work in specific regions of Russia, though not all regions are cooperating. For example, Tver region is still operating, but Moscow region is not. The agencies which have received "temporary" accreditation have had to file for NGO status which will be the "new" accreditation and are simply waiting for that to be finalized. Russians often have informal "temporary" agreements that are just the way things work there. Having done business with a number of Russians over the years you get used to the Russian ways of things sometimes working and sometimes not.

[KimOH]

Hmmm. I don't know anything about this particular situation, but here's my guess based on what happened last year.

Last year when there was an accreditation delay, some agencies got "letters of good standing." I guess these letters basically said that the agency hadn't done anything to have their accreditation revoked and were actively pursuing reaccreditation.

Some regions accepted these letters and let agencies continue to put their clients through. Other regions did not accept these letters. Some regions initially accepted them, but as the delay dragged on, they stopped accepting them.

To my knowledge, there is no such thing as "temporary accreditation" (meaning less than the standard 1 year term). If they are accredited they should have a certificate that shows the date. Ask to see it. If they do not have accreditation, they might still be processing adoptions in some regions, but they should be up front about that. (Both agencies we used for our adoptions are now awaiting reaccreditation, so there are very good agencies who are waiting, but...)

Good luck.

[JLW99]

Don't know about the embassy website, but just a disclaimer here: the JCICS website isn't a comprehensive listing of accredited agencies. Among other things, it's a group that agencies have to pay to belong to. Many good agencies aren't members, and many are. But they only list the accredited members of the group, not ALL accredited agencies.
Jen

[pequele]

kizibits- yup you are guessing correctly. I just don't understand the difference.

JLW- thanks for letting me know it is the pay to be on the site type of site haha

Kim- I think that "letter of good standing" may be what is deemed the temporary accreditation possibly.I was informed that all agencies whether acreditation is still current or expired in May like many did will all have to register with Dept of Justice, too. This is all so confusing.

What gets me is if I sign with an agency today...whether acredited or going thru re-accreditation NOW doesn't mean anything when it comes to their status when I will actually be able to geta referral...so my main question I guess is, does it really matter what an organization's status is today???? UGH

[kizibits]

Once an agency is awarded the NGO accreditation status, that will be permanent--no annual renewals necessary. An agency can lose their accreditation if they are acting illegally at that point, but you won't have to go through the annual reaccreditation. They are currently estimating that it will take about 3 months for the NGO approvals.

I would suggest finding an agency that is actively completing adoptions in Russia at this time (even if their accreditation expired in May.) You can talk to people who are using various agencies to find out if things are moving with a particular agency or not.

[Annabel]

make sure they are a reputable agency - our first agency supposedly had a letter of good standing, but were denied reaccreditation. PM me and I'll tell you the name. they were in San Francisco if that helps you. please do your homework and check everthing out - we did not and got totally burned!

[RubyM]

There is a list of accredited agencies on the Russian embassy in DC site : http://www.russianembassy.org/

They have a page about adoptions with a list of 38 agencies that have accreditation as of January 2006. They also provide a phone number for questions.

[Jim_in_PA]

Ruby, that list is now invalid as quite a few accreditations expired 17 May 2006. The embassy site is generally out of date with respect to these things...the Russian MOE site as well as the US Embassy site in Moscow tend to be accurate.

[pequele]

Jim do you have the MOE website?

What should I be concerning myself with when picking an organization if by the time I will be getting a referral eveyone will have had their accreditation expired??? If that is the case I can care less right now if they are accredited or not! I am so confused!

[Jim_in_PA]

http://www.usynovite.ru/internationa...eign_agencies/

Please note that the last column is the expiration date.

[pequele]

thanks Jim.
Do you know if even it says an org is accredited thru 2007 will it mean anything if the procedure is changing anyways? There must be a reason so many organizations expired in May and haven't been reacreddited. Need I be worried about working with an org that expired in May?

[Jim_in_PA]

Pequele, there are a couple things at play right now relative to re-accreditation. Firstly, there are new laws in Russia that are requiring all NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations) to register to do business in Russia. This is a new thing and the process and procedures are not fully fleshed out. Agencies who are up for re-accreditation must get their NGO registration dealt with before they will be considered for the former. Some apparently are still working in some regions under a letter of good standing, but that is not universal nor guaranteed to continue. There has been a lot about this posted in the various adoption forums, including this one, and it will remain a sticking point for the entire community until all the details are resolved.

Secondly, there has been a lot of upheaval in the whole system over the last year, including factions that are actively trying to reduce or eliminate IA. That has prompted many "rule" changes, largely regional, but not necessarily so, and that makes for even more struggle for the agencies to remain able to work.