ABSTRACT
Adoption agencies are critical nexus points in ethical intercountry adoption (ICA) practice and fraud prevention (Freundlich, 2000b). In industrialized or highresource nations, they are organizations that recruit or market to potential families; carry out home study assessments; develop service plans based on certain family and child needs; organize immigration and other critical paperwork; and provide pre-and post-adoption support for families who adopt children internationally. Under the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption (HCIA), adoption agencies are recognized to be brokers of services that must be regulated to prevent child sales and abduction and ultimately child trafficking (Hague Conference on International Private Law, 1993). Inevitable tensions result. Some of the underlying issues have received considerable attention (see Chapters 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 11, 12, 18, 19, and 21).
