On July 18, 2012, the Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian Parliament, approved the bilateral adoption agreement signed by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on July 13, 2011.  This followed the Russian Duma’s approval of the Agreement on July 10, 2012.  Both of these actions mark a significant milestone toward the entry into force of the Agreement, which will provide additional safeguards to better protect the welfare and interests of children and all parties involved in intercountry adoptions.  To find out more about the agreement, please visit the U.S. Department of State's FAQs and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) FAQs on the agreement and its implementation. 

The Agreement will now be sent to President Putin.  Following President Putin’s signature, the parties will need to establish procedures to implement the Agreement, which we are committed to doing as expeditiously as possible.  Following the establishment of these procedures, the Agreement will enter into force upon the exchange of notes between the U.S. and Russian governments.  The Department of State and USCIS will provide guidance on their websites related to the Agreement.  Please monitor adoption.state.gov and uscis.gov for more information.

On July 1, 2012 the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-Operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (Convention) entered into force for Rwanda. However, the Government of Rwanda has notified the U.S. Embassy in Kigali that the current suspension on intercountry adoptions will remain in effect until the country has a fully functional Convention process in place. The Government of Rwanda believes implementation will take several months.

We caution adoption service providers and prospective adoptive parents that important steps to ensure intercountry adoptions from Rwanda comply with the Convention must take place before intercountry adoptions between the United States and Rwanda resume. Adoption service providers should neither initiate nor claim to initiate adoption programs in Rwanda until the Department of State notifies them that the Government of Rwanda has lifted its suspension on intercountry adoptions and that Rwanda’s procedures meet the requirements of the Convention.

The Department of State will provide updated information on adoption.state.gov as it becomes available. If you have any questions about this notice, please contact the Office of Children’s Issues at 1-888-407-4747 within the United States, or 202-501-4444 from outside the United States. Email inquiries may be directed to AdoptionUSCA@state.gov.