On September 26, 2000, Children’s Hope received it first Certificate of Registration from the Russian Federation. We were the first agency in Missouri to be registered and one of the first of five United States agencies to be registered. On September 30, we were re-accredited until September 30, 2003. CHI is very proud of this achievement as well as the fact that we are one of only four fully accredited agencies in the Russian Federation. Full accreditation is granted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation.

What do all of these accreditations mean for our families? It means that we are legally recognized by the Russian Federation and that we can work within any region in Russia. We are continuing to limit our work to about ten regions so that we can be more effective and organized in the adoption process. It is important to note that families adopting from the Russian Federation are only supposed to work through agencies that have their certification.
The certification of adoption agencies in Russia has brought about better control and better order to the process of international adoption in Russia.