§ 96.12 Authorized adoption service providers.

(a) Except as provided in section 505(b) of the IAA (relating to transition cases) and section 2(c) of the UAA (relating to transition cases), an agency or person may not offer, provide, or facilitate the provision of any adoption service in connection with an intercountry adoption unless it is: (1) An accredited agency or an approved person; (2) A supervised provider; or (3) An exempted provider, if the exempted provider's home study or child background study will be reviewed and approved by an accredited agency pursuant to § 96.47(c) or § 96.53(b). (b) A public domestic authority may also offer, provide, or facilitate the provision of any such adoption service. (c) Neither conferral nor maintenance of accreditation or approval, nor status as an exempted or supervised provider, nor status as a public domestic authority shall be construed to imply, warrant, or establish that, in any specific case, an adoption service has been provided consistently with the Convention, the IAA, the UAA, or the regulations implementing the IAA and the UAA. Conferral and maintenance of accreditation or approval under this part establishes only that the accrediting entity has concluded, in accordance with the standards and procedures of this part, that the accredited agency or approved person provides adoption services in substantial compliance with the applicable standards set forth in this part; it is not a guarantee that in any specific case the accredited agency or approved person is providing adoption services consistently with the Convention, the IAA, the UAA, the regulations implementing the IAA and the UAA, or any other applicable law, whether Federal, State, or foreign. Neither the Secretary nor any accrediting entity shall be responsible for any acts of an accredited agency, approved person, exempted provider, supervised provider, or other entity providing services in connection with an intercountry adoption.