This is an update to the adoption notices of March 10 and December 13, 2014.

The U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya met with the Department of Children’s Services, the Kenyan government office responsible for adoption policy, on April 23 to discuss the moratorium on intercountry adoptions. The Department of Children’s Services provided clarification on two issues that have to date been unaddressed.

First, the Department of Children’s Services clarified which pending cases would be permitted to continue through the process in place prior to the moratorium.  Only cases that had been discussed by the National Adoption Committee prior to November 28, 2014 will be considered “pipeline” cases. Cases that had only submitted a dossier to the National Adoption Committee are not considered “pipeline” cases. The U.S. Embassy will continue to request confirmation of which U.S. cases were discussed prior to November 28.

Second, the Department of Children’s Services confirmed that there is no longer a national body serving as the central authority for the Hague Convention for Kenya to issue the Article 23 certificate of conformity to complete a Convention intercountry adoption. The Government of Kenya will not issue certificates of conformity for Convention adoptions until a new National Adoption Committee is formed and announced in the Kenya Gazette, the official publication of government actions in Kenya. The U.S. Department of State is examining the impact this has on “pipeline” cases that may be permitted to move through the court process in Kenya.

The Department will plan a conference call for adoption service providers operating in Kenya to address questions in the coming weeks. 

We will update our site as soon as new information becomes available.