Contact: Sylvia Faniel, Executive Director
Phone: (321) 868-2229
Email address: Sylvia@homeatlastadoption.com

HOME AT LAST ADOPTION AGENCY, INC.
ACHIEVES HAGUE ACCREDITATION

Home At Last Adoption Agency, Inc. has received notification that it has achieved Hague Accreditation through the Council on Accreditation (COA) as authorized by the U.S. Department of State. Home At Last Adoption Agency, Inc. is a non-profit, licensed, child placing agency located in Cocoa Beach, Florida. Dr. Rachel Fornes is the Founder and President. Since 2001, Home At Last Adoption Agency has been offering domestic adoption services for both birth and adoptive families. The Board of Directors, Dr. Fornes and staff of Home At Last Adoption Agency are excited to be able to expand the adoption services to include Intercountry adoption.

Hague Accreditation attests that Home At Last Adoption Agency, Inc. is in substantial compliance with the Hague Convention Accreditation Standards. Home At Last Adoption Agency’s Hague Accreditation Expiration Date is February 1, 2017.

The Hague Convention is an international treaty created to ensure that Intercountry adoptions are in the best interests of children and to prevent abduction, exploitation, sale, or trafficking of children. In 1994, the United States signed this treaty and agreed to develop regulations and a monitoring process for adoption service providers in the U.S. that worked with agencies in countries that signed onto the Convention. For more information about the Hague Convention, including a full list of participating countries, please visit the Hague Conference on Private International Law’s website at www.hcch.net.

Congress passed The Intercountry Adoption Act (IAA) in October 2000, which serves as the implementing legislation for the United States. The IAA names the U.S. Department of State (State Department) as the Central Authority for the United States and the federal agency responsible for implementing the Convention. The IAA requires agencies and persons providing adoption services in cases involving Convention countries to be accredited or approved. In July 2006 the U.S. Department of State named COA as the only national accreditor for adoption service providers under the Hague Convention.

COA is an independent, not-for-profit accreditor of the full continuum of community-based behavioral health care and social service organizations. COA’s mission is to partner with human service organizations worldwide to improve service delivery outcomes by developing, applying and promoting accreditation standards.

Home At Last Adoption Agency, Inc. is a member of the National Council for Adoption, Florida Adoption Council, Better Business Bureau and the Cocoa Beach Chamber of Commerce. The mission of Home At Last Adoption Agency is to provide services in the best interest of children by placing them in homes where they can be nurtured, protected, and guided by the loving support of a family.

Dr. Rachel Fornes Honored With Congressional Adoption Award Dr. Rachel Fornes, founder and operator of the Home At Last Adoption Agency in Cocoa Beach, has been selected as an honoree for the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute (CCAI) Award to be presented in a gala event in Washington, DC September 12, 2012. Click Here To Read More...

The Fornes-Neuharths are a multiethnic family. Dr. Rachel is a strong believer in trans-racial adoption. She believes that no child should live in foster care when thousands of couples are considering adoption. It is this need to counsel, guide and assist prospective adoptive parents and help infants and children that propelled Dr. Rachel to found Home At Last. According to Dr. Rachel, "It's a blessing and a privilege to be in a position to give a permanent home to children who need one."

"Hopefully the activities of Home At Last will result in fewer young women terminating their pregnancies", says Dr. Fornes, "We highly stress pre- and post-birth counseling. It's a win-win situation, for both the birth mothers and the adoptive parents."

Dr. Rachel is a 1992 graduate of Leadership Brevard and is a  member of LEAD Brevard.

Home At Last Adoption Agency, Inc. is a designated receiving agency for Safe Haven Babies. Safe Haven Babies are those who are abandoned at hospitals, fire stations, or emergency medical services stations younger than seven days of age.