Terms Used In U.S. Code > Title 42 > Chapter 143 > Subchapter I - United States Central Authority

• accredited agency: means an agency accredited under subchapter II to provide adoption services in the United States in cases subject to the Convention. See 42 USC 14902
• agency: means any person other than an individual. See 42 USC 14902
• approved person: means a person approved under subchapter II to provide adoption services in the United States in cases subject to the Convention. See 42 USC 14902
• Attorney General: means the Attorney General, acting through the Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization. See 42 USC 14902
• central authority: means the entity designated as such by any Convention country under Article 6(1) of the Convention. See 42 USC 14902
• Convention: means the Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption, done at The Hague on May 29, 1993. See 42 USC 14902
• Convention adoption: means an adoption of a child resident in a foreign country party to the Convention by a United States citizen, or an adoption of a child resident in the United States by an individual residing in another Convention country. See 42 USC 14902
• individual: shall include every infant member of the species homo sapiens who is born alive at any stage of development. See 1 USC 8
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Secretary: means the Secretary of State. See 42 USC 14902
• State: means the 50 States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, and the Virgin Islands. See 42 USC 14902