You may remember that, back in June, I asked you if you knew whether your adoption agency was Hague compliant. Now, I've got a follow-up question: Are you ready for Hague?

The Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption mandates that prospective parents have 10 hours of training in adoption issues. Since both Russia and the United States are in the process of implementing Hague, it might be wise for parents considering or now in process with Russia to be doing so as well. And some already are: In June, Patti and Matt at "Our Adoption Journey" were telling the readers of their blog that they had passed the training required of them by their adoption agency.

What does the Hague Convention want you to learn? Quite a lot. Starting with general facts about children awaiting adoption, risk factors affecting the health and mental and physical development of children, the effects of institutionalization on children, attachment and grieving, the requirements of post-placement reports, the history, culture and language of the child's country of origin, being a multicultural family and more.

Hopefully, you're getting a lot of information on these issues from blogs such as this one. But the authorities behind Hague are looking for something more formal. I, after all, am not an adoption professional and I can't tell from my side of the Internet whether you've read everything I've posted and understood them.

Luckily, you've got options. Adoption agencies are beginning to introduce Hague training programs: Gladney Center for Adoption is offering a video-on-demand program to registered parents through this Web site, and KidsFirst Adoption Services, which facilitates adoptions in Russia under the Frank Adoption Center umbrella, offers training through scheduled conference calls.

There's also an extensive, Web-based course that has just been released by the National Council For Adoption. I've taken it, and I'll tell you more about it in the next post.

Russia has not yet formally said what it would want from a Hague training course. But none of these courses is expensive, and I don't think it would hurt to have at the top of your home study that you have completed Hague training.