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EthiopiaAccording to the China Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA), both adopting parents must be at least 30 years of age to submit a dossier to adopt. Families can begin paperwork at age 29, however a dossier cannot be submitted to the CCAA until both adopting parents are 30 years old. Typically the CCAA will refer infants to couples where the youngest parent is 45 years of age or younger at the time of referral. If the younger of the adopting couple is over 45 years of age at the time of referral, the child may be older. Both parents of a married couple must be under 50 years of age at the time of dossier submission to adopt from China. Health conditions, financial status, and criminal history are other considerations the CCAA include in their approval process. For a more extensive list of guidelines for adopting from China, please see Legal Requirements to Adopt from China.
The China Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA) is the organization within China that is responsible for processing international adoptions from China. The CCAA is a branch of the Ministry of Civil Affairs which oversees the orphanages within China. As children are eligible for international adoption, orphanages provide documentation on those children to the CCAA. Placing agencies (such as FTIA) submit documentation (a dossier) on families wanting to adopt from China. The CCAA is responsible for reviewing family documentation (dossiers), matching children with families and overseeing the adoption process.
Infants are typically 6 - 18 months of age. There are many infants ready to be adopted. Older children up to the age of fourteen are available as well.
Travel is typically 8 weeks after accepting a referral, so the child will be 8 weeks older by the time the parents receive him or her than the child is at the time a family receives the referral.
The majority of the children (approximately 95%) are girls; however, yes, boys are available for international adoption. Families can request a boy from China. There is a potential that the wait time could be a bit longer for a boy than a girl.
China does not place more than one child for adoption at the same time except in the rare case of twins. Twins are available on rare occasion. The CCAA does use pretty stringent guidelines in considering families for the placement of twins. In addition, luck plays a big role in placing twins.
Please refer to the Cost To Adopt From China page on FTIA's website for a detailed cost-breakdown for an adoption from China.
There are essentially three major time frames involved in adopting from China. The first time frame includes the length of time it takes families to put together a dossier. Some families are able to complete a dossier as quickly as approximately 60 days while other families need much more time. Some families are able to work on documents all at one time, while other families have to work on the dossier a little bit at a time as their life schedule allows. Government agencies including Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) offices can also impact how quickly a family is able to complete the dossier.
The second time frame is from dossier submission and log-in at the CCAA to referral, and currently is approximately 30 months. This time frame is approximate and does fluctuate, it will get longer or shorter over time.
The third time frame is from the time a family accepts a referral until they travel, which is typically 8 weeks.
After a complete dossier is submitted to FTIA, all dossiers are reviewed by a two-person, very thorough, review process. FTIA tries to submit completed dossiers to China typically on Fridays of each week. FTIA does not batch or hold dossiers to submit a certain number at a given time. FTIA requests that families allow 2-3 days for their dossier to be reviewed.
Most of the children live in orphanages. However, there are some children who live in foster care.
Generally, in China the birth mother is not known. The child is usually left in an area where the mother knows he/she will be found easily. She does not personally hand over the child to officials and relinquish her parental rights. The child becomes a ward of the government and is brought to the orphanage once picked up. The orphanage director is the child's legal custodian.
Generally the children adopted from China are very healthy. Developmental delays in certain areas are fairly common, while long-term medical issues are not as common. There is always the possibility of unforeseen or undetected medical or developmental issues and families should be prepared for such.
A referral typically consists of a physical exam report, a developmental report, blood test results, and at least one to two photographs of the child. FTIA will provide families with all original Chinese medical reports, developmental reports and any other information sent on the child. FTIA will also provide families with a complete English translation of the referral information and photographs of the child. All information provided by the CCAA on the child will be given to the family.
FTIA does not require that the medical information be reviewed by a doctor. However, because FTIA is not in a position to offer medical advice, we do recommend that the family obtain a medical opinion. This is a personal, life-long decision so we want all families to be comfortable with the decision to accept the referral and complete the adoption. A list of International Adoption Medical Experts is available on the FTIA website.
The adoption is finalized in China, so at least one parent must travel. We strongly recommend that both parents travel to see the child's birth country and experience the culture. Another benefit of both parents traveling is that the child will automatically become a citizen of the United States upon arrival in the U.S.; therefore it will not be necessary to apply for his/her citizenship. If only one parent travels, a Power of Attorney is needed giving the traveling parent permission to appear before provincial and U.S. Consulate officials on behalf of the non-traveling parent. Also, if only one parent travels, the child will not automatically become a U.S. citizen and parents will need to apply for your child's citizenship upon returning to the U.S. Parents will also have to follow their state's guidelines for re-adopting or registering the adoption in their state.
The trip is approximately 12 to 15 days. The overall length of the trip is influenced by the province the child is from, the appointment at the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou, China, international flight availability for the group, etc.
There are many nice hotels in China. We try to always arrange for our families to stay at the top quality hotels available. Typically families will spend approximately 5-6 days in the provincial capital of the province your child is from. From there all families will travel to Guangzhou, China, to complete necessary steps for the United States Consulate. Families typically stay in Guangzhou approximately 4-6 days. Sightseeing in Beijing for 1-2 days prior to going to the province is optional and dependent upon many factors including flight availability, appointment schedules, holidays, etc. We try to include going to Beijing as part of the trip when arrangements work out for the group, however we cannot guarantee that it will be part of every trip.
FTIA works with travel agencies to arrange all international and inside China travel for you. Families generally travel as a group. Once appointments are confirmed with the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou, we will arrange travel. The travel agents we work with will contact you to confirm your international travel. Once that is taken care of, FTIA will confirm inside China travel arrangements and send families all travel information including an itinerary for the trip. Given the dynamics of group travel and the many factors that must be coordinated, FTIA does discourage families from traveling different from the plans made for the group. If a family wishes to make travel arrangements that are different from the group arrangements, please be aware that a $100 surcharge will be applied to travel costs.
We at FTIA do our best to make the trip as economical as possible for families. We do try to help families use frequent flyer miles; however, using frequent flyer miles can be difficult. Often the details of travel do not come together until close to the time of actually traveling. FTIA also uses several different international airlines for the trip depending on the number of families traveling, flight availability, etc. Typically families run into problems with frequent flyer miles due to black out dates, the amount of advanced notice needed to make arrangements, limited number of seats allotted on flights for frequent flyer mileage users, etc. Again, we will try to help as we understand the savings potential for frequent flyer miles, but we want families to realize they are difficult to use.
Typically when you arrive at the airport in China we will have one of our in-country coordinators from our Beijing Office meet you. A coordinator will be with you for the rest of the trip. This person will assist you in filling out all of the required paperwork, make sure you arrive at each scheduled appointment on time and have everything you need. You will be well taken care of during your trip in China.
When you travel to China you will need to carry $6,000 in new, crisp bills. This includes the required $3,000 orphanage donation and approximately $1,200-$1,500 in provincial legal fees. The orphanage donation and provincial legal fees are turned over to our staff shortly after your arrival in China. The remaining money is an estimate of the amount that families will need for food, daily necessities, shopping, etc. Typically most families find this estimate to be appropriate unless you plan to buy a very expensive souvenir, etc. You will also need to carry a major credit card (Master Card, Visa, or American Express) in case of emergency.
When you submit an application to FTIA you will be assigned a coordinator from the China Team to work with you. If that coordinator is not available families are always welcome to contact any member of the China Team with questions. When families are in China, an in-country coordinator from our Beijing office or a local guide from the travel agency we work with will be with you to assist you. Families are always welcome to call or email FTIA and we will do our best to answer your questions and find you the help that you need through the adoption process.
