Named Waiting Children

What are the advantages of requesting a specific child?

Many families strongly prefer to have information about a child before considering adopting. By reviewing medical and care information you can evaluate your readiness and ability to care for and bond with the child. If you choose to review information about several available children you may find an emotional attachment to one child over the others available. This can enhance the bonding process with your child. You are less likely to be able to travel with other families.

How do we begin the process of requesting a named child?

You begin by becoming a client family of Americans Adopting Orphans. As you begin your Home Study process your Social Worker will ask you if you would prefer or are willing to consider a waiting child. If you are, then you will use our Special Needs Checklist to gain an understanding of the different challenges children can face, and where your skills and capabilities are strongest. Your social worker will help you define the special needs you are willing and able to consider.

If you have already have a completed Home Study Pre-Placement Report you may need to spend a little more time with your Social Worker or our Co-Director Cindy Ptasnik, RN to prepare your Special Needs Checklist.

How do we choose a child?

Once you have a clear idea of the profile of the child you wish to adopt Americans Adopting Orphans will send you information about the waiting children who have been assigned to our agency by the CCAA. You may choose whether you wish to review the information about all available children, or just the children who fall within the profile you have established on your Special Need Checklist. For example if you didn't think that you wanted to adopt a child with a cleft lip or palate you could choose to review or not review the records of children with that disability. On one hand you might want to avoid becoming attached to a child's photo who you are not really prepared to care for and parent. On the other hand you might think of your medical preferences as general guides rather than limitations and want to maximize your opportunity to become attached to a specific child.

Once you have selected a child to adopt we will help you write a Letter of Intent to adopt that specific child. This letter will be submitted with your dossier to the CCAA. Your dossier will receive expedited processing as described below.

What information do we receive about the children?

A typical child's information will have several photos of the child, usually including detailed photos of any external physical disability. There will be the results of a routine medical exam, and detailed information about the child's special need. If the child is more than a year old, there is usually updated medical information for each year or so in care. A care history and developmental evaluation are usually provided as well. To protect the privacy of the children our agency will normally redact each child's Chinese name and exact date of birth from the initial information given to your family. When you select a child you will be provided with the identifying information.

Families may not make photocopies of information about available children except to give to a medical provider, until they have selected a child. Families will return information about children not chosen to Americans Adopting Orphans.

Is additional medical information available about the child?

In some cases. The CCAA may not provide additional medical testing unless specifically requested by a physician in the US, or if the routinely provided information is more than a year old. We work with families on a case by case basis. Medical conditions that are more severe or likely to change over time are given higher priority by the CCAA. When permitted by the CCAA we will also contact the orphanage directly for further information. When a family is in China completing their adoption they may also request a full medical examination as part of our Step 4 services.

How long do we have to decide if we want to adopt a specific child?

Once your family has received information about one or more available children we ask that you commit to a specific child in one week. If you are unable to decide that quickly we may forward the information to another family who would then have the first opportunity to choose that child.

What if we don't see a child we want to adopt?

Every month or two Americans Adopting Orphans will receive information about new waiting children from the CCAA. We will inform families who are in our named waiting child program about their arrival. Families will be able to see information about the children in order based on their entrance into the program. Your family is entered in the program when you have completed the process for developing a special needs profile. Your family may also choose to apply to adopt a profiled waiting child, as described below.

What happens after we have submitted our Letter of Intent?

Americans Adopting Orphans will notify the CCAA that the child has been selected by your family. That child will then wait for you. When your dossier is submitted to the CCAA it will receive greatly accelerated review and processing, normally taking 2 – 3 months. As of December 2006 normal processing is taking about 16 months. Once the CCAA has reviewed your documentation and approved the adoption Americans Adopting Orphans will be sent a Travel Approval document for your family. With this document we can make firm consulate appointments and establish travel dates for your adoption journey. See the discussion of Step 5 in our Description of Services for information about your adoption trip. It is common that families adopting waiting children are not able to travel with other families, so single family supplement fees may apply.

What if our dossier is already in China?

If your dossier is already in China and you decide you want to adopt a specific waiting child you would follow the procedure outlined above. Once you write your Letter of Intent for a specific child, Americans Adopting Orphans will submit your letter to the CCAA. They will remove your file from normal processing and expedite the translation and review of your dossier. This process usually takes a month or so longer than a request made with the submission of your dossier.

What if we see a child that we want to adopt from a different agency?

The CCAA does not normally allow children listed with one agency to be placed by a different agency. They also discourage agencies making information available about waiting children to the general public. If you become sufficiently attached to a child you may choose to change agencies to adopt that child. Americans Adopting Orphans fees are not refundable, but we will work with your new agency, and you may use your home study if that is allowed by your new agency. There is a $250 fee for coordinating with another agency.

If a child's dossier has been with an agency for 3 months the CCAA will remove the child from that agency and place the child with a different agency. It is possible that our agency could request that child on your behalf and you would be able to adopt that child using our services. We work with families in this circumstance on a case by case basis.

Is our trip to China any different?

Generally the trip to China is the same for all families. There is, however, a greater likelihood that your family would not be able to travel with other families. In most cases agencies send applications to China in groups. The CCAA keeps those groups together when making assignments. Families whose dossiers were sent to China at the same time will be matched with children from a single locality. Every month each agency will have their group of families traveling to a different part of China. It is unlikely that you would choose a waiting child from the same city that happens to be the destination for the next group of normally processed families. (Note – families who are requesting a profiled waiting child will probably be able to travel with a group of families.) Your travel expenses may be higher if you are unable to share travel and guide services with a larger group, as described in our Description of Services under Step 5.