Profiled Waiting Children

What are the advantages of letting the CCAA choose a child for us?

Many families feel that by choosing one child out of a group of available children that they are rejecting the other children. You may not want to make this kind of choice. Choosing a child relatively early in your adoption process can mean months of waiting before you can travel to China and adopt your child. Your wait will be minimized by letting the CCAA choose the child for you after your application has been submitted and reviewed. Some families' religious or spiritual beliefs lead them to prefer a child selected for them by fate or destiny. Some families prefer the support of traveling with other families, which is more likely with a profiled waiting child.

How do we begin the process of requesting a profiled waiting 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 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.

Once you have an understanding of the special needs that you are and are not willing to consider we will work with you to write a profile of the child you want to adopt. Your profile could be very specific. For example you could request a male child between two and four years of age with a club foot. Your profile could also list a series of conditions that you would or would not consider. For example you could ask for a female child under 2 years of age with a cleft lip, but not a bilateral cleft lip and palate. A profile can also be very general. For example your profile could state that you would like to adopt any available child under 5 years of age with a surgically correctable medical condition.

We will then work with you to write your application letter to China that describes the child you want to adopt. In your application letter you will state that you prefer to adopt a child with special needs, the profile of the child you want to adopt (including age, gender, nature and severity of special needs you are willing to consider), and that you are requesting expedited processing. Americans Adopting Orphans will place a cover letter on your dossier echoing your request.

What happens when the CCAA receives our dossier?

Your dossier will be separated from any other dossiers submitted with yours, and will receive special processing. Document translation and review will happen much more quickly. Your dossier will then be sent to the Department of Inter-Country Adoption Placement (informally known as the Matching Room). In many cases your dossier will then join with other dossiers submitted by Americans Adopting Orphans in previous months. These families will be come a part of your travel group. The Matching Room will find a child that fits the child profile you have developed, normally from the same general area as the other Americans Adopting Orphans families receiving assignments. All of these referrals will be bundled together and sent to the United States.

When do we receive our referral?

In most cases families requesting a non specific or "profiled" special needs child will receive their referral in less than six months from the submission of their dossier to China. Processing times may vary. Once you have received your referral you will move through the adoption process like any other family. Please see our general Frequently Asked Questions and Description of Services for details. In brief we will ask that your family accept or decline the referral within one week. Your acceptance will be sent to the CCAA, a Travel Approval letter will be issued in about a month, and you will travel to China a few weeks after that. Your trip in China will probably last about 10 days.

What information do we receive about the child?

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.

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.

What if our dossier is already in China?

If your dossier is already in China and you decide you want to adopt a profiled waiting child we will help you work through our Special Needs Checklist and create a profile of the child you want to adopt. We will then work with you to write a new application letter to be submitted to the CCAA. Once they receive your letter 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.

Is our trip to China any different?

Generally the trip to China is the same for all families. There is, however, a possibility that your family would not be able to travel with other 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.