[Marshie]

I have no idea if referrals are coming sooner for people who stated they are open to a child with SN in their dossier. The waiting child program, however, is different. There are many agencies out there who China sends lists of children with special needs to, and that agency will then post that list for 3 months (i think they all do three months but I could be wrong, the ones I've seen do). If you are open to a child with a special need you might want to ask your agency if they have a waiting child list you could view. Since you are already DTC you would have to use your agency I believe. We found our daughter on a waiting child list in August and that agency is now due for their next list. They should be receiving 30+ new children late this week or perhaps next. The lists are usually about even between boys and girls. Sometimes there are even more boys than girls.

The needs I most often see on the WC lists are cleft lip/palate (lip usually repaired and palate usually not), heart defects (VSD, ASD, Tretalogy of Fallot) which are repairable or so small they need no treatment and correct on their own, club feet, albinism, crossed eyes, missing limbs, extra or missing fingers/toes, birthmarks, hep b+, one leg/arm shorter than the other, anemia, cerebal palsy (which is called brain paralysis on the lists usually), epilepsy, undescended testicles, anal malformations, ambiguous gender, scoliosis, deafness or blindness.

You can look at the pictures of all the children and once you find one (I actually petitioned for two) you will petition for them and depending on the agency you will either be matched on a first come first serve basis or the agency may accept files from many different families for the kids and have a meeting a week or so later to choose the best family for the child or to whoever gets their petition in first. Then you'll write your LOI (letter if intent) and wait for PA (pre-approval) from China. PA could take 2 weeks to 2 months. You can be DTC before you petition or you can start the whole process after you petition. After you are DTC it can take 3 weeks to 3 months to get travel approval and a Consulate Appointment which could be a couple of weeks to a couple of months after your TA.
I have already sent two care packages to my daughter and I plan to send more while we're waiting. I have also found two families who were adopting children from my child's orphanage and asked them to get me pictures of her. The first family took 3 pictures for me, and the second family is leaving for China after Thanksgiving! The orphanage also sent me updated info on her without pics.
If any of this interests you, you can contact your agency and ask if they have a list or if you don't have an agency yet (or you can always switch agencies, but you would probably need to pay a new agency fee and forfeit the old one) you can look at the lists of many different agencies and see if there is a little girl or boy you will fall in love with.