[sak9645]

Even when a person has had his/her local record expunged, the offense sometimes shows up on the FBI fingerprint check.

For this reason, it is extremely important that your husband disclose any arrest to your homestudy social worker before the homestudy report goes to the USCIS. In the homestudy process, the USCIS requires the social worker to ask the person specifically if he/she has a criminal record. If the person says "no", and it is recorded in the homestudy (as it must be for the USCIS), and if the FBI fingerprint check subsequently shows an arrest, that could very well cause the USCIS to deny 171-H/797-C approval.

If the person tells the social worker about an early and relatively minor event, and gets the necessary documentation, the social worker will need to mention it briefly in the homestudy report. But then there is no risk that the USCIS will deny approval if it happens to show up in the FBI fingerprint check.

Only time will tell how strict China will be with its new guidelines about minor, long ago infractions of laws, which took effect in May, 2007. I think it will take many more months until agencies can be sure exactly how the new guidelines will be enforced.

In the past, China would accept people with a minor offense that didn't involve children or violence, that occurred in the teen or young adult years, and that was not a sign of an ongoing problem like alcohol abuse. And agencies could talk to China, in advance, about the acceptability of a person who -- for example -- got a DUI less than ten years ago, to see if this otherwise perfect candidate had to be disqualified; in most cases, he/she was allowed to proceed.

Today, China is saying that it's going to be much more strict than it was previously, and I think that many agencies are being much more cautious, as a result. I suspect that some agencies will still see if they can talk to the CCAA and get permission to submit a dossier of someone who did a dumb thing at 19, but who has been a solid citizen for the past 15 years and meets all the other adoption requirements beautifully.

When you are ready to adopt, who knows what the situation will be like? There is no guarantee that China will even be open to adoption, though it probably will be. There is no guarantee that there will be a lot of kids with no special needs or only minor special needs to adopt, given the new emphasis on preventing abandonments and encouraging domestic adoptions. There is no guarantee that the policies and guidelines in place now will be in place then.

One thing is clear. If you don't qualify for China, and you may not, there are lots of other countries with children who need families, and you will almost certainly qualify for one of them.

Sharon