[PetersMom]

China is an excellent path to adoption. The govt has stabilized the process and it runs like clockwork. One you are done with the process here, your dossier goes to the China Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA) and once they approve your dossier (in our case, the agency sent an older AIDS test so they faxed the new one and we were back on track without incident) you simply wait for your referral, then your travel authorization 6-8 weeks later and you are off! Very easy. It is a well-beaten path and runs very smoothly. Wish we'd have done it years ago! Would have saved us so much heartache domestically! But that's another story.

The age of your baby is sometimes determined by your age. We were 42 and 48 when going to get our daughter and thought we would receive a child in the 18-24month range, but instead our daughter just turned 1 two days before we held her for the first time. The babies right now are younger and younger and the wait time is shorter and shorter due in part (IMO) to the smoothness of the process now that they have a system in place to do it.

I was frustrated with my agency, but it was due to the fact that I was talking to the director (who really only knows Russia) and not the person dealing directly with China. Once I figured out who to talk to, I felt better. The great thing my agency did was to wire our fees directlyto China. I don't know of many agencies that do that and it was WONDERFUL! China requires all fees to be paid in new or newer US bills. It is extremely difficult to do that here and the banks can get newer bills for you, but you often need to order the cash in advance. In addition, wiring the fees made it less stressful for us to carry around that much cash, even when we used the hotel safe. Wiring the fees eliminated that stress. We only carried the cash needed for souvineers and such and the local banks don't care if the cash is a little worn. It also made it feel a little less like "buying" a baby since we were not exchanging cash for a baby.

China's adoption process was so ethical because the fees are the fees, period. They don't look at your salary and say, "Well, you make more money so we will charge you more." The orphanage donation of $3000 is essentially 24 hour day care for your baby for the first year of her life. The timeline is fairly predictable, the babies are in general good health, not always perfect. My daughter was delayed by almost 6 months in her physical development, but within 3 months of being home she is right on target! These babies are so resilient! I've seen it over and over on many websites on China adoptions how well they adjust. Must be in the way the nannies take care of them.

If you have any other questions or want to PM me, I'll be happy to help.