[Kiana]

I have seen web sites in the past that show photos and information of children in China with special needs available for adoption. Recently my husband and I have become more interested in looking at this route. Could you please pass on to me any web sites like this? Also, how does the adoption cost and wait time compare in this type of adoption? I would also be greatly interested in hearing from any of you who have adopted special needs kids. Thanks for your input!

Kiana

[Shelley]

Kiana,
like everything else sn's adoption times and costs vary. The time frame depends greatly on how quickly you are able to complete your dossier. The costs are comprable to the nsn route, but some children have either reduced fee's or grants available to help families.
There is a yahoo group called waiting children china, where you can find all kinds of info on various sn's, costs, timelines, find different agencies who have wc programs and look through their wc lists etc... I can't remember the address but if you run a search it should come up.
Our first daughter was a wc. SHe was a 29 weeks preemie (home from Korea 8/03) SHe is a healthy active almost 3 yo. We are currently waiting on travel approval for our daughter who is waiting for us in CHina. she is almost 4. (next month) She is/was a waiting child. Our timeline went like this.
First saw Sizhen's photo and fell in love 5/23/05 ish
LOI or Letter of intent 6/03/05
PA or pre-acceptance 9/1/05 (we have 5 minor children in the home so required special permission)
DTC 9/28/05
Our agency says we should have TA or travel approval 9-12 weeks after DTC. so hopefully that will come before Christmas.
If you have any specific questions please feel free to contact me privately, I'm more than happy to help. Shelley

[bthomas9500]

I sent you a pm

Brandy

[sak9645]

Technically, agencies are not allowed to photolist kids from the Waiting Child program on public websites, to protect the children's privacy, so be careful in discussing this or China could shut the program down.

Agencies may mention, in public forums, the ages and special needs of children for whom they have been assigned to find families. They are supposed to give detailed information only to families making direct inquiries. It seems to be OK for an agency to put pictures on its own website or listserv, though I'm not sure how China views this.

There is a list of agencies that China has selected to participate in the Waiting Child program that you can get if you subscribe to a-parents-china, a very large listserv on Yahoo Groups. Once you subscribe, you can go to the sidebar, click on "Files", then scroll down and click on "Waiting Child Agency List".

Once you get the list of agencies, you can go to the website of each and see if the waiting children are photolisted. Or you can simply email the agency, which will share information with you. If there are special needs you are willing to accept, or if you are willing to consider a healthy school aged child, be sure to mention that fact.

Sharon