[SingleMiamiMom]

How old are the children when you get to take them home, typically? I'd like the child younger than 1 year, is that possible with the China program?

[Korrie Sue]

It is possible. From the stats I have looked at, the average age at referral is 10 months. However, it could be as low as 6 months. You typically bring your child home 1-3 months after your referral.

Korrie Sue

[Reesesjiejie]

It is possible, but it probably won't happen. You're probably looking at 12-18 months old at the youngest, although people do get younger. But remember, there is still a lot of baby even in the older ones.

[Karen in MT]

We were given a very large list of parents and their ages from our adoption agency and the age that they requested for a child, with the age that they were given. It was very interesting! Quite often the age of the child was slightly younger than the top age of their request. Example (If they asked for a 7 to 18 month old, they may get a 17 month old) regardless of the age of the parents. Although it did not always hold true......... Sometimes we have heard of some big surprises such as much older couples getting fairly young babies....... There seems to be - no set rule!

[Lissa]

Ages are really determined by what SWI's are up when your dossier hits the matching room and what the ages of the children are at those SWI's. The CCAA tries it's best to match you with a child as close to your request as possible. We requested between 6-12 months with a preference for ayap (as young as possible). Lydia was 9 months old at referral and because of the high volume of referrals at the time we adopted we had to wait almost 3 months until we picked her up. We missed her birthday by 2 days.

I desperately wanted a baby under 12 months too. To the point prior to recieving our referral I regretted putting 6-12 months on our application. (I was convinced to do so by a SW.) I cried and cried when I discovered we would not be picking up Lydia until after her birthday. Missing that first birthday was a hurt from which I never thought I would recover. But honestly...it didn't matter. Age really doesn't matter. What matters is the child you hold in your arms needs your love and you have love to give.
When I first saw her...that wonderful moment when they brought her in the room, I wasn't disappointed one bit. The only thing I knew was I was in love. Completely and totally. Nothing else mattered...just her.

[SingleMiamiMom]

I suppose you are right....I guess I just don't want to miss any "milestones" with her. I want her as young as possible so that she bonds to me right away..but as I have read, they seem to acclimate fairly quickly.

My real only concern is I hope my single status doesn't push me back another year...I suppose I"d be flexible on the age as long as she's still a baby...

[cooperbabe]

I think China considers any child under 2 still a baby/infant so keep that in mind. Most of the referrals I've seen have ranged from 8 - 18 months. And that's at referral so age at pickup was more like 10 -20 months.

If I had to guess I would say most of the referrals I've seen were over 12 months at referral.

Of course, most parents will say their child still had plenty of baby in them

[sak9645]

First off, orphanages cannot send dossiers of children to the China Center for Adoption Affairs -- the government bureau that assigns all the babies -- until a three-month birthparent search has been completed. As a result, even if a child is abandoned at birth, and even if an orphanage is prompt in putting his/her paperwork together, the paperwork can't go to Beijing until he/she is 3 months old.

Of course, many children are not abandoned until well after birth; their dossiers wait three months, as well. And many orphanages do not have the staffing to do all the necessary paperwork promptly. So some children's paperwork may not arrive in Beijing till they are several months old.

Then, orphanage groups of child dossiers sit in a queue, and are matched with agency groups of parent dossiers in chronological order. If there are a lot of orphanage groups, the wait until a child is matched with a family can be a few months.

So, the bottom line is that children are at least 5-6 months old by the time they are matched with a family. And many of the children are older.

China considers all NSN children under age two to be infants and in the same pool of potential referrals. Therefore, even if you request a child under one year old, you may actually get the referral of a child who is anywhere from six months to two years of age.

When your agency group of dossiers is ready for matching, it will be matched against the next available group of child dossiers, in most cases. The CCAA staff will look at the children's paperwork, and then decide which parent is the best fit for each child.

Age of child requested is only one of the factors influencing the matching process. The ages of children in that particular orphanage group will be one deciding factor. And matching may take into account such things as parental age, parental and child interests, a child's temperament, and even a child's appearance.

So, the answer to your question is that, yes, children under age one are referred. But you will have to be open to any NSN child under age two. If you feel that you simply can't accept a child who may be between 13 months and two years of age, you might well want to consider a different country.

But don't make that decision lightly. I must tell you, as the Mom of a daughter whom I met when she was 18.5 months old, that there is a lot of "baby" in a young toddler from China. And a young toddler is no more likely than an infant to have attachment issues.

My daughter was very small (only 17 lb. on Adoption Day), and loved to be carried, even though she COULD walk. She used diapers until she was nearly three. She wanted to be fed for the first several months at home. I got PLENTY of baby experience.

And after a three day period of emotional shutdown, caused by grief and shock, my daughter turned out to be the world's most huggy/kissy/smiley baby, who just LOVED having a Mom and being adopted.

In short, I got the child of my dreams. She just happened to come home after her first birthday.

Sharon

[SingleMiamiMom]

Sharon, you make very good points.

I suppose I'll ask for a child between 6 months to 18 months and let God do the rest.

[Sheba]

Our daughter Kennedy was 8months at referral and turned 10months on the day they handed her to me. We requested AYAP and are doing the same again. Kennedy only had two teeth when we met and 6 when we left China. She was not even walking. So we had plenty of baby to get use to again. She is now a typical 19 month old and wants everything her way and teething her final 3 teeth!

Good luck

[pgruodis]

It looks as if each referral group seems to be getting younger.

[looneytunes32]

I've kept track of referrals for this time, and so far they range from 6 months (1) to 21 months. The majority seem to be 7-9 months.

[L_M_D]

We received our referral on Monday! Most of the babaies in this referral batch were a little older than the last one. The average was about 14 months I would say. Several were nearing age 2.

We requested 0-13 months, AYAP and our daughter is 11 months old now, at referral.

We are thrilled!

Laura
DH Jim
DD Lesley, Yongzhou SWI, Hunan

[andrea]

We received our referral for our daughter Avari in February on the day she turned 1. We met her the day after Easter when she was 13 months old. We asked for 10 months to 18 months old because we had a 3 yr old at home (Korea 2003) and because of our ages 45. So overall we were pleased with our daughters age.

Andrea