[karla-k]

We have friends and his mother is Chinese, 100%. If you are of Chinese heritage/descent, what is the adoption process like for China? Do you have a shorter wait, preferential treatment?

I don't necessarily agree with this if it is the policy, just doing research for our friends.

Thanks,
Karla

[KarenInCa]

Someone else could probably give you better advise, but I believe if they can prove that their parents or grandparents were born in China, then they would get expedited referrals. However, heritage itself is not necessarily valid for expedited referrals. Your friends mother or grandparents has to be FROM China and has to be able to prove they were born in China, to qualify them for an expedited referral. If the grandparents came to the US illegally, or if they were from rural areas where there was no proof of birth, it can be difficult to submit valid paper work, even if the criteria is met.
Currently, I think the wait from DTC to referral (the wait time from submitting the application to getting a referral) for expedited referrals, is about a year and a half. So it's still a long wait. And that has potential for the wait time to go up in conjunction with the regular referrals. Traditionally though, the wait is about half as long as regular referrals.

[sak9645]

If a person was born in China, or his/her parents were born in China, it is possible to get an expedited referral. This will usually shave several months off the wait, though it is hard to know what that means, nowadays, with waits being so long.

The person would have to work with a U.S. agency that is familiar with the expedited referral process, and that is willing to apply for it.

The only other advantages to Chinese heritage are that a request for a child from one's ancestral province is more likely to be honored, and that a request for a boy is more likely to be honored.

Basically, the Chinese adoption process is very straightforward, and no one gets truly "preferential" treatment. The Chinese authorities like the idea of placing a child with people of Chinese heritage, who will help the child learn about his/her birth culture. However, people of Chinese heritage must meet all of the same requirements as non-Chinese people, and must complete the same paperwork.

Sharon

[Rolly2008]

From what my agency told me is that one of your parents will need to be borned in China not your grandparents. Very unfortunate that one of my grandparents was borned in China, but not my parents, so I don't get the expedited referral.

[sak9645]

Rolly is correct.

The applicant must have been born in China, or his/her parent(s) must have been born in China.

Sharon

[mashimoro]

Hi Karla,

I've just heard from my agency that CCAA has sent out proposal for LID Dec 2006 for expedited families of Chinese heritage. So far, we've been hearing monthly batches each month from June 2008. We are waiting for our second daughter and luckily my dh's parents have birth certificates to prove that they were born in China. The process of waiting is a lot shorter for us when we first adopted our first daughter. We were LID Jan 2005 and got our referral in May 2005 but back then the waiting time was 9 months. We hope at this rate of referrals, we will be getting the earliest referral on Dec 2009 unless rumor has it that referrals will go faster before then.

Good Luck,

Mashimoro
LID May 21st,2008
Second daughter
LID Jan2005-first daughter
Forever family July25,2005-first daughter