[Military Momma]

Hello everyone!

I adopted my son from Russia in 2004 and I am now considering China for our soon-to-be daughter. I found the Russia boards to be so valuable that I thought I would give the China boards a try.

I would like information on agencies as our previous adoption agency no longer handles China. Please PM me with your suggestions as to the best agency out there. I am aware of the 2.5++ years of waiting. We are looking to adopt a 4 or 5 year old girl if possible.

Thanks and looking forward to hearing from you!

[KarenInCa]

I think the most important thing you need to look for is one that's Hague compliant, and not one that is planning on being so. Also, you might want to secure a spot with an agency that is not only China specific, because if that agency relies only on China referrals, and the wait continues to go up, the agency could be in danger of going belly up.

Some agencies do all the footwork of the extra paperwork for you, while others have you do all the footwork. Our agency is smaller, and only on California; this makes it a bit riskier, but the plus is that our agency will have a smaller group each month. With our first daughter, there were only 3 families traveling, and all the children were from the same region. One of the other children slept in a crib right next to my daughter from the time each was found. This kind of coziness might not have happened with a larger agency.
Also, our agency is centered very close to where we live, so they did all the notarizing for free. With everything that needs to be notarized, that saved us probably around $300.
The downside to going with a local and smaller agency, is that they have their own set of rules that makes them more strict than China's rules. With our first daughter, we assumed they were telling us to do things because China imposed it, then we found out differently, and realized that our agency is overcautious about documenting employment in 2 or 3 different ways, etc.

[candkss]

I would love to have any information you get...I adopted two children from Guatemala and I am on the Guate Forum...and now we are talking China...YIPEEE

[sak9645]

You have two options:

1. Go through the regular program and request a child in the age range you want. If you opt to go for a school aged child, usually defined as 6+, or if you are willing to adopt a child with a significant special need, you may be able to get your adoption expedited somewhat.

2. Go through the Waiting Child program, which has children of school age and children with special needs. You select the child from a list and request him/her through the agency representing him/her. If the agency considers you qualified to parent the child, it will submit a preapproval request to China. If you receive preapproval, you will then submit a dossier, as for the regular program. It will be reviewed in an expedited manner, and you are likely to bring home your child fairly quickly.

Sharon

[sak9645]

There is no agency that is "right" for everyone. Even among the most ethical agencies, some will meet your needs and some won't. A lot depends on what is important to you.

As an example, if you are easily "boggled" by paperwork, you will want an agency that helps you with a lot of the steps of dossier preparation, either within the basic fee or for an additional charge. If you have a strong religious faith, you may want to go with an agency that shares your beliefs. If you are terrified of dealing with a sick child in China, you may want an agency that sends a doctor along with travel groups.

Some people prefer China-only agencies, because they are likely to have the most experience. However, in today's volatile adoption climate, many families are preferring to select an agency that has multiple programs, in case a country closes or changes its requirements. It is much easier to switch programs within an agency, than to switch agencies midstream.

With China, everyone needs to work with a licensed, nonprofit agency; no independent adoptions are allowed. The agency must be approved by China to place children with Americans. And because both China and the U.S. have ratified Hague Convention #33, on intercountry adoption, you will need to choose a Hague-accredited agency.


Sharon

[mdaisyq]

I noticed that you had put the wait times at 2.5 ++. The wait will probably be far, far longer if you are interested in applying for a NSN child even at the age range you are considering. It used to be that children 6 and older would be considered SN solely because of their age, but this may have changed.

Right now the wait time is almost 3 years and is expected to grow to 4-5 years for NSN.

If you are interested in adopting a SN child, then I would ask about this when you are doing an agency search. There is a "shared list" of waiting children which is not available to all agencies and then there are some agencies that also get a list that is just their own. Ask the adoption agency about their access to the shared list and how they handle parent matching. This is relatively new process and each agency seems to have their own rules for internal matching.

Also, as sak9645 mentioned, the China dossier is complex, but on the same par as a Russian dossier (we had a failed Russian adoption in 1995.) You might be thrilled to find that some agencies help with the authentication (similar to the apostilling.)