[AngelsMama]

We are ready to adopt again after 3 years of our youngest being home. We have discussed every avenue possible and thought we had settled on domestic. That is until I saw a picture sent through my agency of a waiting little boy in China. Our agency is not the placing agency and this little boy may very well already be spoken for, but I thought that I could learn more about the Waiting Child Program and the good agencies. So any info on the program and what the dossier looks like would be much appreciated and if you know of a great program or two I would love to be pm'd. TIA!!!

[mommytoEli]

hey fellow guatamama. we are starting a waiting child adoption from China also. so far the dossier requirements look familiar lol.....i'm actually just getting ready to post a dossier question about something i forgot about.

[kirbystarcat]

Uh oh...three guatemamas all thinking alike... would love to talk to the two of you about what you have found out so far. I definitely want to start again, and I think I have hubby almost there as well. We are taking China SN, but I have no idea how to get started on this. Do you look for an agency, do you look for a specific child first?

[mommytoEli]

we are finishing our homestudy, gathering documents, and getting ready to submit our I800A.....while looking at photolistings...should we find our daughter on one....then we will sign with that agency....otherwise once our homestudy is ready we are going to pick an agency and get our DTC (dossier to China) and then wait to be matched(in the SN program). so i guess we are on a dual track. lol.

[karla-k]

We have been home almost 2 months with our son from China. He is a cleft baby. 10 months at referral, 19 months old now.

You can find a child and sign with the agency who has that child's file, or find a child on the shared list and ask your agency to pull their file, or you can sign with an agency and let them match you with a child.

A lot of it also depends on what kind of child you are seeking. If you want a very young girl with minor needs, you will likely have to sign with an agency and be matched that way. AYAP girls are snatched up pretty quickly by agency reps and usually don't make it onto photo listing sights like Rainbow Kids or agency lists.

We were already with an agency and as soon as our home study was finished we were matched. At this point, to be matched with a child who has been on the shared list less than 30 days you must have your dossier in China, which means you are signed with an agency. If a child has been on the shared list more than 30 days, anyone can have an agency pull their file and submit a letter of intent through that agency. Many agencies will not let you do that until you have an approved home study.

Our agency is small and we liked that. We were not competing with other families to be matched. Some agencies have many many many families wanting the same very young minor needs children and you may wait longer to be matched than you would with a smaller agency.

The dossier consists of:

Petition to adopt (one page letter asking permission to adopt a Chinese orphan)
Birth certificates
Marriage cert
employment statements
certificate of financial status
medical exams reports
police reports/clearances
home study
I-797c
Passport photo page

Very easy and most of the docs you produce yourself and get notarized. the medical exam can be used for both the home study and the dossier, as well as, employment statements and financial status cert.

We started our home study in January and were Logged in on May 13. We traveled in September, so 8 months from start to finish. Four months from LID to travel.