Paper Pregnancy

• Mostly baby girls available.


• Children are usually under the age of 2 when they are adopted.


• Based on our ages, we'd qualify for an infant under a year old.


• It's one of the most affordable international programs, costing about $20,000 for all US fees, Chinese fees, agency fees, and travel costs.


• In-country stay is about two weeks and usually includes travel to the city of Beijing, the city where your child is living, and the city of Guangzhou.


• ALL international adoptions are handled by the CCAA in Beijing. This government agency logs in and reviews all dossiers and matches babies with parents. This means that no matter which agency you choose, you take a number and get in the same line with everyone else. When your number comes up, you get a referral.


• The program is considered very stable and ethical, but it's also very popular. An increase in the number of dossiers submitted has resulted in a large backlog and thus a long wait for a referral.


• Families set to receive their referrals in June 2007 were originally logged in at CCAA in November 2005. So that's an indication of how long the wait is right now. It's generally expected by most that the wait will easily reach 24 months for a referral. Some people are saying it could easily go to 3 YEARS, but others aren't saying that just yet.


• It is rumored that CCAA has a quota on the number of babies they will release each year for international adoption. If so, it will take a very long time for them to match all of the waiting dossiers. The quota number is believed to be a very small fraction of the number of children actually in orphanages and foster care in China.


• We would be logged in some time in the summer of 2008, meaning that we might not receive a referral until M is four or older.

The PROS of adopting from China:

• It's generally a very fair program, and we would't have to worry about our wait depending on the agency we choose.


• The children are generally pretty healthy.


• There is a very large and active community of American parents raising children adopted from China, so we would have many opportunities to reach out to other families. This could be very beneficial as our daughter grows up and sees plenty of other families just like hers.


• The costs are pretty manageable. About 1/3 of the fees are incurred during the paperchase, and the bulk of the remaining fees are incurred when the referral comes and when the family travels to China.


• Although the wait time is pretty long, it would give us plenty of time to save for the adoption. Honestly, the China program probably makes the most sense, strictly from a financial standpoint.


• Once our paperwork is completed, I could go back to work until our referral comes. I'm not sure if this is a pro or a con, but it's something I'm tossing around in my head.


• We'd get to spend two weeks in China, and if the wait is long enough, it might be a good experience for M to be able to see a new country.


• We're almost certain to receive a referral for a baby girl. Hubby loves the idea of having another girl, and I admit I've definitely got a soft spot in my heart for little girls. It would be much easier for us to prepare for the new baby knowing that we'll be expecting a girl.
  

The CONS of adopting from China:

• The wait time is long. Very long. And could get longer. When we first looked into adopting from China, people were getting their referrals six months after their dossiers were logged in! Now it could take three YEARS! And that's just what people are saying right now - who knows how long the wait could be by the time we are actually able to submit our paperwork?


• A LOT can change in the two or three years we'd have to wait patiently for a referral.


• New restrictions went into effect on May 1, 2007 that will dramatically reduce the number of families eligible to adopt from China, meaning that CCAA may be able to match more LIDs (log-in dates) and therefore decrease the time people logged in AFTER May 1, 2007 have to wait. However, CCAA likely will not get to May 2007 LIDs until after WE are logged in. So we'd have to spend about $7000 or more to get our paperwork to China without a clear idea of how long we'd be expected to wait.


• M could be five or even older before her sister comes home. What do we tell her? That's a long time to keep the adoption from her, but that's also a LONG time to expect a young child to cope with the wait.


• Our child could be 11 or 12 months old (or possibly older) by the time she comes home. That's not necessarily a "con", but it is something to think about as there are programs referring younger babies.


• If we move, if Hubby changes jobs, if I get pregnant or if we otherwise have any big life changes, we have to pay to update our homestudy. That's true of ANY country where we'd be adopting, but because the wait is so long right now for China, we're more likely to have to update a homestudy than we would in a program where the wait is, say, six months.


• Our USCIS paperwork and fingerprints will expire before we get our referral. We will have to redo the paperwork at least once at a cost of $545 for the I-600A and $140 for the fingerprints, plus the gas and wear and tear on the car of driving 4+ hours roundtrip to the USCIS office.


• I'm currently staying at home with M. She'll be 2 when our paperwork goes to China, and she could be 4 or possibly even 5 when her sister comes home. Do I stay home that whole time and then FINALLY go back to work when our second child gets older? Do I go back to work once our paperwork is submitted and then quit or take an extended leave when our baby comes home? Five, six, seven years or more is a long time to be out of the workforce.