China Adoption Program

China, situated in East Asia, is the world's third largest country by area and the largest by population. It is one of the most ancient civilizations in the world with a history of 5000 years. Much of the country is covered by plateaus, hills, mountains and desert. The plains, China's granaries, only cover 12% of its land, feeding more than one-fifth of the world's population.

In recent years, the Chinese government has made great economic progress including an improved standard of living for many, addressing population growth and greatly improving quality of care for tens of thousands of abandoned and orphaned children in state-run welfare institutions. Legalizing the adoption of these children by both Chinese and foreign families is a great step forward taken by the Chinese government in progressively solving its problems.

In the People's Republic of China, ASIA works with the China Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA), a central government agency located in Beijing, and with the provincial governments to unite children in welfare institutions with loving, secure and stable families. Since the international adoption program began in 1991, approximately 63,000 children born in China now reside in the U.S.

The children, primarily girls, range from infancy to school age. Many of them are considered fairly healthy. Boys are also sometimes available. The typical age of infant children when adopted ranges from nine months to one year. Applicant families can specify a range of ages and health conditions they desire. Children with moderate to significant special needs (both girls and boys) are also available and very much in need of families. Little family background and medical history information is known about most of these children because they were abandoned, and their biological family cannot be found. Occasionally twins or sibling groups are available. All children, including those without known medical concerns, may have various degrees of malnutrition and developmental delays.

China has a well established and orderly adoption process. Stringent eligibility requirements were implemented in May 2007. See China Adoption/Requirements for current requirements.

Being abandoned or orphaned, these children are already approved for international adoption by the Chinese government and the Citizens and Immigration Services (CIS) for legal entry into this country. The approval process for the adoptions of children over the age of six years or children with moderate to significant special needs may be expedited by the CCAA.

At least one parent must travel to China to legalize an adoption and bring the child into the U.S. However, ASIA highly recommends that both parents travel to China. In some states, both parents must travel to China. The trip normally lasts 12-14 days.

The time frame of the entire adoption process varies as the personnel, policies, or procedures may change at the CCAA. The current wait from the time a family's dossier is logged in until the child's referral fluctuates, and as of mid October 2007, it is about 24 months. Please see the CCAA site for current time frames. The CCAA will not predict if or when that wait will become shorter. It could grow longer as the CCAA works through a huge backlog of dossiers submitted worldwide. With the implementation of new, more restrictive eligibility criteria, the numbers of submitted dossiers is now declining. Eventually, we expect that there will be a closer balance between "healthy" children available for adoption and the numbers of families waiting to adopt, reducing the wait time again.

Families usually travel to China in groups. While in China, families stay in western-style hotels and are escorted by our bilingual Chinese representatives and, in many cases, an ASIA staff person. This team of professionals will be with families throughout the trip in China, walk them through the process to legalize the adoption and introduce them to the local culture and people.

Adoptions are normally finalized in China. Refinalization of the adoption in the U.S. is highly recommended. Married couples sending one spouse to China must readopt the children in the U.S.

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