China Program Updates

Referrals

Congratulations to the 9 families who accepted referrals through the waiting children during the month of September! Families who were logged in May 16 and May 18, 2006 received an email today with details concerning this month’s referrals, as we anticipate to see their referrals arrive in the upcoming week(s).

  

CCAA Delegation Visit

As mentioned in the recent CEO Blog post from Brian, the CCAA (China Center for Adoption Affairs) Delegation recently visited the America World corporate office. Afterwards AWAA hosted a dinner where some of our local adoptive families attended with their children and mingled with the officials. The Delegation was presented with a “Journey through Post Placement†book of letters from many of our families who are home with their children.  These families volunteered to submit their stories and photos to show their appreciation to the CCAA and describe their family life in the post placement process. We are thankful to both the families who were part of the visit and those who contributed to the book, as these contributions were the truly the successes and personal touches of the Delegation’s visit to AWAA.

  

Additionally, the CCAA hosted an inter-agency meeting in New York for all the agencies located in the east coast area. During this meeting the CCAA Officials asked agencies for feedback and ideas for potential changes and improvements to the China adoption program. Both the CCAA and AWAA are deeply committed to the China adoption program and look forward to supporting families and children in the adoption process for years to come.

  

Special Focus Children Program- Updates

The CCAA continues to list waiting children referrals as “special focus children†which means a family can adopt two of these children or  one of these children in addition to another waiting child or child from the healthy program with one adoption process. Travel can be in one or two trips. The CCAA continues to look at families interested in this on a case by case basis but welcomes all families to consider this opportunity. America World requires the social worker approval and an internal (free) application for current clients. Prospective clients are encouraged to call a China Family Coordinator to better understand this program and how it can apply to them.

 

WC Adoptions Completed within One Year!

Recently, several families have completed their waiting child (WC) adoption process within 9-11 months.  This includes from the time they began the paper-chase to returning home with their child. For those families that can paper-chase in a timely manner and whom are also open to adopting a waiting child, the adoption process can be completed within one year. The wait time for a referral can vary but a family can still be home within one year, as many referrals for waiting children are received each month. Specific wait times can be roughly estimated for each family depending on age/gender/medical needs the family is open to considering. Families with questions on referral wait times may contact a China Family Coordinator.