Journeys of the Heart is fortunate to be one of the few
adoption agencies accredited by the China Center of
Adoption Affairs to place special needs children. Due to
our excellent relationship with CCAA we have been able
to place special need children since 1998.
This program is a very good choice
for families who are open to a diversity of special
needs, which range from minor medical issues, like cleft
lip and palate, club foot, hemangiomas, and Hepatitis B
to moderate and severe medical problems like missing
limbs, cerebral palsy, spina bifida, mental retardation,
and Down syndrome.
The age of the children is between
one year old to 14 years old, and the ratio of boys to
girls is approximately 3:1.
The time frame is quite short in
the world of international adoption with the process
being The time frame is accomplished in about one year,
once the dossier is logged in with the CCAA.
According to CCAA regulations, a
family can be matched with a child only if the “dossier”
is registered with their office. There are two
exceptions:
-The match can be made if the
child was on the special need list for more than one
month. The dossier must be sent to CCAA within 3 months
from the match in order to keep the
referral.
-The child is part of the
“special focus group”; the dossier must be sent to CCAA
within 6 months from the match in order to keep the
referral
Once the dossier (which is
relatively easy to compile) is finalized, it will be
sent to China to be translated and be registered with
China Center of Adoption Affairs; this process of
registration will take up to 3 weeks. The CCAA sends JOH
the registration number and the date of the
registration.
After the registration the referral
can be made immediately if a child who matches the
family’s preferences is already listed. The CCAA updates
the special need list once a month, and families should
expect a waiting time of 0-6 months to be matched, the
longest waiting time being for young girls (1-2 years
old) with minor special needs (cleft lip/palate, club
foot, minor congenital heart diseases, etc).
After the match is made, expect up
to 3-4 months for CCAA to send the documents that seek
approval for this match (Letter of Seeking Confirmation
From Adopter), and approximately 2 months until the trip
to China to adopt the child.
New referrals become available each
month and it is from the new referral list that
Journeys’ staff is able to locate children with minor
special needs.
Families
are now allowed by CCAA to adopt two children at the
same time or two children within a year using the same
dossier. Families will need to update their home study
and the immigration approval. Journeys will approve
adopting two children at a time or within a year only
under certain circumstances and with social work input
and approval.
Children with more severe special needs are
listed on our site under
password protection. If you would like to read about the children
with severe special needs contact Gabriel at
