Your application allows CCAI to screen your qualifications for a China adoption based on the requirements of various government entities that will be involved in your adoption – US government, Chinese government, etc.  If a family submits a complete and truthful application and is approved by CCAI, we are committed to serving you through all the stages of a China adoption. 

Once your adoption application has been approved, you will be invited to attend a required Orientation Meeting, after which you may begin your home study and your adoption dossier.  Your dossier is a collection of documents that reports on various aspects of your life and represents you as adoptive parents to the CCCWA, the Chinese government agency responsible for all international adoptions in China.  This part of the adoption process often seems daunting to adoptive families, but by following CCAI’s copyrighted Adoption Dossier Guide and getting help from our knowledgeable Dossier Team, over 9,500 families have achieved successful adoptions. 

You will generate and compile many of the dossier documents on your own, but your dossier cannot be complete without your home study and approval from the USCIS (United States Citizenship & Immigration Services).  The timeline for compiling your dossier varies, due to such factors as child abuse clearances, how diligent you are when preparing your documents, and the USCIS timelines for approval of your I-800A (the immigration application for a Hague adoption).

For those families who need extra help to complete their dossier, CCAI does offer the option of a Full Dossier Compilation Service for an additional fee.  Please contact our Dossier Compilation Coordinator at dossier@chinesechildren.org or 303-850-9998 for more information.

Once you submit your completed dossier to CCAI, our Dossier and Translation Departments will critically review your documents, bind your dossier, mount the pictures, complete a summary translation, and write an agency recommendation in Chinese.  We will then send it to CCAI’s China office via international express mail.  Our Beijing representatives will hand-deliver it to the CCCWA. 

For families adopting through the Waiting Child Program, the average match time frame is 6-12 months, but can range from just a few weeks to over a year depending on the age, gender, and medical conditions a family is open to. 

For families pursuing the referral of a child with no known medical conditions (“non-special needs” or NSN), the wait time (between your dossier log-in at the CCCWA and the moment you receive your child match by the CCCWA), is very difficult to predict and subject to constant change.  Families who have most recently received their NSN child match have waited for over five years.  We expect that the wait time will continue to lengthen.  Throughout the wait, families are encouraged to check in with CCAI regularly.  We publish a newsletter that will help you stay informed about the current match timeline and also post frequent updates on our website’s Family Log-in section.  When it is your turn to be matched, the CCCWA will match you with a child according to your qualifications and preferences as presented in your dossier. 

When you are matched with a child, your child’s photos, translated physical examination, State of Growth form, development report, and immunization record will be sent to you through CCAI.  Following your child match, CCAI is happy to request additional/updated information on your child, but cannot guarantee the availability of such information.

After you sign and return your child’s Acceptance Letter (LOA) to CCAI, we will express mail it to the CCCWA and wait for your Travel Approval.  CCAI will provide you with travel training and will arrange your travel, accommodations and adoption finalization in China.  At this time our estimate for your travel is about 3 months after submitting your child match related documents to Immigration.  Your China trip will last approximately 14-17 days.  (Please see “The Journey of a Lifetime” in this packet.)

After you return to the United States, CCAI will provide post adoption service and support to assist you with your adoption transition.  Six post adoption reports and sets of photos (at 1 month, 6 months, 12 months, 2 years, 3 years, and 5 years following placement) must be completed by your social worker to satisfy CCCWA requirements.  CCAI will provide necessary information to you concerning how to validate your finalized adoption through your local court, enable your adopted Chinese child to receive a US birth certificate from your state, obtain her/his Social Security card, and assist you to collect your adoption tax credit, if applicable.