Special Focus Program
Starting September 1, 2010, the China Center for Children’s Welfare & Adoption (CCCWA) implemented a new program under which they mark some Waiting Children’s files as “Special Focus.” When a child’s file has been available on the Shared List for more than 60 days with no agency locking in the child’s file, the CCCWA will mark his or her file as “Special Focus.” In addition, the CCCWA may mark files of some children with significant special needs as Special Focus as soon as the files are added to the Shared List.
Through this program CCCWA will allow an adoptive family to adopt TWO unrelated children, simultaneously or successively with the same dossier, as long as at least one of the two children is a Special Focus child (please see “Concurrent Special Focus Adoptions” below).
FURTHERMORE,families who have completed a China adoption in the last 12 months may use a COPY of that dossier to adopt a Special Focus child (please see “Returning Special Focus Adoptions” on the following page).
SINGLE female applicants may also be eligible to adopt a Special Focus child (please see the Qualifications page of this packet).
Most of the children with special needs whose files are assigned to CCAI by the CCCWA through our agency-specific Designated List are considered Special Focus. We can also petition the CCCWA for Special Focus children’s files from the shared list to be designated to our agency’s individual list for three months.
We wish to stress that this program will not be the right fit for every family. Children considered “Special Focus” are usually children whose files have been waiting on the Shared List for more than two months without being “locked in,” or who tend to be older and/or have more significant special needs. Families interested in this possibility should very carefully evaluate their strengths and resources and talk to their social worker about their ability to adopt not only two children, but up to two children with medical condition(s), at about the same time.
Families who desire to adopt two children from China should use the Medical Conditions Checklist to inform CCAI of their openness to age, gender, and special needs, as well as their interest in adopting two children. CCAI can then contact a family directly about a child’s file who matches their preferences. Families may also seek our services if they are interested in a child’s profile listed on our password-protected (password: xiwang) Waiting Child Profiles web page www.chinesechildren.org, or possibly a profile listed on other agencies’ or charitable organizations’ photo listings.
Families pursuing concurrent adoptions through the Special Focus Program will fall into one of the following categories:
Adopting a Special Focus Child and a Traditional “Non-Special Needs” (NSN) Program Child
*Your dossier must ALREADY be logged in at the CCCWA to be able to pursue this option.*
- Families (with a dossier logged in at the CCCWA for an NSN child) follow standard Waiting Child Program procedures to submit family information and Letter of Intent, etc., to lock in the Special Focus child.
- Families will use a COPY of their original adoption dossier to apply to adopt the Special Focus child, to be accompanied with an Adoption Petition, immigration approval for the Special Focus child, and possibly a home study update, all of which will need to be notarized, certified, and authenticated.
- The family’s original adoption dossier will then remain in the traditional NSN program queue to be matched in the traditional NSN program timeline.
- Families will travel to China TWICE, first to adopt the Special Focus child and again later to adopt their traditional non-special needs child.
Adopting a Special Focus Child and an “LID-only” Waiting Child (“LID-only” means that the CCCWA requires this child to be matched to a family who already has a dossier in China.
*Your dossier must ALREADY be logged in at the CCCWA to be able to pursue this option.*
- Families (with a dossier logged in at the CCCWA for an NSN child) follow standard Waiting Child Program procedures to submit family information and Letter of Intent, etc., to lock in the “LID-only” Waiting Child.
- Families will use a COPY of their original adoption dossier to apply to adopt the Special Focus child, to be accompanied with an Adoption Petition, immigration approval for both children, and possibly a home study update, all of which will need to be notarized, certified, and authenticated.
- Families will most likely travel to China once to adopt both children from the same or different provinces (resulting in a longer trip).
Adopting Two Special Focus Children
- Families follow standard Waiting Child Program procedures to submit family information and Letter of Intent, etc., to lock in both Special Focus children.
- If dossier is not yet complete, one dossier will be used to adopt both children.
- If the dossier is already in China, families will use the original adoption dossier to adopt the first Special Focus child and a COPY of their original adoption dossier to apply to adopt the second Special Focus child, to be accompanied with an Adoption Petition, immigration approval for both children, and possibly a home study update, all of which will need to be notarized, certified, and authenticated.
- Families will travel to China once to adopt both children from the same or different provinces.
- Families who have completed a China adoption within the previous 12 months (using any agency) may use a COPY of the previous dossier to adopt a Special Focus child.
- Family information and Letter of Intent must be submitted to the CCCWA to lock the Special Focus child’s file within 12 months of the registration date of the previous adoption.
- Families will need to have a home study update (including any necessary supporting documentation, possibly including but not limited to: employment/financial statements, physical exams, and police reports, etc.), compose an Adoption Petition, and obtain new immigration approval. The home study update, Adoption Petition, and immigration approval will need to be notarized, certified, and authenticated.
- The dossier copy will then be logged in with a new Log-In Date to adopt the Special Focus child.
Please contact CCAI’s Waiting Child Program at waitingchild@chinesechildren.org to receive a Special Focus Information Packet containing more information!