How to Select a China Adoption Agency, Part III

Part Three: Referrals & minimizing the Wait

Referral time is one of the most exciting times during an adoption and it is also one of the most unpredictable aspects of any adoption. Have you noticed there are families who seem to wait years for a referral while others seemingly find their child overnight? The difference is;

• Desired Child Profile; the range of age, gender and special needs the family is comfortable with, and

• The number of families with similar Child Profiles represented by a given agency

• (And to a lesser degree) The agency’s access to available children and willingness to work hard on behalf of its client


It is important to understand that an agency’s function is NOT to guarantee you a referral, (much less a referral in a particular time period): they facilitate a process with no promise of a result.

In China’s special needs program the referrals are handled though a number of programs and “lists”. As you learned over on China Adopt Online, kids are designated as Special Needs and Special Focus.

In order to adopt from the Special Needs program a family must be already have an LID (log in date) issued by China’s central adoption authority. (In some cases agencies have been known to allow an LID child to be matched with a family that is close to LID, this however is an exception to the general rule.)

Children in the Special Focus program can be matched prior to obtaining their LID. In this case families must prepare and submit a dossier within 6 months of the match.

Regardless of program (SN or SF) children may be listed on what is called The Shared List or an agency’s designated Individual List. The Shared List can be accessed by most agencies while as the name implies the Individual List provides agency (for a period of time) the exclusive right/responsibility to place a given child.
There are more details but that’s the general idea. Now how does that relate to agency selection?

At any given time there are approximately 1,500 kids WAITING for families on China’s Shared list but the sad reality is many of these kids have needs beyond what most potential adoptive parents are comfortable with. If for example you are hoping to adopt an infant girl with a “minor correctable” special need there will be many other families wanting to do the same and depending on your agency your wait for referral could range from one month to more than two years.

More than any other aspect of the process, agency selection is critical to the Referral Phase.

If you are looking to minimize your wait time you need to find an agency that fits the following criteria;

1. Agencies must have access to the Shared List (most do but there are a couple that only work from Designated Agency Lists.) Access to the Shared List PLUS a large Individual List program is ideal. Do they work with specific orphanages where they get to meet children and be the exclusive placing agent? Thats good too!

2. Do they have an operational process that has case workers working through the night when the lists are released? Ask about “list night”. Ask them to describe how they go about matching kids and families? Is it first come first serve, is there a selection committee?

3. Low number of Waiting Families OPEN TO THE SAME CHILD PROFILE YOU ARE. The idea here is to reduce” internal competition”. Think about it, if your case worker has 10 families wanting to adopt children fitting the same profile you will behind those 10 in addition to competing with all of the other families with other agencies wanting to be matched with the same children.


*** I have to advocate here... the vast majority of the 1,500 kids to hit the Shared List each month do NOT fit the “as young as possible girl with minor correctable need” mold. Boys languish on these list, kids that are close to ageing out are here, kids that are over age three are ignored and kids with more serious needs are left behind.

I will share that I was matched with 30 days with The Ladybug. Why so fast? Well yes she was a girl and her special need of cleft lip/palate fit the minor correctable category BUT she was 3 years old. My case worker (with a large agency that has placed more Special Focus kids than any other agency) told me we were only one of two families open to children over age 3. We both got referrals that night


Here are a few key questions I would ask?

1. How many waiting families do you currently have?

2. How many want to adopt children fitting the same profile as us?

3. Over the past 12 months how many children fitting our desired profile have you matched? How long did each of these families wait for a referral, (not an average-they lie)? Can I talk to these families?

There are other ways to match with a child and one way that has recently caught fire in the world of China adoption is to find children through advocacy sites. Just as you have seen me advocate for several children here on Five of My Own (which BTW is how I found baby Butterfly) there are many more advocates working hard to find families for waiting children.

In general these are the kids not matched right off. They are the boys and older kids and kids with more significant needs and occasionally they are simply kids lost in the shuffle or left behind because there simply aren’t enough families wanting to adopt.

In many cases today families are identifying a child first and then finding an agency to help them facilitate the adoption.

A couple of things to keep in mind if you want to go this route;

1. Most agencies will require you to complete a preliminary application of some sort before they will allow you to view a file. This is reasonable and meant to protect the children; HOWEVER, you should not have to pay a fee to do this.

2. Just because an agency advocates for a child does not mean you have to use then to facilitate the adoption. A child on the Shared List can be placed by any SN agency with access to the list.

Here are some Waiting Child advocacy sites you may want visit if you are wanting to find a child to adopt;

Rainbow Kids

Advocate for Waiting Children Yahoo Group

China Adopt Talk Advocacy Board

Sharing Life and Love

Loving the Fatherless

Until They All Come Home

Red Thread Kids

Also most agencies maintain a listing of waiting children and may provide you access to those lists upon request (pending some vetting process).

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How to Select a China Adoption Agency, Part II

It is so easy to make decisions about agencies based on gut feelings and likability.  I don’t discount these 6^th sense impressions but they should not be the primary rationale for choosing an agency.  There are more tangible, objective measures that can be used to get to your short list of agencies.

On a macro level all agencies provide the same basic service but when you look closer there can be significant differences in execution. When comparing services ask your prospective agencies’ about how they handle key components of the adoption process including the dreaded paper chase.

During the Home study and Dossier phase you will be asked to provide reams of material to your social worker and /or placing agency.  I was surprised to learn that much of the information asked for could have been requested by or completed by the social worker or adoption agency, certainly they could make the multiple copies of these documents.  But alas thrice now I have been emailed a list and basically told to "get er dun". .. oh sure call if you have any questions too cause ya know, we're here to help. Right.  

Until recently I didn't even know there was another way.  There is.

One of my 3 dossier's....not fun.

Look for an agency that generally does all they can to ease the paperwork burden on its Clients.  Compare services in a detailed fashion.  You may be surprised that some of the higher priced agencies are actually turfing a lot of the work back to their Clients while other more moderate priced agencies are willing to go the extra mile. Trust me on this...you'll want that extra mile.

Home Study/Home Study Review
You already know from your time spent learning about the program that a home study prepared by a Hague accredited agency is the first step in a Chinese adoption.  A home study does not have to be completed by the placing agency. It is possible for the home study to be completed by a Hague home study agency and simply be reviewed by the placing agency.  I have seen home studies completed in a matter of weeks while others take 6 months.   When talking to a prospective agency ask about the following;

1.       What documents, training and clearances are required to complete the home study? What is the adoptive parent responsible for doing?  What does the agency the agency do?

2.       How long does it take on average to complete the home study?  If the agency is simply reviewing another agency HS how long does it take for the review? 
3.        Ask if they are willing to guarantee a turn around time.

Dossier Preparation: 
Dossier preparation requires lots of tedious work and paper chasing.  There is a huge divide in the industry. Some agencies provide a full service package and do much of the paperwork for the client, others provide little more than a list of required information and assembly directions (something you can get off the internet for free, BTW) and other offer tiered plans that charge higher fees for dossier prep.  My agency called their service the “Dragon Dossier” package and charged a couple extra thousand dollars for the service. In hindsight this was a HUGE waste of money for us and ultimately my agency’s “extra” service wasn’t as good as other agency’s standard service. (And by the way, does it seem like dossier prep should even be an adoption agency "extra" or does it seem to be more of an essential part of the adoption process???).

...Live and learn...(and then blog the heck out of it.)

Things I would compare carefully if I had to do it over again;

1.       Is there a separate or extra fee for dossier preparation? If so how much and what exactly will you be doing?  Are there any out of pocket fees not included in the agency fee (USCIS filing fees, fingerprinting, notary services, copying services, etc)

2.       How much direction, support and hands on work is provided by the agency?  Are instructions provided through personal interaction, phone calls and meetings or does the agency just send you a form letter listing the dossier requirements?

3.       Does the agency fill out any forms for you or do you have to do all the work?

4.       Does the agency use a database management system that allows frequently used demographic data to auto populate forms or do you have to keep reentering the same data on different documents?  (As an example my agency had me fill out a questionnaire, an application, a dossier cover page, a parent information sheet and a travel sheet ALL INTERNAL USE DOCUMENTS WITH THE SAME INFORMATION.  A simple Microsoft Access program could eliminate much of this work by the PAP. ) Bottom line are you doing things that require your personal involvement or are you doing clerical work that could be provided by the agency.  Any agency that pushes this sort of work back to the PAP client should be reflecting this lower level of service in their fee.

5.       How much assistance is provided with USCIS?  Are forms completed by your agency,  reviewed  before submission or does your agency just send you the form filing instructions (once again information that is available on line)?  Will you agency follow up on flinging?  If  so what is the time line for this?  Does the agency have relationships with Case Officers at USCIS and are they able and willing to work to expedite a file for a seriously ill child or a child that is aging out? (If you intend to adopt a child who will require editing ask how many times the agency has successfully expedite a file.)  What exactly is the follow up protocol?  (My agency only seemed to follow up after I asked for help.)

6.       Who handles notary services?  How are documents authenticated/apostilled etc? Is the agency responsible for making multiple copies and assemble the final dossier or does the PAP do this?

7.       Once the dossier is completed ask how long translation and DTC (Dossier sent to China) will take?  Ask them what the last 30 day average for DTC to LID (log in date) has been?  Compare the DTC to LID timeline to the timelines reported on the China Adopt Talk Special Needs Forum.

(to be continued…)

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How to Select a China Adoption Agency, Part I

 Step One: Know the Program in Advance

Choosing the right agency can mean the difference between waiting months or waiting years to receive a referral from the China special needs program. 

 Beyond the referral phase a good agency will allow for a smooth process with the smallest possible administrative paperwork burden placed on the family and an efficient operational system based on concurrent processing.

Clear, timely, and accurate communication is a must.  Compassionate, highly personal communication is ideal. 

During travel to China the best agencies have in country offices, experienced English speaking guides  who remain with you every day you are in country, a well-planned itinerary (tailored to the age and needs of your adopted child(ren), maximum travel/accommodation flexibility and transparent, itemized pricing. 

The truly exceptional agencies provide proactive follow up and offer meaningful post adoption support services to their families to make sure they are adjusting well.

As you start to explore agency options you will find a wide spectrum of (not so)  “standard” services provided as well as substantial variances in fees charged for these services. The other thing you will find is higher fees do NOT necessarily mean a higher level of service. 

Finally there are the intangibles related to the unique corporate culture of each agency, a culture that ideally will match your own personality.

Step One:  KNOW THE PROGRAM IN ADVANCE

Prospective parents need to learn about the China adoption program and process BEFORE they set about choosing an agency.  There are a number of great resources online that can educate you on the China Special Needs Adoption Program.   

The one I recommend is China Adopt Online 

I STRONGLY SUGGEST YOU START HERE!  This is a comprehensive, well laid out and up to the minute site with everything you need to know about the China SN adoption process.  This site will help you to understand the eligibility requirements, industry jargon, program differences and general process necessary to effectively evaluate agencies. 

The next place I would check out is China Adopt Talk the site affectionately referred to as "The Rumor Queen" Head to the forum and spend sometime on the "Special Needs Discussion Board".  There you will find a group of been there done that got the t shirt adoptive moms.  The know the ins and outs of the China SN program and odds are have the answer to any question you can come up with.  There is one caveat, the forum rules prohibit users to discuss specific agencies but if you ask for information you will get plenty of answers via private message.

Let me say it again start with building a solid working knowledge of the China adoption process before you call the first agency.

Once you have the basics under your belt it’s finally time to find the agency that can make it all happen for you.

(to be continued...)

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