China Adoptions

In general we feel sort of removed from the China wait since we are so close to getting our little boy. But a recent post on Rumor Queen is so disturbing, I keep thinking about it. Based on information she has gathered from the thousands of members, it appears that nearly 40 to 50 percent of the people who originally submitted dossiers in 2006 have or plan to withdraw. That means as many as 10,000 or more people who wanted to adopt NSN from China have been unable to complete their adoptions. Luckily that number includes many people who switched to special needs adoption from China – great for China’s SN orphans and for the people who have been able to build their families. Other people have switched countries or given birth, but still many others have had to withdraw without a child.

It is heartbreaking reading about people who are forced to withdraw because after waiting several years with years to go in the wait they will be too old to legally add a child to their family. I cannot imagine living somewhere that could dictate the maximum age to be a parent or the maximum number of years between your and your child’s age. The economy is forcing some people to make difficult choices as they face another home study update. And USCIS may end up forcing some people to withdraw by only renewing their 171H if their applications are Hague compliant, their agencies are Hague accredited, and they meet China’s new guidelines. None of these requirements are applied by China to families who submitted their dossiers before the new rules, but USCIS thinks it is too hard to keep track of the date the dossier was submitted and they are trying to hold everyone to the same standards. In theory people could receive a referral from China without any problems, but be unable to complete the adoptions because the US is too lazy to distinguish between pre- and post- Hague China adoptions.

We definitely have to submit the I-800A since we let our I-600A expire, so we will have to ensure that our application is Hague-compliant. Our agency is accredited, we have not lived in too many states (for getting clearances), and we are willing to take the required classes. It is unclear if USCIS will try to hold us to China’s new rules or not, but I think we do meet them. You can help many people whose agencies are not Hague accredited, who do not meet the new rules, or for whom making their applications Hague compliant is too much of a burden by signing this petition, or following the other suggestions of the JCICS.

The most disturbing part of all of this is that despite only half the number of dossiers still remaining in line, China continues to reduce the number of LIDs they cover every month. What does this mean? It almost seems like China is reducing referrals to nothing – but then why are they still accepting dossiers?

One good and virtually unheard of bit of info – apparently a second “add-on” batch of referrals has been sent out for some (if not all) people with 2/16/06 LIDs, despite the official cut-off being 2/15/06!