When my husband and I decided to adopt a child, we knew we wanted to adopt a baby girl. We already had 2 boys of our own, however, they were both diagnosed with Autism when they were toddlers. We were soon told by professionals that it would be wise if we did not have anymore children of our own.
When we started looking into adopting we were advised by the adoption agencies that we should look into International Adoption since we were older parents and with our family situation we would most likely would not be picked for a baby adoption. So I knew right away that I wanted to adopt an Asian baby girl since my best friend when I was growing up was adopted from Korea.
I started researching the Internet and found that if prospective parents were interested in adopting a baby girl, that China was the country we needed to adopt from. Because of the “one child policy”, many baby girls are abandoned and available for adoption. Although it is illegal in China to abandon a baby, many birth mothers will take the risk and will drop off their baby girls in front of the orphanage or a very public place where the baby will be found by the authorities.
Most adoptions from China have been infant girls between the ages of 10 to 18 months. Our little girl was 14 months old. Although special needs babies and older children are also available for adoption.
One of the reasons that adopting from China attracted us, was their reputation for providing a very smooth and predictable process. At least as far as International Adoptions go.
China provides very limited social and medical information. Information we were provided by the Chinese government on our baby girl was; height, weight, and birth date. There was also Hepatitis, HIV testing and immunizations that were all done in China.
Some requirements for a China adoption is:
– You must be 30 years of age – No exceptions.
– Only married couples or you can be single, however, no same sex couple can apply.
– You must be in good physical and emotional health and you must be free from any criminal record.
– If you are over 50 years of age you must be willing to accept a child three years of age.
The process of adoption is:
– Completion of a home study by a qualified social worker.
– File translated and notarized by the adoption agency then sent to China and processed through the Central Adoption Service.
– Must travel to China for completion of adoption.
– The Stay in China is usually about two weeks.
The cost of adopting from China is different for every country but it can range from anywhere from $15,000 – $20,000 US.
The entire process from the time your paperwork (the dossier) is submitted to the time you are united with your child is currently taking approximately 18 months to 2 years. It was a 13 month process for us but that was three years ago.
Although adopting from China is somewhat expensive and providing paperwork and documents can be overwhelming at times. My husband and I feel it is one of the best decisions we have ever made. Our little girl has brought so much joy into our lives. She has fit amazingly into our family from day one and we feel so very blessed to have gone through this adoption process and have this little girl in our lives.
