Changes in Waiting Child Program

I warned everyone here that some big changes were coming for the China Special Needs Program. Looks like the changes have arrived. Basically what this means is that you will need to already have all your paperwork completed and have an LID (logged in date) before you can be matched with a minor special needs child from the shared list. This is a great thing for the children and really it is for the parents too. Everyone won't have to wait as long for their child once matched.

Now here is the tricky part. Since I help a lot of people get out of the ridiculous SLOW waiting child line over at CCAI (granted they are an upstanding, ethical agency, that is why they have a lot of people already in their SN line), I think it will be harder to convince those people to switch agencies and hop over into the super speedy express line at BAAS. You see once you have seen your child's face, I don't have to do anymore "convincing". People see their child and they do whatever in the world they have to in order to get to their child in China. Closed case, they switch.

Now with this new process in place, it is going to make my advocating a little tougher since they won't get to see their child's face until they have committed themselves to a new agency that matches from the shared list. I suppose just another challenge for me right! Oh well, I know it is a good change for the kids and that is what matters the most- the waiting kids :)

Announcement
March 8, 2010
Government departments and adoption agencies in receiving countries,
With the development of China's economy and society, inter-country adoption is faced with new situation. At present, feedback from adoption agencies shows that some adoptive families who have already sent their adoption files to CCAA intend to adopt a special needs child, but these families have to wait for a long time because their agency fails to lock suitable children for them in time, which caused a backlog of adoption files and influenced the placement of adoptable children. It is thus suggested by adoption agencies that CCAA improve relevant measures for special needs program and expedite the process for adoption of special needs children. Considering that a great number of special needs children have had surgeries through the "Tomorrow Plan" and mostly recovered in physical and mental conditions, CCAA decides that for each multiple list (shared list) released on and after this date, adoption agencies shall recommend families whose application files are already logged in with CCAA in order to shorten the waiting time for adoptive families and help special needs children back to families as soon as possible. When locking the file of a special needs child, agencies are required to truthfully fill in the log-in date and serial number of the application file, and agencies which put in false information will be suspended in working with the special needs online system. For special needs children who have been on the list for over one month, CCAA will reset the time limit for families to send application files, so adoption agencies are recommended to pay attention to the time limit of paper preparation for each special needs child. In addition, the time limit for inputting family information after locking is extended from 48 hours to 72 hours.

China Center of Adoption Affairs
CCAA