We Adopted From China ... You Can, Too! Parents tell how they did it By Robin Hilborn Second edition, 2006 $12 / ISBN 0-9733470-6-6

We Adopted From China (#47) is also available at a discount ($9) when you order four or more titles from the Family Helper series. See the form at Family Helper, and choose the editions you'd like to order.

EXCERPT

Remember that resources on China adoption are evolving -- for the latest, check "Adoption Resource Central - Countries". It's at the Family Helper web site, at www.familyhelper.net/arc/cys.html.

From "Chalke on China"
   [Douglas Chalke of Sunrise Family Services Society explains the process, the children available and the new policy for adopting from China]

1. THE PROCESS

On the third floor of a modest office building in downtown Beijing are located the offices of the China Centre of Adoption Affairs. We are meeting with the director of the Chinese Foreign Adoption Program, who displays a sophisticated level of knowledge of the British Columbia adoption system. An impressive feat, when you consider that he administers adoption programs from 12 countries.

At the end of the boardroom are displayed the flags of the 12, including Canada, the U.S., England, Ireland, Spain and the Scandinavian countries.

On the walls are plaques, testimonials and photographs attesting to many years of adoption programs. After meeting the staff, many of whom speak English, we were shown around their offices, which were decorated with many photographs of children now living in one of the 12 program countries. The staff described how they try to match children available to characteristics in the adopting family.

While in China we met many adopting parents from Canada, the U.S. and Norway. We also travelled with a group of ten families from B.C. who were in China to pick up their newly adopted children. Groups stay together throughout, accompanied by an expert who lines up hotels and transport and helps with any difficulties (such as medical care in the middle of the night for a child with an infected ear).

It did not take long for the B.C. families to receive their children. By the afternoon of the second day we were at an orphanage in the south of China where some of the families received their children. Over the next two days the rest received their babies from other orphanages in the south.

Next stop for the group was Beijing, for the babies to get a medical exam from a doctor designated by the Canadian Embassy. Then the Embassy completed the paperwork and issued visas for the children to enter Canada. Parents and children could then come home directly to British Columbia.

In the few days it took to complete the paperwork in Beijing the adopting parents got to know their children and also did a little sightseeing at the Great Wall and other tourist attractions. The total stay in China is about two weeks.

Before going to China you must register with an adoption agency and have a homestudy completed by a professional social worker. This takes about three months. Once the initial requirements are completed, the agency sends the homestudy to the China Adoption Centre. The child is then matched to your family and a proposal is sent back from the China Adoption Centre to the adoption agency. This takes about seven months. You then review the proposal and your acceptance is sent back to China. You usually travel to China within the following two months to pick up your child.

...
[Douglas Chalke goes on to describe the children available and the new policy for adopting from China]

Awards

Robin Hilborn edits and publishes Family Helper, which began as Adoption Helper in 1990. Write to him at helper@familyhelper.net.

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