This meeting was put together to invite adoption agency staff and the China Center for Adoption Affairs delegation to meet together and discuss common concerns. The room was packed...and many of your agency's China workers were there. We were all very curious to meet the delegation, welcome them here, and were ever grateful for the exchange of information. Mr. Guo, the Director General of the CCAA, presided and spoke thru a translator. He is a man of subtle humor with very expressive eyes. His talk was well thought out, and detailed.
Mr. Guo started out by describing the CCAA. The agency is located in Beijing, and the only agency that is authorized to work in adoption. They are supported by the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and non-profit. They began their work in June of 1996. The staff now consists of 26 employees including the Director General and 3 Deputy Directors. There are 5 supervisors who are in charge of different departments within the CCAA. The Center has a relationship with 12 different countries at this time, and the United States is the largest country of all.
The different departments include Department I (document review) where there is a preliminary review of docs and adoptive families and Department II (document review II) where they make another review of the documents and then make the assignments. 8 different staff members must sign on each assignment before it is approved! This department is also involved in the postplacement reporting.
The CCAA is pleased with the results to date over the past two years. They cited the following:
1) The laws of the country are being strictly abided by.
2) The CCAA has been following the laws and implementing measures, as needed. Mr. Guo related that the Center continues to enforce the special needs issues and possibly stronger enforcement than in the past. He also added that they have had to work long and hard to work out rules and procedures for adoptions. The number of adoptive families is ever-increasing, and now the demand exceed the supply of available children. The Center has not slowed down, but they have to often wait for appropriate referrals to match to waiting families.
3) The CCAA is doing an excellent job of planning. All dossiers are now processed on computers from the date received at the Center and this has been of immense help.
4) The work is becoming more automated. Everything is on computers, from the receipt of the dossier, to the review dates, to the financial information, and can be retrieved instantly. This is eliminating the manual work that had to be done in the past.
5) Errors and review of the work have been decreased. In the past, unfortunate accidents such as lost dossiers etc. have occurred, but now this has been resolved, and they work very hard to keep things moving smoothly.
The PROBLEMS THAT HAVE OCCURRED:
1) Mr. Guo said that many American adoption agencies do an excellent job at screening applicants. The CCAA also does screenings of the dossiers, paying particular interest to the applicants' ages, marital status, number of children, financial status, and criminal record. There are 8 documents that are needed in the dossier to prove the above.
Some agencies include insignificant documents. That just takes up everyone's time. Some mis-represent that the adoptive family is childless, when they are not. Some mis-represent that they do not have a criminal history, when they indeed do. Some present families who are too told to adopt...such as someone in their 70's. "We are looking for parents, not grandparents for these children." Moreover, they are looking for someone who will have the ability and the energy to raise the children to adulthood.
2) The CCAA is clear that IF an adoptive family has other children and/or if an adoptive family is under 35 years of age, THEY ARE IN THE SPECIAL NEEDS CATEGORY according to Chinese adoption law. Too many times, adoption agencies are giving false hopes to adoptive parents, and then when the families receive the referrals, they are shocked, and withdraw from the assignment. Mr. Guo feels that perhaps some agencies are not mentally preparing adoptive families for this inevitability.
3) The CCAA has encountered situations where American adoption agencies are not truthfully presenting the medical and photos to parents for acceptance. Some don't give this to the parents at assignment, and then the family travels, and are not prepared for the child.
4) Adoptive families should NOT travel before they are given the travel notice. Otherwise, the family might suffer economic loss if the province/orphanage is not prepared to receive them. After a family receives the permission to travel, they should come to adopt the child within 3 months of the notice. Otherwise, the CCAA assumes that the adoption is void, and they will re-assign the child. They feel that this is in the best interest of the child who needs a home.
5) Notice to travel does NOT mean that they are approved to adopt this child! It merely demonstrates that the adoptors have basically met the adoption qualifications as outlined by law. BUT the local registry and notaries finalize the adoption, and play an important role in the process. Only when the adoption is finalized and approved by them is the China adoption complete! The CCAA only sees the paperwork, but it is the locals meet with the family and make the final say!
6) Mr. Guo said that the CCAA takes very seriously the post-placement reports that are generated by the agencies and returned to China. He indicated that they would like families to give them feedback within 6 months or one year's time. They feel that the reports should include information on the naturalization of the child, their mental and physical adjustments, and document the special needs conditions and rehabilitation of the child with supporting documents (medical reports and photos) He feels that some agencies are doing a better job than others in requiring and forwarding these reports, and that this important tool protects the rights of the children. In some respects, he feels that post-placement reports are more important than the homestudy! It is a measure to judge the quality of work that each agency is doing.
7) Mr. Guo stated that he does not feel that adoption agencies should advertise thru the mass-media. He has heard of advertising on the Internet, radio, TV, and magazines and he does not believe that this shows a serious attitude about adoption. He is also uncomfortable with methods to raise funds for the orphans of China unless: it is voluntary; it is not in the name of helping children in orphans; there is no competition between agencies; and that families don't feel that they must match/compete with other agencies. It should have no connection at all to adopting a child.
8) Mr. Guo added that he hoped that "adoptive agencies and families would not believe all that they hear on the Internet." Some of the information is untrue, and some of it unreliable. For example: if an agency tell you that they have their own orphanage in China, it is not so. If an agency tells you that they have their own staff at the CCAA and they will speed up the process (2-3 months) for a healthy infant, it is not so. If an agency tells you that they have a good rapport with the CCAA staff, and a special needs family will not need to adopt a special needs child, it is not so! He advised agencies and workers not to lie and mis-lead families.
1) Could we get a copy of the speech offerred here to share with our
families?
Yes
2) Is it true that the CCAA is going to develop a website?
Yes, there are these plans, but no date to start yet.
3) Is there an upper age limit on adoption from China?
Not clearly set up...the CCAA takes in consideration the financial
situation, and does the family have the physical energy to raise a child?
4) Could the consulates number the dossiers, and then the CCAA let
the agencies know what number in the sequence they are working on, or
could the dossiers be assigned a number at arrival in Beijing, and then
could the agencies be aware of what numbers they are working on?
This question was not understood and lost in the translation,
although we were able to learn that as of the end of April, all June 1997
special needs dossiers and all August 97 non-special needs families are
matched. Remember, the date to China that families record may differ
greatly with the date the dossier finally is received by Beijing.
5) Is there a consideration of limiting the number of US agencies
that can work in adoptions from China?
Over 100 U.S. agencies currently work in adoptions from China. Some
do a great job, and some are less satisfactory. They seem to have more of
a focus on profit. The China Center has met with many different entities
in the US on this trip...the State Department, Immigration and
Naturalization Service, and the Joint Council on International Children's
Services, and they are trying to determine what the best way will be in
the future to cooperate with the different agencies. They will work with
the State Department to decide what agencies they will continue to work
with in the future.
6) It was described that families often are receiving older
referrals...an 18 month old referral for a family who clearly qualifies
for a younger infant.
Mr. Guo explained that he agrees that the younger the child is, the
easier the adjustment for all. But, when a child is found abandoned, a
search is made for the families, which may take up to two months. Then the
social welfare institution reports to the local civil affairs office, and
they in turn sent information to the social welfare institution who
accepts the child into care. This takes another 3-4 months to complete.
Then the information on the waiting child needs to get transmitted to
Beijing, and then the child is assigned.
7) The concern was raised that we are placing children that are 18
months old with a medical that describes their medical conditions when
they were 3 months old, with no updates.
Mr. Guo felt that this was a valid concern, and one that the CCAA
has already considered. They are in the process of correcting this, and
standardizing the medical. They are also looking into getting both English
and Chinese on the medicals.
8) Can the referrals for older children can be expedited?
Yes! Families willing to adopt children over the age of three are
able to by-pass the standard waits, and can speed up the referrals. This
is assuming that the adoptive family is childless, and therefore NOT a
special needs family. If special needs, the wait is the same as in the
past.
Children with serious special needs can also receive expedition of referrals. When the dossier is submitted to the CCAA, the US agency should add a note or a letter describing the circumstances a letter that will be considered by the staff.
9) If a family consists of a female who is 42 and a male who is 50,
what age child referrals would they be considered for?
This family generally acceptable for an infant.
This was the end of the presentation.
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