China Program Update

I have confirmed that the CCCWA reached out to agencies for updates on waiting families who were issued Travel Authorization before the program shut down. Presumably that means they are considering moving forward to finalize those adoptions.

I would not assume this means a full program re-opening at this point. It’s also too early to know whether families who had been issued LOA for a child but not yet reached travel authorization will be able to continue forward in the process. I would urge caution about speculation on the future of the program, but let’s hope that at least those families with TA will be able to finalize their adoptions some time later this year.

Mine In China Changes

As we near the 3rd anniversary of the halting of the China adoption program due to the COVID 19 pandemic, I have decided not to continue supporting the information available on this blog and in the Mine In China book. I have continued to pay fees related to webhosting and book maintenance during this time but at this time there is no indication that the program will reopen in the future.

The Mine In China book will continue to be available until January 1, 2023. The book has been better maintained than the blog and over half of the information is relevant to any international adoption program, so purchasing it before the end of the year is the best way for you to keep the information if you think you would like to refer to it in the future, or even if you have found this blog helpful through your adoption journey and would like to show your appreciation.

This blog will be available through September 1, 2023. If there are any changes in the China adoption program through that time I will continue to post here. And of course, if the program should reopen I will continue to host the blog and make the book available again.

I would like to encourage those of you who adopted in the time period between April 2016 and 2020 to continue to file your post-placement reports. This is such an important step that has a far greater impact than just on your individual family. If your provider has closed and you aren’t sure how to file your reports, please contact Holt’s Post Adoption Services for information. Holt offers support for families even if you didn’t use their agency. This includes adult adoptees who might have questions related to citizenship status.

Finally, I would like to express my support to all of the families who have a child waiting in China and have not yet been able to complete the adoption process. I truly hope and pray that both governments will be able to agree on a way for these adoptions to be completed. I can’t imagine the pain you must be feeling, not being able to bring your child home. Please know that you are not forgotten.

Accredited agencies for China adoption

Currently the China adoption program is effectively closed because of the Covid 19 pandemic. If and when the program re-opens, the field of available agencies will have changed quite a bit. As the number of international adoptions plummet, the financial cost of accreditation has become too much for many agencies. When I was conducting research for the Mine In China book I kept a list of thirty agencies which most people used when adopting from China. Seven of these agencies have relinquished or declined to renew their accreditation. Here is the updated list as of IAAME’s listing in November 2021.

1. AAC
2. AA
3. Agape
4. AGCI
5. ATWA
6. AWAA
7. BAAS
8. Barker
9. Bethany
10. CAWLI
11. CCAI
12. CHI
13. CHLSS of of Minnesota
14. Cradle of Hope
15. Dillon
16. Faith
17. Gladney
18. Great Wall
19. Hand in Hand
20. Hawaii International
21. Heartsent
22. Holt International
23. Lifeline
24. Living Hope
25. Madison
26. Nightlight
27. Small World
28. WACAP
29. Wasatch
30. Wide Horizons

China Program Update

It has been quite a long time since I posted an update because the China program has essentially come to a halt. Agencies are no longer accepting applications and there is no end in sight for those who are matched with a child but have not yet been able to travel.

If travel does occur, the US Department of State posted in October that the COVID vaccine will be required as part of the medical exam.

For the rest of the update, this is information which was shared in a group recently:

Current numbers of families still in the China program: There are 209 waiting for TA. So far 139 families have left the program and are not currently working on another adoption. It is so sad to see the actual breakdown of numbers. We still are desperate to get answers on when we can travel as families come up on the 2 year marks of when their children should have been home.

NCFA recently conducted a survey of agencies working in China in an effort to have more accurate and updated information about how many families are at various stages of the process and changes that have occurred since the pandemic began. 18 agencies completed the survey and 1 agency provided partial information. These numbers do include the agencies with the largest China programs:

Process Stages

• Number of families with previously issued TA – 48
• Number of families with LSC (no TA) – 209
• Number of families who are LID only (they are waiting to receive LSC) – 275 (*This was not intended to include dossiers that have been in China for several years waiting on a NSN match.)
• Number of families pre-DTC/working on homestudy, etc. – 129
• Total – 661

Withdraw/Transfer

• Number of families who have withdrawn completely from your agency’s China program as a result of the pandemic’s impact on the program and are not currently pursuing another adoption – 139
• Number of families who have transferred to another intercountry or domestic adoption program – 34
• Number of families who, as a result of the pandemic’s impact on the China program, have decided to keep their dossier in China but are pursuing a concurrent adoption in another country – 48
• Of the three categories described above, how many families were “matched” with PA or LSC – 36

Domestic Adoptions

• Number of families matched with a child that has since been placed for domestic adoption in China – 11 (NCFA is aware of a few additional cases)
• Of those families, how many have remained in the program to wait for a new match? – 8

Aging Out

One agency reported one family matched with a child who will turn 16 in the next 6 months. There are two families who finalized the adoption by proxy due to aging out (14 at the time) and still need to travel to bring their child home.

What I’m Reading #23: Stop AAPI Hate Edition

In the aftermath of the Atlanta, Georgia shootings there has been a lot of great articles examining what it’s like to be Asian in America. As adoptive parents, it is so important to understand that your child is Asian and will always be seen as such. A surprisingly large amount of adoptive parents insist that their child will never face any issues because they will raise them “not to be offended over everything” and “away from identity politics.” Please listen to the perspectives of adult adoptees and Asian Americans even if you find it uncomfortable.

For young Asian Americans like me, the rise in hate crimes reinforces a lifetime of racial trauma by Kami Rieck, Boston Globe.

As a transracial Chinese adoptee who grew up in a predominantly white city in Indiana, my identity was formed around racial slurs, racial comments, and racial stereotypes. . . The adults I looked up to as a young girl failed to label the discrimination I experienced as racist or sexist. How was I supposed to understand what I was encountering?

Coronavirus: Fear of Asians rooted in long American history of prejudicial policies Berkley News

The question Asian Americans hate to be asked: “Where are you from?” by Kurt Bardella, LA Times

If you’re white in America and your name is Joe, Kevin, Karen or Jennifer, when you meet someone for the first time, you aren’t asked, “Where are you from?” or “Where is your family from?” When you’re Asian American, it’s routine.

I grew up in the South as an Asian American. It was clear I wasn’t welcome by Cecilia Kim, Washington Post

After attacks on Asian American elders, here’s how to talk to your kids about racism against us by Suzan Song, NBC News

I often encourage parents not to wait for children to begin asking uncomfortable questions but to be prepared to answer them — or, better yet, to start uncomfortable discussions so our children don’t have to navigate their feelings alone when the inevitable occurs.

I Hated Myself For Not Being White For Most Of My Life. Here’s How I Stopped. by Sharon Kwan, Yahoo! News

My White Adoptive Parents Struggled to See Me as Korean. Would They Have Understood My Anger at the Rise in Anti-Asian Violence? by Nicole Chung, Time

A Target on Our Backs by Rachel Priest, Bitter Southerner

I will fight back against years of colorblind conditioning that told me bringing race into every conversation is racist. I will fight back against the continuously perpetuated stereotypes that Asians — and Asian women in particular — are subservient and quiet. I will fight back and call it by its name: The shootings were racist and demonstrated, in horrifying reality, what misogyny and the fetishization of East Asian women can become.

‘Am I Asian Enough?’ Adoptees Struggle To Make Sense Of Spike In Anti-Asian Violence NPR Morning Edition

New Post Placement Report Requirements

On March 3rd, the CCCWA announced a new second phase of post placement reports to be required of parents beginning April 1st, 2021. Parents will now be required to update the CCCWA annually until their child turns 18. This is required of those who have already adopted within the past five years, unless the adoption was prior to early 2016. Those who have already submitted the six required post placement reports by April 1st are exempt from the new requirement but may voluntarily submit reports

Why has China changed the post placement requirements? The stated reason is to “to follow up the living and growing situation of our children who have been adopted by foreign families, and to timely guarantee the adopted children’s legal rights and interests.” While prior to 2011 post placement reports were required only the first year after adoption, in recent times five years of reports have been required. A change to the post placement requirements was last made in 2015 after Reuters released an investigative report on internationally adopted children being unofficially “re-homed” through online contacts. This change comes less than a year after a high profile adoption dissolution received significant coverage in China. The authorities in China have long demonstrated that the long term well being of the children they place is important to them.

While the jump from five years all the way to age eighteen seems big, a number of other countries require post placement reports to age 18 including Ethiopia and Ukraine. Also, China is not requiring the full amount of information as the first five years of reports. Parents are required to send five pictures or video of up to 1 minute in length. A letter giving a written update on the child’s health and development may be included but does not seem to be required. In addition, parents will upload this directly to the CCCWA, so you do not need to be tied to your agency to submit the information.

As with any significant change in the China program, many families are reacting negatively. Some see it as spelling the imminent doom of the program while others feel it’s a violation of the agreement at the time of adoption to only have to submit post placement reports for five years. Many are declaring that they will not comply. I would like to again urge everyone to comply with the post placement requirements as much as they are able to do so. Failure to return post placement reports was a factor in the closure of both the Kazakhstan and Guatemala programs.

Houston Chinese Consulate Update

The United States has ordered China to close their consulate in Houston by Friday July 24th. This consulate was not currently processing any adoption related paperwork so the closure will not have any immediate effect for families in process. However, there is some discussion that China will force a US consulate in China to close in retaliation. The closure of the US consulate in Guangzhou would presumably halt adoption paperwork, at least until those services are moved to a different consulate in China.

Updates: China has ordered the US consulate in Chengdu be closed.

Those who were in the jurisdiction of the Chinese consulate in Houston will now be served by the Embassy in DC. This means you will now need the additional step of having documents authenticated by the US Dept of State before submitting them to the Chinese Embassy.

Kelly Rumbaugh, who operates the Ladybugs ‘n Love courier service, posted the following message on the China Adoption Questions Facebook group. I am reposting with permission.

My advice to every waiting parent that is processing dossier documents or POA is to call your caseworker for their opinion on this process. The information below is up to date and you can tell them the data if they don’t know.

Current Embassy requirements:
· Documents must be less than 6 months old
· Documents must have the extra Federal State Department seal
· Notary expiration must have at least 6 months left on their commission
Current processing timelines:
· Mail-in is open for the Department of State for the federal seal that is required by the DC Embassy. This is taking approximately 7-8 weeks
· The China Embassy will accept documents close to the 6-month age mark for appointment only. These documents are considered urgent to them. Their turnaround time is about a week.

As for the 5 Consulates that also process documents:
1. Chicago is by appointment only for urgent cases (close to 6 months old like Embassy)
2. New York is closed
3. San Francisco is closed
4. Los Angeles is closed
5. Houston is closed
(This is the data I have that is current as of today July 22, 2020)
Since families must have a home study done first, it is imperative to watch your dates on your documents and most likely send in a batch of documents to be authenticated before your immigration approval comes.

The gap in time causes medicals and police clearances to reach 6 months old before the immigration approval is finished. The authentication process can be done as documents are ready. You can submit two batches or more if necessary, to stay on top of the documents aging out. Once authenticated the documents are good for at least a year.

As an adoptive momma who has processed hundreds of dossiers this is a hard time and I believe wholeheartedly that the CCCWA will move forward with your adoptions as soon as possible. We cannot dictate to China or CCCWA what to do any more than we can dictate to our State Department. We must be patient and follow all the guidelines we are given by the agencies. They know the climate the best and can guide you to be as expedient as possible in your process.

Please know that we do have HOPE that the children will come home. I’m praying for all of you as you wait and will try to keep you abreast of any changes in this group! Please feel free to contact me with any questions.

Shared List June 2020

Here is data on the shared list from June 4, 2020

Total shared list files: 3261

Girls: 914 (28%)

Boys: 2346 (72%)

Here is the breakdown by age:

 

LID Files

If you remember, the CCCWA introduced a new way of matching LID files in December 2019. The general assumption was that there would be a monthly LID list like there is typically a monthly release date when new files are uploaded to the shared list. However, this was disrupted by the COVID19 pandemic.

There have only been two LID lists in 2020:

• February’s LID list had 18 files.
• May’s LID list had 10 files.

 

The files released in 2020 were all created before the pandemic began. COVID19 restrictions in China have prevented orphanages from being able to create new files. Even when pandemic restrictions are lifted, there will not immediately be a large amount of new files available. It can take 6 months to a year for a new file to be created. Those in process or considering adopting from China should expect the amount of new files to continue to decrease while matching times increase.

Updates and news June 2020

The US Department of State has released their annual report on intercountry adoption for FY2019. There were only 819 adoptions from China to the US, a significant decrease. Note that FY2019 ended on October 1, 2019 so this cannot be attributed to pandemic closures. The report notes:

“In FY 2019, consular officers issued 2,971
immigrant visas to children adopted abroad, or to be adopted in the United States by U.S. citizens. While the overall number of intercountry adoptions to the United States declined from the previous year, 75% of that decline can be attributed to the decrease of intercountry adoption from two countries, China (a decrease of 656) and Ethiopia (a decrease of 166).”

Adoptions from Ukraine, Liberia, Hungary, and Colombia have increased as people look for program alternatives to China. This increase is still relatively minor, as the overall number of intercountry adoptions was below 3,000. Ten years ago there were more than 3,000 adoptions from China alone.

 

On Friday, May 29th, CCAI broke the news that the as of January 1, 2021 children in state care in China will not “age out” of adoption eligibility until their 18th birthday.

 

 

All processing required for dossiers remains either slow or unavailable.

On June 1, it was announced that USCIS would furlough 11,000 employees starting July 20th.

USCIS has announced a furlough starting 20 July pending funding. Expect longer delays, reduced hours and less responsive customer service.

“With a loss of nearly 11,000 employees, work and visitor visa petitions, asylum and citizenship/naturalization applications, green cards and refugee applications will not be processed.” -Everett Kelley, AFGE national president.

 

Although select USCIS services resumed June 4th, application support centers which take fingerprinting for adoption applications remain closed.

According to Ladybugs N Love Adoption services, the Chicago Chinese consulate is still closed for document processing. The DC Embassy is open about 4 hours a week by appointment only for emergency services. Documents submitted to the Chinese Embassy must be sent to the US Dept of State first, and their mail in service is taking about 7 weeks currently.

In one lone bright spot, the CCCWA has begun to issue LIDs and LOAs. Travel remains unavailable for the foreseeable future.

 

The Stauffer family adoption dissolution has been national and international news over the past week. Normally when there is a big adoption related event which people are discussing I will make a blog post on the subject. However, I know the Stauffer family personally. I met them in person during the adoption process and after their son came home. I have been in contact with Myka during their struggle with the adoption over the past two years. Because I’m not a viewer of their YouTube channel, I don’t know what is information they have made public versus what was told to me personally. For this reason, I will not be posting about the situation. Here are two posts I have written previously on the topic:

• Adoption Dissolution: Begin with the end in mind
• Dissolution: Committed Parents

In addition, I would like to share two posts written by adult adoptees because the adoption community needs to amplify adult adoptee voices more. One was written specifically about the situation and the other is generally applicable.

• Rethinking “Forever Family”
• Myka Stauffer: An Adoption Fantasy Unraveled

 

COVID19 Adoption Update

As the COVID19 pandemic continues to disrupt life worldwide, I’ve seen people questioning how it is effecting adoption and whether this is a good time to begin an international adoption. Certainly, being stuck at home for weeks on end sounds like a great time to embark on an epic paperwork journey. Let’s look at the different parts of an adoption from China and how they are being effected.

Home study– A home study involves gathering paperwork to meet your state’s requirements, a physical from your physician, fingerprinting, background checks, and your social worker must visit your home at least one time.

• Some home study agencies are completely closed to new clients at the moment but others are trying to do everything but the home visit remotely. The home visit will have to be completed once restrictions are lifted.
• Many doctor’s offices are only taking urgent appointments or tele-visits. Check with your physician to see if a physical is possible at the moment.
• Many fingerprinting services such as FastFingerprints are temporarily closed.

Dossier-

• Dossier- USCIS is still processing I800a and I800s, however their processing times are very slow.
• Getting your documents authenticated at the state Secretary of State office may be difficult at the moment. In my state, they are only authenticating documents which are mailed in and documents may be held for later processing.
• Chinese consulates are closed right now so you will not be able to get your documents authenticated.

Taking these factors into consideration, my advice to someone considering starting the process right now would be to continue to read and educate yourself about adoption but to wait on starting the actual process. Remember that Chinese consulates will not accept documents more than 6 months old, so you don’t want to have your home study process drag out so long that you need to start redoing paperwork. Figuring out which placing agency you would use and contacting your local home study agency to see what your process will look like are other good ways to spend this time.

CCCWA-

• Dossiers are still being sent to the CCCWA and log in dates are being issued.
• Only a handful of LOAs have been received.
• TAs are only being issued for aging out kids. Remember that TAs are only valid for 90 days. It doesn’t make sense for China to issue them if people are unable to travel.

Matching-

• There was one shared list release in early January, before things got really crazy in China.
• There was also one non-special focus list released in early February.
• Other than that, there have basically been no new files made available. Presumably the pandemic closures in China will have an impact on the creation of new files for several months.

Travel-

• For families who were close to travel when things shut down in China, there is no end in sight for the completion of their adoptions.
• Intercountry adoption depends on families being able to enter China as well as return to the United States. Your child must be able to obtain a visa while you are in China to be able to travel home with you.
• Earlier this week, President Trump said that he was placing a 60 day suspension of immigration to the United States. An exception is included in Section 2 for minors immigrating through adoption. So, if anyone were to be able to travel within the next two months, this would not cause a problem for your child. 

What to expect in the future? That is anyone’s guess. I think that there will be very few international adoptions in 2020. Even when businesses and agencies begin to open, they may not be working at typical speed and there will be a backlog. It is uncertain how many new files will become available in China over the next few months. Finally, as my last post discussed how financially precarious most adoption agencies are, I think we can only expect more agencies to close. Most of these agencies have zero resources available to weather a year with very few adoptions. If you do decide to begin an adoption at this time, choose your placing agency carefully. Having your placing agency close in the middle of an adoption is both expensive and disruptive to your process.