There have been several announcements this week which are related to China adoption.
On January 21st, Bethany announced they will not be renewing their international accreditation when it expires on March 31st. They will now be focusing solely on US domestic adoption.
AAC Adoption notified their families on January 23rd that they also plan to let their international accreditation lapse. Their accreditation is valid through September of this year. Although the email sent to families was shared with me, there has not yet been a public announcement.
Given that BAAS relinquished their accreditation at the end of December to merge their international programs with Adopt International, people have now lost several popular agency choices. This seems to be confirming the speculation that WACAP’s merger with Holt last year was the beginning of a trend because the international adoption market will not support the number of US agencies with international programs. This makes it vitally important that you consider the financial stability of an agency when you are choosing a provider.
Also this week, IAAME published the suspension of accreditation of three different agencies. Small World is the only one which had a China program. As Small World was not required to transfer their cases it is likely they will be able to continue services within a few weeks for the families currently in process with them.
Finally, with the Chinese government on high alert because of the coronavirus adoption travel is likely to be disrupted because of the instituted shutdowns. Hubei specifically is being effected at the moment but some agencies have informed families that the CCCWA notified them families will need to reschedule adoption appointments with Civil Affairs. If you are a family who is planning travel in the near future your agency is the best source of information for how your travel might be effected.
Mine in China 