Adoption Process
There are three main steps to the Chinese adoption process: Immigration and Naturalization Service, home study and dossier preparation. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) The first step is to file the I-600A (application for Advance Processing of Orphan Petition) with the INS in state of residence.

This entails an FBI check, which may take up to 90 days. We recommend that you begin this process even before you start your home study. Send the INS a copy of the home study when it is complete. You will have one year to complete your I-600A application.

Your local INS office can be found under Federal Government in the blue pages of your phone book or visit their website at www.ins.usdoj.gov. The form can also be downloaded from their site, or once you have applied, we will provide you with the necessary forms online.
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Home Study
A home study is a report required by the INS, your state and adoption officials verifying that you are suitable to be a parent(s) of a child and can provide the stability and home environment that a child needs. It also is a time for you to learn about some of the special concerns that are inherent in international adoption. It consists of at least four face-to-face interviews and a home visit.

Contact us and we will put you in touch with a reputable agency near you to do your home study. Please note that the home study provider must be affiliated with a nonprofit organization. They can not be an independent adoption worker.
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Dossier Preparation for China
All of the documents below must be originals.

Collect these documents

  • A letter/petition to adopt
  • Home study
  • Birth certificates (for adoptive parent(s) only)
  • Marriage certificate or marital status document if single;
  • Financial statement form;
  • Medical report form(s);
  • Employer letter(s);
  • Police report(s);
  • INS approval (I-171H);
  • Two copies of passport pages (not authenticated);
  • Six photos of you and your family (not authenticated);

Get them notarized.

Get them state certified.

Get them authenticated by the Chinese Consulate.

Send them to A Helping Hand.

After your dossier is sent in, you will wait 6-7 months for a referral. Then you will travel to China to pick up your baby and finalize the adoption. You will be in China for about two weeks and one of our employees will be with you the entire time. They will interpret for you and travel with you and make sure everything goes smoothly. Once the adoption is finalized you will come home.
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Adopt from China
What to Expect
China has centralized the adoption process and therefore it is a predictable process. There are exceptions to its predictability, but for the most part you can expect the following when adopting from China:

There is a child waiting for you at the end of the process. Unlike a domestic adoption, the children are readily available. If you meet the requirements of China you will receive a child.

Our staff will answer your questions and respond in a timely manner.

We will do everything in our power to advocate for you to the China Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA).

It is a long process. Currently the time from dossier log in until the CCAA sends out a referral is about 13 to 14 months. This time frame flexes. It has been as low as six months.

You will receive a "healthy" child unless you request a special needs child.

We will give you all the information you need to go through the process successfully.

We will pray for you regularly both during the process and after you are done.

You will get pictures and medical information on the child once she has been assigned.

The Chinese will not place more than one child at a time.

The Chinese will assign a child based on your request in the application letter.

We will arrange you entire trip and be there with you while you travel.

You will see the Great Wall and other sights in Beijing.
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Requirements
This page addresses requirements of prospective parents by China. Prospective parents of a broad age range and those with children can adopt from the China Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA), the Chinese adoption authority. Couples or singles may be 30 or older, with or without children, may adopt a child that the Chinese classify as normal health-wise, subject to the following general guidelines:(1)

Applicants ages 30-45 can expect a referral of a child 6-18 months of age;

Applicants ages 46-49 should be open to a child up to 30 months of age;

Applicants ages 50-55 should be open to a child from 2-6 years of age.

You will request a child with in a certain age range and health and gender. The Chines authorities will try to assign a child based on that request.

There are minimum requirements for a family and they are

Both parents must be 30 before dossier submission.

Family income must equal $10,000 per year per person in the house including the adoptive child. For example, if a married couple has two children at home and they want to adopt, that would be four in the home and one adotive child equalling five total, making that family's income requirement $50,000 annually. $30,00 is the minimum a family must earn. If you are close to the requirement, we may be able to work with you. Don't give up there may be a way for us to find for you to meet this requirement.

A family can not have more then four minors living in the home prior to adoption.

One social worker has made the point that nearly all children adopted from China are "special needs" children in the sense that they may have some developmental delays associated with abandonment and orphanage life (except perhaps children in foster care). For example, in the orphanages in which we work, the children will have been properly fed, clothed and provided for. However, they will not have been stimulated to a great degree by frequent touching, playing, etc.

This lack of frequent contact may cause some developmental delay in nearly all the children. It has been our experience, however, that in these cases, the children soak up the love and attention given to them by their new parents, respond to it and catch up developmentally quickly. Please call an adoptive parent or visit our discussion boards to discuss this issue. You also may wish to talk about this with your pediatrician as well.
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Costs
We have found that China adoption price sheets often leave out items or assume only one parent will travel. We have been complete in our listing. Please compare apples to apples when comparing our prices with other agencies.

United States Expenses

  1. I-600A visa petition (payable to the INS) $560
  2. Certification and authentication fees for two people(1) $400(2)
  3. A Helping Hand Agency fee(3) $4,250
  4. China Center of Adoption Affairs $600(4)

Expenses to China

  1. Airfare (round trip for two people, to and from China with infant)(5) $1,800 to $2,300
  2. Orphanage fee(6) $3,000
  3. Internal air flights, hotels, internal ground transportation, some sightseeing admission fees, and food in China for two, translators,(7) tips at hotel, bus drivers, airport tax $1,700 to $2,200
  4. Visa for child, photographs and physical exam $350
  5. Chinese civil affairs fees $500
  6. Chinese notary fee $150
  7. Passport fee $75 to $100
  8. Home study $1,200 to $2,000(8)

Total Costs The total costs (both U.S. and China) assuming two traveling adults $13,695(9) to $15,520(10)
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  1. Adopting couples are responsible for obtaining Chinese Embassy/Consulate authentication. At times, family friends who live in the Consulate/Embassy city have walked the documents through this process. This quote does not include mail express fees if those services are utilized and it can vary depending upon the number of documents. Call our office for advice or help if you have a problem here.
  2. Kentucky, Maryland and a handful of other states require an additional step in the authentication process that may add $5 per document to the total authentication cost. Additionally, if you live in one of those states served by the Chinese Embassy in Washington, there will be an additional $5 per document charge.
  3. The agency fee is payable as follows: (a) $250 upon application; (b) $2,000 before submission of dossier to China; (c) $2,000 upon identification and acceptance of child, prior to leaving for China.
  4. This fee is payable with the second installment of the AHH fee when the dossier is sent to China.
  5. The cost of the airfare will vary depending upon the time of year of travel (i.e., peak vs. non-peak times). This range of prices includes travel from an airport near you, to the United States international point of departure, to China, and back home to the airport near you. It assumes that two adults travel to China and covers the baby's cost in coming back to the U.S. We are often able to secure tickets for $1,000 round trip, but we also provide a figure that might be charged at a high volume time.
  6. This fee is set by the Chinese government and has remained constant for the past few years, but is, of course, subject to change. Orphanages are statutorily allowed to charge between $3,000 (USD) and $5,000 (USD).
  7. This figure is based on the assumption that three internal Chinese air flights for the couple will be required. This can vary depending on where the orphanage is located. The cost will be less where the child is located in a large coastal city or Beijing. It includes two meals per day per person except in Guangzhou where it includes one meal per day per person. The figure is for both husband and wife traveling and assumes that the couple spends 12 nights in China. This includes 1 to 2 days of site seeing in Beijing. Further, we assume that a group of four to five couples travel together. This allows us to get better hotel prices. Some of our groups elect to travel to China a day early to see the Great Wall. This cost is not included.
  8. This cost varies greatly from state to state. Please note that post-placement reports are two, six and 12 months post adoption. These must be contracted for with the home study agency.
  9. This amount assumes that those adopting already have their U.S. passports and does not include funds for gift buying and the cost of visas. Finally, the U.S. State Department advises travelers to China to take $1,500 cash more than they think they will need while in China. Credit cards and traveler's checks are accepted in tourist hotels only and all Chinese fees must be paid in U.S. dollars.
  10. We have tried to be fully forthright about all costs. Please read all footnotes in this section; if we made an assumption, we disclose that assumption. It would be possible to quote a lower fee, by omitting items or assuming that only one parent will travel, but we want to avoid this course.
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Time to Adoption
This is an approximate time line of what you can expect during the adoption process through China.

It will take an average family about three to four months to prepare their dossier and submit it to us.

Once the dossier is translated and logged into the China Center of Adoption Affairs, it will take about 6-7 months for them to approve and send out a referral. This 6-7 month time frame fluctuates; it has been as low as 6 months. It may go down again at some point.

Once the referral is received it will be five to eight weeks before a family can travel, as this is how long it will take to get permission to travel and make all the arrangements.

The trip is two-weeks and you will receive your child on the third or fourth day.

The post adoption process for China lasts one year with three post-placement reports prepared by your social worker at two, six and 12 months.
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