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Adoption Information
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| Children's House International would like to welcome MeiXing home from China!
An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place or circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle but will never break.
-- Based on an ancient Chinese belief
Is the red thread pulling you to China?
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Ni hao from Stefani Ellison and Heidi Hawkins! We are the China Family Coordinators for Children's House International (CHI). Stefani has the honor of working with a children and families for the Waiting Child Program and Heidi works with children and families in our Traditional China Program.
Here is a bit about each of our China Program Coordinators:
Stefani has been with CHI since the very beginning of CHI's China program. Stefani's daughter was the first Chinese placement for the agency in mid 1995, she is one child that has changed so many lives. The Ellison's have went on to find two more beautiful daughters in China and a son all with special medical needs and indeed what special souls they are! The Waiting Child Program has touched the Ellison family personally! Stefani's passion for these children has become her mission in life.
Heidi has also been blessed with three daughters from China! In 1994, Heidi and her husband Kim began their adoption journey- little did they know how much this would change their lives forever! Heidi traveled to China in 1995 and became a mother in what she describes as," The most spectacular experience of my life...and a bit terrifying too!" Heidi and Kim went on to adopt two more precious daughters from China. Traveling back to China in 1999 to adopt precious Suzi and most recently Mimi arrived home in 2005. Heidi is well aware of the paper chase involved in the adoption process AND the wonderful experience of adopting from China!
Since our China Program has continued to grow, we at CHI are pleased to have two China Program Coordinators to serve our children and families. As you can see Stefani and Heidi have both personal and professional experience, and they also have a PASSION for the children of China and work tirelessly for them!
Visit this link to see a CHI trip to China
If you are a US citizen living abroad, please contact Michele Jordan who specializes in helping our China families all over the world. Please contact Michele Jordan at mtjordan51@hotmail.com
Visit our Waiting Child Chat Group and register to receive the password to meet our current waiting children
Children's House International is delighted to be to entrusted by the CCAA to place for expedited adoption children with medical needs and/or physical difference and occasionally healthy older children. All these children have already waited too long for families. Please take a minute and visit on yahoo group to learn more about into our Waiting Child program and these exceptional children. CHI Waiting Child Program.
CHI GENERAL OVERVIEW:
Children's House was one of the earliest agencies to obtain accreditation from the China Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA) in 1994 and has remained committed to adoptions from China. CHI is a smaller agency which prides itself on being able to give very individualized attention to families. We are happy to "hold adoptive parents hands" as we realize that they are putting one of the most profound events in their lives in someone else's hands. We know the fears, hopes, anxieties, and dreams. We welcome families to ask questions and to clarify, clarify, clarify. That is their job and we love doing our job...helping them.
Each family is unique and we are strong advocates for our adoptive families with the CCAA. We have a fantastic China Relations Manager and facilitator, Charlene Wang, who has dedicated herself to helping the homeless little ones of China at great personal sacrifice. Families couldn't be in better care than hers. She also gets to know each family very well through the process. Here are some more of CHI's strengths:
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CHI is directly accredited with the CCAA and does not need to work through another agency. CHI's China Relations Manager has direct communication with the CCAA and knows each family's case intimately.
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Completed dossiers are sent to China every Friday. Individual dossiers are sent when ready and not held up to create dossier groups.
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CHI will gladly guide families through all stages of paperwork including CIS and authentications.
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Families are allowed to make their own travel arrangements to a gateway city in China.
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Travel within China is completely taken care of by B.O.I.T. ( Beijing Oriental International Travel) staff. A complete and detailed itinerary is reviewed with CHI and given to families before they depart.
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CHI has worked with B.O.I.T. since the beginning of their adoption program. This long term relationship allows our families to have personalized small travel groups at an affordable price.
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The smaller groups allow us to take adoptive parents to children's orphanages (if allowed by the local civil affairs) and tailor adoption trips to the personal preferences of families.
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Tours to Beijing and/or other Chinese cities can be arranged before or after travel to adoptive child's province.
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All fees are stated clearly up front. Families sign a financial contract with CHI at the beginning of the process. Families know exactly what they are paying for, when, and why.
CHI is an active member of Joint Council on International Children's Services (JCICS) and will become fully HAGUE accredited in the coming year.
CHILDREN WAITING FOR FAMILIES:
The children in the Traditional Program:
The children are mostly females, between the ages of 6 months to two years old. All children are considered "healthy" (some may have had a medical condition that was corrected but the majority have had no health issues).
Boys may be requested and while waiting time cannot be guaranteed, the general waiting time frame is the same for as for girls.
The waiting time from registration at the CCAA to referral is generally 18-20 months. However, families need to be prepared for the wait to extend even further. Currently the CCAA is backlogged and the wait could extent to 20-24 months and possibly beyond.
Most children have been abandoned and information on their birth families does not exist.
The children in the Waiting Child Program:
CHI is entrusted with a wonderful group of children every 3-4 months. Generally we do not have any information on these children in advance and find out about their medical needs as we review their files.
Most of the children have physical differences but are healthy, though they may require medical rehabilitation and/or intervention when they arrive home.
On a rare occasion CHI will have "healthy" older children to place from our Waiting Child list, usually these are boys over the age of 7 and girls over the age of 10.
CHI and the CCAA will work together to have families matched as quickly as possible in the Waiting Child Program.
Most children have been abandoned and information on their birth families does not exist.
Waiting... waiting... waiting... why are these children without families?
Children that are available for international adoption are orphans. They are orphaned for many reasons. This is most often due to their birth families inability to parent based on poverty. Poverty worldwide creates the need for international adoption, but it is not the only reason.
Education is another common factor. In many countries, birth control is not widely offered nor is it taught in the family, community or in school. Birth mothers also can lack education on how to parent a child or have the capability to earn a living wage to support the child. So education can play a large part in children becoming orphaned.
In some situations, when a birth mother does become pregnant she may be shunned by both her family and her community. Many times this leads to desperate situations that force a birth parent to either abandon or relinquish their child.
Sadly there are other factors that create orphans, war, worldwide famine, drought and the AIDS epidemic have also created orphans in many countries. These factors are the most common reasons for children to become available for international adoption.
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ELIGIBILITY:
Traditional Program:
Married couples must be at least 30 years of age and under 50 at the time the dossier is logged into China.
If it is the first marriage for both the husband and wife, they must be married a minimum of 2 years.
If either the husband or wife has been married previously, their current marriage must be a minimum of 5 years.
Up to two divorces each for both the husband or wife may be allowed.
Families must have 4 or fewer children under the age of 18 in the home at the time of dossier registration. The youngest child in the home must be at least 1 year old at the time the dossier arrives in China.
Waiting Child Program:
Married couples must be at least 30 years of age and under 55 at the time the dossier is logged into China.
If it is the first marriage for both the husband and wife, they must be married a minimum of 2 years.
If either the husband or wife has been married previously, their current marriage must be a minimum of 5 years.
Up to two divorces each for both the husband or wife may be allowed.
Families ARE NOT required to have 4 or fewer children under the age of 18 in the home at the time of dossier registration. However, the youngest child in the home must be at least 1 year old at the time the dossier arrives in China.
Both the Traditional Program and the Waiting Child Program have the following additional eligibility requirements:
Families must have an approved home study completed that includes all of the Chinese requirements.
Families must have CIS immigration clearance (this includes an FBI fingerprint results).
Parents must be in reasonable health and have no medical condition that would limit their ability to parent a child. Severe diseases that affect life expectancy will not be allowed. Medications for serious depression, mania or anxiety may need further medical information. For other medical issues that may be decided on a case-by- case basis, please contact CHI for specific medical issues.
Neither parent may have a BMI (Body Mass Index) of over 40. You can calculate your BMI using this website.
Families must meet the CCAA yearly income requirements of a minimum of $30,000 for a childless couple or $10,000 per person in the household and an additional $10,000 for the newly adopted child. Another example, a family of four should make a yearly income of $50,000. That is $10,000 each for the four members already in the household plus an additional $10,000 to cover the child to be adopted.
Families must be able to report a minimum Net Worth of $80,000. This can include your home, all household possessions, computers, jewelry, vehicles, pensions plans, retirement benefits and 401K to name a few examples. Please call our office for more information on what may be included.
Parents should have no criminal records. On an case-by-case basis, consideration will be given when either parent meets all of the following conditions: has less than 3 criminal records of slight severity and have resulted in no sever outcomes AND the time of correction has been at least 10 years ago.
China will not allow parents to adopt with any history of domestic violence, sex abuse, child abandonment or abuse.
China will not allow parents to adopt with any recorded history of narcotics abuse.
Parents may be accepted on a case-by-case basis with an alcohol conviction if there has been no issues within the past 10 years.
At least one parent MUST travel to China to complete the adoption there. CHI recommends that both parents go as the experience it is truly life changing. Length of stay in China is approximately 7-10 working days. With the exception of the Guangdong province which is 10-14 working days.
CHINA ADOPTION FEES:
REFERENCES:
Please click on the following link to hear from
some of our wonderful CHI families and their feelings about
their CHI experience. Our
Families Speak
TO GET MORE INFORMATION:
 Please call Stefani Ellison for specific questions on the process and fees for the Waiting Child Program directly at stefani@infowest.com or 435-867-5255.
Please call Heidi Hawkins for specific questions on the process and fees for the Traditional China Program directly at heidigoestochina@msn.com or 360-383-0623.
China is our passion as thousands of children are still waiting in Chinese orphanages for their forever families. Is your child waiting for you?
"Remember, this is the greatest thing that will ever happen in the life of this child.
Tell her to go forth on behalf of all her sisters who will never have this chance and change the world."
Parting advice from a very wise and loving orphanage director, Mrs. Fenrong Chen (pictured at right).
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