tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15636692.post4395626335405139319..comments2024-03-10T15:13:47.148-07:00Comments on Research-China.Org: Predicting the Future of China AdoptionResearch-China.Orghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137919637778021754noreply@blogger.comBlogger65125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15636692.post-2594522704240901232010-05-14T04:20:07.563-07:002010-05-14T04:20:07.563-07:00Cheryl
Yikes...I was really surprised by your comm...Cheryl<br />Yikes...I was really surprised by your comment about power outages etc..so these moms can increase production. These are children not just objects. People are so caught up in getting what they want they forget there are alot of emotions on all sides that go into this adoption. As as a mom of a 7 yr old daughter (adopted at 10 mos) I was disgusted with your commentAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15636692.post-5306066624034078972008-01-10T09:49:00.000-08:002008-01-10T09:49:00.000-08:00I will probably address this topic in the next mon...I will probably address this topic in the next month or so once I have my numbers from 2007 available.<BR/><BR/>BrianResearch-China.Orghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09137919637778021754noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15636692.post-43938991002188831912008-01-10T09:42:00.000-08:002008-01-10T09:42:00.000-08:00Your article is very informative, but outdated. I...Your article is very informative, but outdated. Is there anyway you would consider a follow up artucle. We in the China adoption waiting line are all hurting, worried and frustrated. It would be so wonderful to have some idea of what is going on now in 2008.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15636692.post-68209795687705250692007-01-19T06:36:00.000-08:002007-01-19T06:36:00.000-08:00Actually, the age has been faling over the past se...Actually, the age has been faling over the past several months, but well within historical norms. One can track the ages of the children at referral at the following site:<br /><br />http://chinastats.org/statsdisplay.htm<br /><br />This is a good example of what happens when one takes small samples and tries to determine what is going on.<br /><br />BrianResearch-China.Orghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09137919637778021754noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15636692.post-3172784003709630312007-01-19T06:24:00.000-08:002007-01-19T06:24:00.000-08:00Brian, not trying to discredit your research, but ...Brian, not trying to discredit your research, but I have noticed that the longer the wait times for non-SM children, the older the children seem to be at referral. Is this just my observation on a small scale or is this happening regularly? If it is happening regularly, that would lead me to believe there is somewhat of a "paper" slowdown. Let me know what your research has shown. Thanks.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15636692.post-43301723600632682182006-12-09T07:33:00.000-08:002006-12-09T07:33:00.000-08:00The post was informative. My DH and I are in the w...The post was informative. My DH and I are in the wait and worried as we are older parents but I am hopeful that there are really fewer children in China to adopt. The fewer orphans in the world the better. I still pray for a daughter- but also a daughter that would otherwise be an orphan.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15636692.post-21278177593685862592006-10-22T02:55:00.000-07:002006-10-22T02:55:00.000-07:00Thank you for the information. I have been told o...Thank you for the information. I have been told of the extended wait period but I was told that the reason for this slow down was due to CCAA moving their office and other international adoption countries have closed their doors to foreign adoptions thus causing the bigger agencies to funnel their clients to China. Well whatever the case may be, the wait is so well worth it. We were fortunately a part of the 6 month assignments back in 2004 and we are now waiting on our 2nd child. Good luck to all of the families waiting out there. You won't believe how lucky you are until you hold that little baby.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15636692.post-20720890561257161562006-09-23T07:25:00.000-07:002006-09-23T07:25:00.000-07:00Generally speaking, healthy toddlers will be hard ...Generally speaking, healthy toddlers will be hard to find, primarily because the children are almost always found and adopted as infants. Some children are found as older children, and you might be able to adopt one of those.<br /><br />Special Needs range from a large birthmark, minor cleft pallet, a sixth finger, to much more severe problems such as heart issues, emotional or mental issues, etc. In your letter of introduction to the CCAA, which will be submitted as part of your dossier, you can specify what issues you are willing to deal with. <br /><br />Good luck!!<br /><br />BrianResearch-China.Orghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09137919637778021754noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15636692.post-91634784154871156122006-09-22T22:49:00.000-07:002006-09-22T22:49:00.000-07:00Ok, so I just found your blog. Huge Huge thanks f...Ok, so I just found your blog. Huge Huge thanks for doing all this research. My husband and I begin our home study in 2 days for our Chinese adoption. I have am having a hard time deciding between adopting a toddller and an infant. After reading many of your articles, with the foreign demands as high as they are, seems like older toddlers would be a rare find. Do you think this is true? Also if you request a special needs child how severe is the need. We could handle clefts and minor defects but Cerebral Palsy is something our home and life style cannot manage. I would be completely open to special needs if I knew what generally they were. Can you help me? Thanks.terrible spellerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07367815492345882780noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15636692.post-17671637118506952452006-09-13T20:39:00.000-07:002006-09-13T20:39:00.000-07:00Brian - Thank you for your interesting perspective...Brian - Thank you for your interesting perspective. I have a question that relates to the start of the slodown. Correct me if I am remembering incorrectly, but was China referring full months until Nov 05 when they started referring half months? Seems strang there would be a significant drop in just one month vs. a steady decline. If the Hunan stoppage accounts for 25% of the referrals, how does that alone explain the slowdown since it seems there is more than a 25% drop? And if shortage of children available due to decreased abandonments (which would be great), wouldn't you expect a steady decline in the number of referrals vs. a dramatic drop from Oct to Nov 05?<br />Again, please correct me if I am wrong, but I seem to remember the slow down happening quite suddenly. Thanks for your insight!<br /><br />JeanineAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15636692.post-87772216777035072562006-09-12T16:36:00.000-07:002006-09-12T16:36:00.000-07:00Regarding expedites for 1st or 2nd generation Chin...Regarding expedites for 1st or 2nd generation Chinese born...<br /><br />My wife and I were LID of 10/26/05. My wife is a first generation immigrant from China. We received our referral on 2/27/06. Man were we caught off-guard by the speed of the expedite, especially watching the lengthing times! So that put us with an expedited referral of just over 4 months. <br /><br />Oh, and our baby was a referral from a Hunan orphanage, with a baby dossier dated in November of 2005, so one of the last before the freeze in that province. <br /><br />So this class of expedite does indeed happen, but in fairnes our agency cautioned us that it is most often an expedite of about 2 months improvment (compared to the assumed old rates of 6-8 months for a non-expedite referral) and is NOT guaranteed. <br /><br />Great post and analysis Brian! Much more sane and well thought out then so much of the "rumor mill" circulating in other channels. You actually put context behind what is happening and that is valuable for all waiting parents, even if the result is a bit bitter-sweet in terms of the waiting periods at present. Keep up the good work.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15636692.post-41198330664857951652006-09-08T05:44:00.000-07:002006-09-08T05:44:00.000-07:00Julie is right on in her comments.Julie is right on in her comments.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15636692.post-61833182682509095792006-09-06T08:44:00.000-07:002006-09-06T08:44:00.000-07:00I agree with Eileen. In 1990 less than 100 kids we...I agree with Eileen. In 1990 less than 100 kids were adopted from China to the US. Last year it was nearly 8,000; estimated 12,000 worldwide. You can't stay on a track like this, and still be a Hague adoption convention ratifier, and expect to evade scrutiny. (Given that the Hague specifically defines IA to different-race parents, which is most of China/US IA, as the absolute last resort after domestic adoption and IA to same-race parents.)<br /><br />the Olympics will also be a point of scrutiny as adoption stories during that time are, I think, inevitable given the way the media like to think they are providing the "big picture."<br /><br />By regulating and encouraging domestic adoption China can, to a degree, mitigate any accusations that IA has morphed from a child-welfare effort to a child-export effort. (Considering the amount of money that changes hands, the latter charge is bound to be raised.)<br /><br />It is hard to view things this way as a parent or prospective parent with only the best, loving, intentions at heart. But some portion of the "outside world" (outside the circle of IA) does indeed interpret events just this way. It is very hard on the prospective APs who signed on expecting one kind of timeframe, and being presented with this grossly inflated timeframe. But I think Brian's contention (that China will not just let IA expand/inflate indefinitely and that a pullback is inevitable) is right on the money, and consistent with both CCAA's actions and anecdotal reports.<br /><br />JulieAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15636692.post-55417177608962841042006-09-04T17:29:00.000-07:002006-09-04T17:29:00.000-07:00I recently talked with a colleague who has lived f...I recently talked with a colleague who has lived for quite a long period of time in China. He was most recently involved in helping with improvements in their justice system. Anyway, in speaking with people there, he got an interesting take on Chinese adoption. Yes, they are happy that these children are finding homes, but they also feel like their country has "lost face" in the eyes of the international community because there has been so much attention on the plight of abandonded girls. They don't want other countries to think that they can't take care of their own. The slow-down, I've heard, is in part because they are trying very hard to get their in-country adoption program going, which would be a wonderful thing. Also, if not as many children are coming out of China, the situation may not seem so serious to the international community. Who knows. I do sincerely hope the slow-down is because there are fewer girls being abandonded. <br /><br />EileenAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15636692.post-55216947288171612922006-08-31T14:48:00.000-07:002006-08-31T14:48:00.000-07:00Dear Sir
What country have you been visiting?
I sa...Dear Sir<br />What country have you been visiting?<br />I say this because friends been to china this year and have witnessed a city orphanage that had western input. To put it mildly it was like hell on earth. Babies were fed rarely there was one nanny to at least thirty children and babies while the other nannies disapeared for a two and half hour lunch break. the children were treated by the majority of nannies (there were six)with the air they were some how second class, as a previous poster said these children often only had mild things wrong such as cleft lip or heart problems.Non IA swi's can,it seems ,have very different standards & a kind of institutionalised lack of care/cruelty.Western input in cash terms is only one way of improving the childrens lot, my strongly held opinion is that the best option is that they be removed.This being achieved either through more orphanages becoming IA,facilitation of domestic fostering or closure & reopening under new management.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15636692.post-69324085086586388862006-08-31T07:08:00.000-07:002006-08-31T07:08:00.000-07:00Brian,
thanks for your take on things. I've bee...Brian, <br /><br />thanks for your take on things. I've been interested to read some of the comments that people have made. I have to disagree with the "we've bashed Cheryl enough" post. If her comment was meant to be humorous it was in poor taste, and if not I hope someone is able to help her understand that what she said was wrong in so many ways.<br /><br />I know that people have been hearing about how they may stop singles from adopting and set weight and wage restrictions, but I don't think that this will have a huge impact on timelines. What I do think will have an impact is to stop people who have LIDs in the NSN program from switching to the SN program.<br /><br />I know that will cause a scream or two of "doesn't she think these SN children should be adopted?" but the fact is people have to understand how much work they cause when they start to play with the process after they've started. Everyone cries foul when CCAA makes up rules, but they don't seem to mind bending them when it suits their purposes. People seem to have been switching programs to speed up their referral. That's not to say it's wrong to want a child faster, or that these children don't need homes, but once you're in the process you need to think of what you're doing by switching. I think everyone's seen the pictures of the files at CCAA. Now tell me how they think their files get out of one huge stack into another program without a person physically getting up to search for them. That person who may have in the past been doing Log ins or reviews or matches. Yes there seems to be an agreement that there is a shortage of paper ready NSN babies, but there is also a surfeit of people who are switching programs.<br /><br />Thank you.<br /><br />KarenAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15636692.post-33019420652817871502006-08-30T20:11:00.000-07:002006-08-30T20:11:00.000-07:00Dear Brian,
If an pre-adoptive mother becomes pre...Dear Brian,<br /><br />If an pre-adoptive mother becomes pregnant during the wait after the family's dossier is logged in China, can you please comment on how CCAA handles a situation like this. I know it depends on many variables, but I would like to know general info.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15636692.post-70285877813258103522006-08-30T15:43:00.000-07:002006-08-30T15:43:00.000-07:00Thank you to Brian for your thoughtful postings. I...Thank you to Brian for your thoughtful postings. I always look forward to a new post on your site. Also, thanks to all those posting information about being expedited due to Chinese ancestry. Does anyone have experience and/or advice for us: We qualify to be expedited but, apparently, at log-in our file was put in with the non-Chinese heritage track. I could have handled the long wait much better if we had not been taken for a rollercoaster ride on unfounded promises. Now our agency just says "Give up, you can't switch into the expedited track because it didn't happen right at the beginning". I understand that the CCAA is reluctant to change anything for us because they are receiving many requests for switching to WC/SN due to the lengthening wait. I realize it reflects badly on me to be so impatient, but if it were possible to still be expedited I would jump at that opportunity (although in the rest of my life, I'm not usually a queue-jumper!). This would be our first child, the first child for the oldest son of a Chinese family (all born in China). Should we indeed give up and accept an 18 month wait when we could have gotten our referral already? <br /><br />wishful Canadian mom<br />LID Nov 2005Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15636692.post-37047287528732022502006-08-30T12:59:00.000-07:002006-08-30T12:59:00.000-07:00Thank you so much to the person who wrote this:
"...Thank you <b>so</b> much to the person who wrote this:<br /><br />"The WCP should not be used as a vehicle for faster adoptions, or for parents the CCAA does not deem "perfect". The children in the WCP deserve to be adopted by parents that WANT to parent a WC, not by parents that are forced into that program."<br /><br />-----<br /><br />As the parent of two children adopted through the Waiting Child program (one of whom I gave up a singles slot for), I couldn't agree more whole-heartedly.<br /><br />It upsets me to think of people taking part in the WC program just for quicker waits or because that was what they "qualified" for. <br /><br />If a person goes into the WC program with that kind of outlook, I fear they will always view their child, no matter how much loved, as 'not quite what they really wanted.' And that would be awful for the child.<br /><br /><b>Only go into the waiting child program if it is truly your desire to parent a child with some kind of special need!</b>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15636692.post-44020220898736054932006-08-29T20:31:00.000-07:002006-08-29T20:31:00.000-07:00In order for adoptive parents of Chinese descent t...In order for adoptive parents of Chinese descent to qualify for expedited processing, they must meet the following criteria:<br /><br />1) They must be NO MORE than 2nd generation Chinese. If one is an immigrant from China, their place of birth is reflected in the dossier. If one is born in the United States, but parents are from China, this is reflected on the birth certificates. 3rd generation and beyond do not have China as a place of origin reflected on their official documents. <br /><br />2) They must request for expedited processing in the letter to CCAA along with request from the agency as well. Otherwise, their dossier gets channeled through the system like all of us.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15636692.post-26483427578989834292006-08-29T20:20:00.000-07:002006-08-29T20:20:00.000-07:00My wife is ethnic Chinese and a citizen of Singapo...My wife is ethnic Chinese and a citizen of Singapore. We asked to be expedited because of her ethnicity not knowing if it would be accepted. It was, but we didn't know it until we recieved a surprise phone call from our agency saying that our referral had arrived. Our wait from LID to referral was 4 months and 18 days. We were LID 10/10/05.<br /><br />As to the post of other Chinese couples not being expedited, my wife and I know of two couples. In the first couple the wife is an immigrant from China and the husband is Chinese from Malaysia. But they recieved their referral during the time when the wait was already 6 months anyway.<br /><br />The other couple we met in the airport as we were travelling to China to recieve our daughter this past spring. They were an interracial couple like my wife and I. The wife was ethnic Chinese but born in the USA. <br /><br />We would love to know what made the difference in getting our dossier expedited when others have not been. The one thought I have is that we not only submitted my wife's birth certificate which lists her father's race as Chinese, but we also sent a copy of her Singapore identity card which lists her race as Chinese as well. So we had two official state issued documents declaring her race.<br /><br />Brian - but not the author of this blog ;)BRIANhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06603496179556898456noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15636692.post-28008840299608310682006-08-29T14:49:00.000-07:002006-08-29T14:49:00.000-07:00I would like to comment on the families that are o...I would like to comment on the families that are of Chinese Descent. I am not sure I agree with that because a couple that we are LID with are both of Chinese descent and they are waiting just as long as we are.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15636692.post-86823950897130034472006-08-29T13:58:00.000-07:002006-08-29T13:58:00.000-07:00Thanks for the straight talk. While this is a very...Thanks for the straight talk. While this is a very emotional subject for all, it is important to remember that IA is a "business" of sorts - It is not all warm and fuzzy or PC.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15636692.post-62478904043372627322006-08-29T11:37:00.000-07:002006-08-29T11:37:00.000-07:00China's population centers hug teh eastern coast a...China's population centers hug teh eastern coast areas, and relatively few people live in the western provinces. There are orphanages that participate in the IA program in almost every province, but with fewer people there are fewer children.<br /><br />BrianResearch-China.Orghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09137919637778021754noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15636692.post-37584518706811347622006-08-29T11:01:00.000-07:002006-08-29T11:01:00.000-07:00I had a question. Some sites track referrals and ...I had a question. Some sites track referrals and in which province the children were born. It seems that almost all of the children are from SWI's in southern and central China. I have seen VERY few children from provinces in the northeast and northwest. Do those provinces have SWI's that participate in the IA program? Would you know any reason why there are not many children adopted from those areas?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com