Adopting from China: The Process

1) Gathering Documents for Homestudy
Prospective adoptive parents must gather together many, many documents to prove that they are fit candidates for adoption. The following list is not all inclusive, but just to give you some idea: birth/marriage certificates, proof of no criminal record, proof of good health, financial & tax documents, proof of attendance at adoption related classes, letters of recommendation from friends and family, proof of employment/insurance, a living will, and background checks by homeland security. The documents needed to be notarized, then taken to the state capital to be certified, and then sent to the Chinese consulate in San Francisco for approval. In addition to all of that, both Scott and I had to write up answers to very personal questions about our respective backgrounds, how we live now, and about how we plan to parent. This part of the adoption process is incredibly time consuming and every last detail has to be perfect.
2) The Homestudy
A homestudy is performed by a social worker. Our social worker was the bees knees, but for two essentially private people such as Scott and myself, the homestudy still felt like an anal probe. Our social worker came and visited/inspected our home and asked us some extremely personal questions both together as a couple, and then separately. No lie detectors were used, but I wouldn't have been all that surprised had she pulled one out.
3) The Homestudy Report: Pass or Fail?
The social worker determines whether or not prospective parents "pass" the homestudy and writes a report for the prospective parents to send to the Chinese adoption ministry. Passing the homestudy is a big milestone. Essentially, it is the culmination of many hours of deep contemplation and work and it feels like a big accomplishment when it is done.
4) Completing the Adoption Dossier
More documents are gathered. An adoption dossier is translated into Mandarin and sent to the China Center for Adoption Affairs, a.k.a. the CCAA. One of the documents is a letter to the CCAA requesting permission to adopt a baby/child. It was very strange to write a letter that began, "Dear People's Republic of China."
5) Log In Date
The CCAA logs in the dossier, and assigns a Log In Date, or LID. This is a very important date for prospective parents, as a lot hinges upon it. The LID could be compared to a getting a number at the DMV--it is your place in a very long line. Our LID is 02/09/2006. We sent our dossier to the CCAA in early January, but they didn't log it in until later. They can do that.
6) The Review Room & The Matching Room
The CCAA has two rooms that dossiers move through:
a) The Review Room is the room in which the dossiers of prospective parents are reviewed and hopefully approved. It is another big milestone when dossiers make it through the review room. We made it through ages ago after an unprecedented wait, during which time we were shaking in our boots! Once prospective parents receive word that their dossier/application has been approved, it is almost a sure thing that they will receive a referral.
b) The Matching Room is the place where the dossiers of prospective parents are reviewed again, but this time they are matched up with a baby or child. Nobody really knows how the folks at the CCAA choose parents for any given child. We have yet to make it into the Matching Room--at least as far as we know. Obviously, being in the matching room is a big deal.
7) The Referral
Once matches have been made, then referrals are sent to adoption agencies all over the world. I have learned that all adoption agencies have different ways of getting referral info to parents. Our adoption agency translates all of the documentation that contains the particulars about the baby or child, puts the referral picture in a cute little layout frame thingy and gets it to the prospective parent ASAP. They call parents with whatever they know before all of the paperwork is done. Obviously, we haven't experienced this yet, but based on what I have read, referral day is a wonderful day.
8) Travel Approval
A few weeks after the referral is received, China issues travel approvals. There is usually about 8 weeks between the referral and traveling to China. Our agency makes the travel arrangements for their clients and there is usually a group of people from our agency traveling together. There should be about 20 couples in our group.
9) To China
Most families go through Beijing, and then to the province where their child/baby is residing. Typically, people from the Social Welfare Institutes (SWIs) bring the children to the hotel where the families are staying. I have seen video of babies being handed to their new families and it is... indescribable. At this point all families head back to Guangzhou where they stay in a hotel called The White Swan. Almost all families who adopt from China have the White Swan in common; it has become an adoption tradition. Families usually stay there for 2 weeks while all of the necessary paperwork is completed.
10) Home!
At this point, I can't even imagine what it will be like. The new family members must be re-adopted so that a US birth certificate can be issued. Also there are several post-adoption visits from social workers to make sure everything is going well.