Many people keep asking where we are in the process and when we will travel... so I thought I'd explain it here just so everyone understands. Keep in mind, this is based on the Waiting Child Program (which is different than adopting a child through the Non-Special Needs program). It is also based on being referred a child prior to submitting a Dossier.
We received Courtney's file from our agency on July 31, 2009. After reviewing her file and seeking advice from medical experts (which our agency highly recommends), we accepted the referral and sent in our LOI (letter of intent). China reviewed the LOI and the accompanying documents proving our eligibility to adopt and sent us our PA (pre-approval). This document states that China understands we want to adopt Courtney and pre-approves us to adopt her based on what they have seen... the actual approval is pending based on our Dossier. When we received our PA, China asked that our documents arrive in China on or before 11/10/09. While our agency can ask for an extension if necessary... we are doing all we can to meet that deadline.
From there we began working on our Dossier. Our last Dossier (for Katelyn) took us about 3 months to compile. It consists of several documents: Birth Certificates for both parents, Marriage Certificate, Local Background checks, Employment Verification Letters, Physical Exams, Adoption Petition, Financial Statement, Home Study and Immigration Approval. The home study is an extensive report about your past... including info about how you were raised as a child, what you like to do, how you met, how you plan to raise your child, your financial status, and more.
The Immigration Approval is a lengthy process... prior to submitting that info, you have to have your home study completed and include other supporting documentation. Immigration then reviews your home study to be sure you qualify under US regulations and China regulations to adopt a child from China. While they are reviewing the home study, you also have to get fingerprinted to make sure you are free from any felonies. This entire process alone takes roughly 6-8 weeks. Lately they have been processing things in about 45 days... Of course, our paperwork had to be resubmitted because they oopsed... so our process is likely to take a little longer. We're hoping to receive our approval in the next 2 weeks.
After gathering the documents, you must submit them for state certification (to verify that all documents have been notarized by true notaries)... then you submit them for authentication at the Chinese Consulate (to verify that the certified documents were certified by the legal person). Then, we send all our documents to our agency so they can critically review and translate them before sending them on to China.
At this point China logs in your Dossier and you receive a log in date (LID). From there it generally takes 4-5 months (or longer) till you can travel. During this time, the CCAA will review your Dossier to verify that you do, in fact, qualify to adopt... and that you are a good match for the child you have been referred. When they verify this they send you your LOA (Letter of Approval). Now that the USA and China are both Hague countries, your LOA then gets sent to the US Consulate in Guangzhou to verify that the child you've been officially approved to adopt qualifies to be adopted (and that you still qualify to adopt said child). Then your LOA gets sent back to your agency (sometimes called LOA2) and then back to China. Eventually you are issued your TA (Travel Approval), which approves you for travel to China to bring your child home. With Katelyn, the process from LOA to TA was less than a month... with Courtney it will likely take 2-3 months (or longer) due to the Hague stuff.
As you can see... this is a long process with LOTS of verifying. It can be very stressful and overwhelming at times, but it is well worth the wait. We look forward to the day when we can travel to China and finally hold Courtney in our arms.
So, in summary... here are our stats:
Referral Call - 7/31/09
LOI - submitted 8/4/09
PA - received 8/10/09
Paperwork sent to Immigration - 9/11/09
Paperwork sent BACK to Immigration after their "OOPS" - 9/21/09
Fingerprinted - 10/16/09
Immigration Approval - ???
LID - ???
LOA - ???
TA - ???
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