Angels from Near and Far
A Resource for Adopting Children

Our Chinese Adoption

Getting Started!
We chose to use Harrah Family Services. They were quick to reply to our questions and it was apparent to us this is an agency that very much values getting the hard-to-place kids into homes. We had decided to request a child of between 4 and 6 years of age.  We sent our application to them on August 10, 1998.  On August 18th we got our invitation letter from INS to be fingerprinted. 

Hooray!
After only one week, Michael was ready to discuss taking Li Hai Ying. We could put her on hold! When we came to choose an American name for her I told him I wanted to call her Lia. He looked astounded as he explained how that very name had come to him that morning on the way to work! We both agreed to keep her name as close to the original as possible, because it is the only thing she owns. Her new name would be Lia Hai Ying Good.

We Are on Our Way!
On September 9, 1998 we sent our dossier to the agency via Federal Express. On September 12 we received two photos of Li Hai Ying through email, from our agency.

We Are DTC!
Monday, September 28, 1998: Our dossier is logged in at the China Center for Adoption Affairs!!! Yahoo! And, whoa Nellie Belle, they are saying I could be traveling anywhere from late November to early December! We could have this little angel home for Christmas!

Ladybugs are for luck in Chinese adoption circles. If you see a ladybug it is supposed to mean you will get your referral soon.  Less than an hour after we got word that our dossier was logged in I saw the biggest ladybug of my life! At my son's school, a child had done a crayon drawing on a huge piece of paper, and it was of just one, lone, enormous, ladybug! It made me grin.

October 15, 1998: We are sweating the lack of any 171H form to slip into our dossier in China. 

October 19: Over the weekend we got news that China may not let us have Lia because her previous "Special Need" is now non-existent.  Chinese adoption law requires that children have a special need if they are being adopted into families who already have children.  We do not qualify for a "healthy" child and they say she is healthy now!  We know this child is meant to be our daughter, and we'll wait forever for her!  I began to pray that this law would change!

Committing to Lia, October 27th we got a call that China Center of Adoption Affairs was offering us the choice between taking a special needs girl now, or waiting until after January 1st to take Lia. Sometime after the first of the year, China would change its adoption laws to allow families with children to adopt non-special needs children. With tears in my eyes and joy in my heart I told our agency we would wait for Lia. Soon after this, I saw a ladybug swinging from our dining room chandelier!

Li Hai Ying (Lia) and Li Lu (Mia) October 1998

November 12: We got our 171-H in the mail! This is the coveted golden key to international adoptions, our government's approval to bring  a child here, from overseas!

We also got word that CCAA is requiring a new medical report on Lia. If she is declared to be special needs she can come home in December or January, but if non-special needs won't be able to come until April.  With all the delays and waiting, I just hope we can get her before she outgrows the clothing in her closet and dresser!

December 12: A Chinese woman who does translations for the dentists in Lia's orphanage called to tell us that the medical report has designated Lia as healthy. While we are glad to find she is well, this means she must stay there and wait until the new law takes effect. I'm trying to learn Cantonese so she won't be totally in the land of the lost when she arrives!  

WE GOT THE CALL!!!
March 23, 1999: GOT THE CALL! FOR REAL! My travel date is April 27th!!!

March 27: Drats!  Changed the travel date. The other one was right in the last week of the Guangzhou Trade Fair, when all the hotel rates DOUBLE. We are rescheduling it for April 29th, arriving in China May 1st. 

"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."
Ancient Chinese Belief

Our Chinese Adoption Stories:
Adopting Lia
My Chinese Adoption Trip
Our Happy Ending!
Guangzhou Photo Album
Returning for a Friend

Agencies Who Have CCAA Waiting Children Available:
Holt International
WACAP
Children's Home Society of MN
 Bethany Children's Services
  Great Wall of China Adoptions
 Gladney
Christian World Adoptions
 Children's Hope Int'l./China's Children
 ASIA of Oregon
 Ventures for Children International

CCAA sends batches of special needs children of all ages to the agencies above, to be placed on an expedited basis.  Once you choose one of these special kids your travel can occur very quickly!  Most other agencies are not participants in this.  The advantages, besides quicker travel, are that you choose the child you will spend the rest of your life with, and you get very detailed medical and social information on that child, to help you decide.  Special needs can include things like hepatitis B+, clefts, post-polio, varying degrees of cerebral palsy, heart problems, burn scarring, missing or extra digits, missing limbs, blindness, hearing impairment, albinism, and so on.  If you are interested in a special needs child, this is a great program!

(Home)
  (Choices)  (Chinese Adoption)  (Resources)  (Links)  (Eternal Hope)
  (Families to Support) (Adoptive Families)  (Adoption Stories)

© 2001 Jery Good
jdgood@spiritone.com