why so much waiting?

When we tell people that we don't know when we are going to China, that it will probably be later than we originally thought, they wonder why. Well, we wonder why too, although we're not stressed about it. We know it will happen at the right time. Here's some of the information we were given about why the adoption process in China has slowed down.

"Families from every agency and from every corner of the US are experiencing dramatic delays right now for referrals from China.This has been occurring, and the wait times have been steadily increasing, for the last 4 months which has resulted in wait times from the log in dates of 10-11 months with the very real likelihood of hovering between 10-12 months for some time to come.

As a bit of background, there are several things happening at CCAA (China Center for Adoption Affairs) which have caused some delays:

1) The recent news coverage of baby trafficking in Hunan has forced the CCAA to scrutinize every file at length before making referrals. From our contacts it seems the CCAA has been very focused on this issue internally while saying very little publicly about it. As with any Chinese organization that is cast in a negative light by the international press, they tend to slow their processing to an almost glacial pace to show a strong resolve in remedying any dilemmas (look at the SARS aftermath at the Ministry of Health as a recent example)

2) There are, for the first time in CCAA's history, more adoptive applicants than there are children who are paper ready at CCAA. Basically, every year CCAA has to forecast how many adoptions they will have (based on years prior) and ask for that many files per month. They don't want to go over as they do not want files in the office that go unmatched. However, the past few months have seen such a dramatic influx of new applications that they have been caught totally unprepared. Last year there were 8,000 adoptions from China into the US with at least 1,000 applications hitting their offices per month. Late last year and into this year they were seeing as many as 2,000 applications (from all over the world) per month. This increase has been, and continues to be, dramatic at CCAA.

3) They are in the early stages of moving all their offices across town which hinders their efficiency dramatically. They have put this off for several months due to the above noted issues. However, our primary China rep has told us as of last Friday that they are just now in the beginning stages of transferring offices.

4) There are more domestic adoptions at present than at any other time CCAA has seen. A new push in China by the government to promote domestic adoption is still in its nascent stages, and coupled with the economic upswing in the cities this is a very real possibility for many Chinese families (almost 90% of all abandonments occur in the countryside and the majority of domestic adoptions occur in the cities). Certainly it is only starting to take hold yet more Chinese parents are adopting girls domestically than we have seen in the past. Last year there were as many as 25,000 domestic adoptions registered with the state, versus the 13,000 international adoptions from last year. This year there may be even more.

5) There are, on a whole, fewer abandonments than we have seen in years past. At present, official statistics suggest the total number of orphans from ages 0-18 living in China is right around 600,000; however, most of these "orphans" live with relatives and the number
of those living in orphanages throughout China, ages 0-18, is around 70,000-100,000, with 50% of those children deemed "special needs". This number is certainly lower than one would imagine, as are most statistics done in China concerning vexing social issues- but it has
been overseen by external parties and seems to be rather consistent with their findings as well. This is certainly a smaller number than what has been noted in the past which suggests a reduction in children entering the social welfare institutes in China.

These things combined have caused a sort of perfect storm which has really slowed things down considerably. Although each issue seems easily remedied or attended to by itself, combined they have caused one of the more dramatic slowdowns in recent history in China. The
CCAA has stated it hopes to move things to the 10 month time frame for referral and it is highly likely they will be able to do this. However, the timeframe until they can reach this is still unknown.

We recognize this impacts families on many levels. On an emotional level we understand how hard it can be to have a date in mind, no matter how flexible, and be told the wait for referral will almost double. It is a frustrating issue and we know the staff at CCAA are equally disappointed as well."