Children • Requirements • BAAS • In China • Timeline • Fees

Bay Area Adoption Services is privileged to be among the agencies recognized by the CCAA (China Center of Adoption Affairs) to do international adoptions from China.Since 1991, Bay Area Adoption Services has been assisting both couples and singles to adopt from China. To date, BAAS has helped over 700 Chinese orphans find homes in the Bay Area. The following are some facts about the China adoption program:

 

TYPES OF CHILDREN

Almost all of the children who are available for international adoption in China have been orphaned or abandoned and reside in the social welfare institutions. There will be little to no information regarding medical background or family history.

The CCAA, located in Beijing, is the governmental agency that coordinates adoptions from China and this agency makes the referrals of all children who may be adopted by foreign families. Adoptive parents can make a request to the CCAA that the child they wish to adopt be of a certain age or from a certain province, or with no known special needs. They also may request to adopt a boy. However, the final decision rests with the CCAA who assigns all children to the adoptive parents. Infants over 8 months old are available. The China authorities will not "guarantee" that all requests will be honored.

Bay Area Adoption Services is one of the agencies approved by the CCAA to seek adoptive families for children with special needs and older children over 6 years of age. Files of special needs children and older children are available for interested adoptive families. The most common special needs include cleft palate and lip, albinism, congenital heart disease and hepatitis B. Adoptive families who are approved to adopt identified special needs children or older children can travel to China to complete the adoption about three months after their dossiers are registered at CCAA. For more information on special needs or older children, please contact our China program coordinator at china@baas.org

REQUIREMENTS

Both married couples and singles can adopt; however, there is a quota for single parents. Singles may fill 8% of all adoptions from China. Thus it is more difficult for singles to adopt from China at the present time. Singles who are interested in adopting special need children, however, are not restricted by the quota. In order to adopt an infant under 1 year old, you must be between 30 and 45. Applicants between 45 and 50 years old can adopt a child between 1 and 3 years old. Applicants of 50 years or older are eligible to adopt children over the age of 3. Single applicants must not be over 50 years of age with the exception of those who are interested in adopting older special needs children. Couples must be under the age of 55 to adopt.

 

BAY AREA ADOPTION SERVICES

(BAAS) will assist families in all the necessary steps for completing a China adoption. This includes: assisting with procedures, conducting the homestudy (which is mandatory both for CIS/USCIS and the Chinese government), putting you in contact with an experienced China program coordinator and with other adoptive families of Chinese children, and conducting post placement visits when you return home with your child.

 

 

 

 

The BAAS China Program Coordinator will be your link to the CCAA which oversees all adoptions. The coordinator will translate your documents, forward your dossier to the CCAA in Beijing and monitor its progress. Once your dossier arrives at the CCAA, it will be reviewed, approved, and a child will be assigned to you. This currently takes 6 months. The program coordinator will then inform you as to when you will travel to China to complete your adoption. The program coordinator will then inform you as to when you will travel to China to complete your adoption.

 

IN CHINA

Once you arrive in China, you will be met by a guide who will escort you through the adoption process. This person will remain with you until you are ready to leave China with your child. You will have two travel destinations in China:

1) The orphanage city where your child is residing, and

2) Guangzhou - where you will get a US visa for your child.

 

 

TIME INVOLVED

At present, the entire adoption process usually takes approximately 18-22 months. The first 6 months of the process involves completing the homestudy and receiving CIS clearance. Then the adoptive family must gather, legalize and translate documents required by the Chinese government. The referral time frame currently is about 11-12 months after families' dossiers are registered at CCAA. The referral time frame for the Chinese American families is about 6 months. Once a child has been assigned, the family is expected to travel to China approximately 8 weeks later. The stay in China is about two weeks.

FEES INVOLVED

All adoptions are finalized in China -- that means they are "adopt-abroad" adoptions. The following is a general estimate of the costs involved:

BAAS fee:

 $3,400 or $4,400
 

(Includes registration, pre-adopt class, homestudy, paperwork assistance, CIS support, overseas program counseling, 2 post placement visits, assistance in obtaining a California birth certificate for the child and all post-adoption paperwork.) The higher fee applies if only one parent of a two parent couple travels.

China adoption fee:

 $9,000
 

(Includes state certification, authentication and translation of documents, China government fees, orphanage donation fee of $3,000, visa and passport fee, coordination fee including communication with CCAA.)

Internal China travel:

 $900 - $1,200 (approximately, per person for stay in China)
 

(Includes hotel, China guide, trips to adoption authorities, translation services, internal travel during full stay in China). Airfare to China is additional.

Airfare to China:

 varies 
 

Generally speaking, the entire cost of completing a China adoption is approximately $14,000 to $16,000, including the BAAS fee, all adoption processing in China and travel.

For more information regarding the China program, please contact the BAAS office at (650) 964-3800. Please note that adoption procedures, fees and timelines for China, as stated above, can change at any time without prior notice.

 

Children • Requirements • BAAS • In China • Timeline • Fees