How did we get here???

The following is a narrative of the process our paperwork goes through in the adoption process for China.
CCAA=Chinese Center of Adoption Affairs
CHI=Childrens Hope International (our adoption agency)
Dossier=your official file that usually takes several months to prepare. It includes your Home Study, clearances, financial statments, medical statements....and pictures.


Here is one web site that shows a picture "tour" of the CCAA:
http://familyoffour.homestead.com/June05CCAA.html

1. CHI Beijing office takes your dossier to the CCAA.
2. Your dossier enters the CCAA administration office and can wait
for up to 1 month to be logged in. Once you have a log in date (LID)
your official wait begins. (Our Log in Date was June 22, 2005)
3. Your dossier waits to begin the process. This currently takes
3 to 4 months.
4. The CCAA administration office passes your dossiers to Bridge of
Love where they verify your dossier's translation. This process
takes from 2 to 3 months.
5. Your dossier is passed to Department I for review. This process
takes from 1 to 2 months.
6. Your dossier is passed to Department II for matching. This too
can take from 3 to 4 months. Your dossier is matched several weeks
before step #7.
7. Your referral is sent to the administrative office to be signed
by all the CCAA directors and mailed to CHI. This can take several
weeks.
8. You receive your referral - a very happy day! You return your
acceptance of referral letter to the CCAA.
9. The CCAA sends your travel approval to come to China to complete
your adoption. This process takes about 1 month. ( We are waiting for travel approval or TA as it is known in the China Adoption circles)
10. You travel to China to meet your child and complete the adoption.
This is approximately 6-8 weeks after referral.
The current wait from LID to referral is 12 months as of 6/2006.