July 2008 Update from our agency

Home study updates
As you know, your CIS approval is valid for only 18 months and your fingerprints are valid for 15 months. It is important that this approval be valid at the time you travel to China. If you apply to CIS for the extension of your current approval BEFORE it expires, you will be granted a free extension of your approval for a second 18 months. However, if you wait to file until after your approval has expired, you will need to file a new I-800A, along with the complete filing fee of $670 plus $80 per person for fingerprinting.

In order to receive your free extension, you must have your home study updated so that it can be submitted to USCIS. Many of you have already received the packet of information and documents needed to update your home study. I encourage you to begin working on the documents in this packet as soon as you receive it. In the past few months we have had some families that have waited to the last minute to complete the paperwork and this has been stressful for them. It has also jeopardized their possibility of receiving a free extension.

For families filing an I-800A (the new Hague-compliant form), the approvals for I-800As and your fingerprints are both valid for 15 months. We will be monitoring all approvals here at Welcome House and will send you a home study update packet when it is time to start updating your home study. Families outside our direct service area will receive a reminder email and/or call when it is time to begin updating your home study.

Waiting children
The committee that oversees the expansion of the Waiting Child program held a brief meeting today. They made the decision not to add any new agencies to the program this month. In the past month or two they have encountered some additional problems that they need to address. In addition, most of the children with mild special needs whose files had been submitted to CCAA have been matched with families. The children waiting now to be matched are mostly children with more significant special needs. Although we would be happy to work to find families for these children as well, CCAA has decided not to add any new agencies at this time. I anticipate that orphanages will be preparing and submitting files for additional waiting children now that they have seen how successful the new system will be. Based on our ongoing conversations with CCAA and our recent successful Hague accreditation we still anticipate being added to the waiting child program once CCAA makes the decision to expand it again.

Current status of referrals and dossier reviews
As of today, dossiers that were registered on or before January 20, 2006 have been matched with children and dossiers that were registered on or before January 31, 2007 have been reviewed. CCAA has not yet announced the referrals that they will be sending for July, although we anticipate that this will happen shortly. I will post the information to the Yahoo group as soon as it arrives. In addition, we know that dossiers registered in February, 2007 are currently being reviewed. CCAA will update the “dossiers reviewed” date as soon as all the dossiers in that time period have been reviewed and adjudicated.

Wait times
I know that the biggest question in adoption from China right now is “How long will it take?” Families receiving their referrals in July, 2008 will have waited approximately 2.5 years for their referral. We continue to estimate that it will be 2 – 3 years for families to be matched, with the caveat that it is very difficult to predict at this point. Although we have no statement from CCAA to this effect or any hard and fast proof that this will happen, we are optimistic that the referral process will speed up somewhat after the Olympics are completed. However, we do not expect that this will happen immediately after the Olympics are completed. It may be 6 – 9 months (perhaps a bit longer) after the Olympics are completed but we do hope that this will happen.