Hi everyone,
I hope you are having a good summer! I have a feeling that this update
will be a long one so please bear with me.
Congratulations!
Congratulations are in order for Bryan & Chris, Tom & Robin, and Jerome
& Carol - they leave tomorrow for China to meet their daughters!
Congratulations, too, to Dan & Elizabeth, who will be meeting their son
later this month!
JCICS online petition regarding the new TB testing requirements - Build
Families, not Barriers
Yesterday we received the following message from the Joint Council on
International Children's Services regarding the new tuberculosis testing
protocols:
"As you may be aware, Joint Council has been working with Dr. Dana
Johnson and other stakeholders including Quad A, NCFA, and EACH as well
as Congressional Offices, on the issue of the CDC TB protocols.
Together we have actively advocated with the United States Dept of
Homeland Security, the U.S. Dept of State Office of Children's Issues
and the Center for Disease Controls and Prevention on the new TB
protocols. However, at this time no positive change has been made by
the CDC.
"As each day passes, more and more children and families are affected by
this issue. Joint Council is currently aware of three families who have
been affected by the new protocols. In an attempt to gain support and
advocacy on this issue in boarder terms, Joint Council has launched a
petition requesting that the CDC change its protocols and more
appropriately protect the health of America. The petition can be found
at http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/build-families-not-barriers.html.
We encourage you to sign the petition
and distribute it widely. Through online social networking, the
petition
has gained over 1,600 signatures in only a few days.
"Additionally, Joint Council will soon publish a Summary Report, which
details the TB protocols impact on children and families. We expect to
publish this report by week's end. Upon your receipt of the Summary
Report, please take a moment to review the information and distribute
widely.
"Joint Council will continue to publish updates as we work to resolve
the CDC TB protocols."
Since the implementation of these new requirements on July 1, the
majority of children tested have had a positive skin test and a negative
chest x-ray, therefore not delaying their return home. However, at
least one of the first families to experience a positive chest x-ray and
the subsequent testing requirements is now in China. They are not able
to stay in China during the child's testing and treatment and, as such,
are having to make other plans for her care until she can receive a
visa. (Please note - This is not a Welcome House family.) I encourage
you to read and sign the JCICS petition regarding the new TB testing
protocols. If so inclined, I also encourage you to contact your
Senators and Representatives regarding this issue. As soon as the JCICS
Summary Report is available, we will forward it to you. While we
understand the need to be cautious about multi-drug resistant
tuberculosis, we also believe that there has to be a better way to
implement this testing so that children are not delayed from coming home
to their forever families and that a handful of families are not put in
the difficult position of having to chose between staying in China for
an extended period of time or returning home without their child and
traveling back later.
Welcome House now wiring fees to China in advance of travel
In response to the increase in the orphanage donation (from $3,000 USD
to 35,000 RMB) on January 1, 2009, we have now set up a system in which
you can wire your orphanage donation, visa fee, and a portion of your
in-country package price to China in advance of your travel. Later this
month families waiting to receive their child will receive a letter
regarding this change. However, here is a quick summary of what this
change will look like... at the time of referral families currently pay
the Welcome House Overseas Fee ($5,300) and the Post-Placement Fee
($1,200) or the Post-Placement Review Fee ($600). In addition to this,
we will be asking that families give Welcome House the following fees:
* Orphanage donation (as mandated by CCAA) - 35,000 RMB or
approximately $5,2000
* Your child's visa fee - $400
* Wire transfer fee - $60 ($30 to send it from the US and $30 to
receive it in China)
* Partial in-country travel package - $1,500 per person
traveling (The in-country travel package covers your hotels, air and
ground transportation within China, sightseeing, tour guides, and
breakfasts. The final amount of the package depends on when you are
traveling, the size of your travel group, where you are going, and how
many people are traveling with you. Any balance above the $1,500 per
person will be paid in traveler's checks or cash to the tour guide in
China.)
It is very important to note that these ARE NOT NEW FEES! These are
fees that families previously paid in cash in China but that will now be
paid to Welcome House and wired to China in advance of your travel.
This is designed to reduce the amount of cash & traveler's checks that
you have to carry when you go to China. For the a full and recently
updated summary of the fees and costs in the adoption process you can go
to:
*
http://www.psbi.org/site/DocServer/China_In_Area__Fee_Schedule.pdf?docID
=462 - For families within our home study service area
*
http://www.psbi.org/site/DocServer/China_Out_of_Area_Fee_Schedule.pdf?do
cID=481 - For families outside our home study service area
Wait times
I have received several questions recently about the wait times, since
we haven't discussed it in a program update in a while, I thought it
would be good to include some information this month. The short answer
is that we still expect that the wait will be at least 3 years and are
hopeful that it will not go over 4 years. However, we have no statement
from CCAA about that so we can't guarantee that this is the case. Here
is some more detailed information:
* The China Center of Adoption Affairs has not given us a verbal
or written prediction regarding the length of time that families will
wait for a referral. This is not because they are being obstinate or
unkind; this is because they are truly not able to make that prediction.
To do so they would need information about the number of referrals that
they will receive in the future, among other things. These numbers are
very difficult to gather. Although it may not feel like it from our end
at times, I can tell you that the staff of the China Center of Adoption
Affairs are, by and large, good people with a heart for vulnerable
children. They also understand well the pain that the long wait is
causing for waiting families.
* I did an informal check this morning of the websites of 52
other agencies that are approved by CCAA to place children from China.
The highest number of agencies (17) indicated that they expected the
wait to be between 36 and 42 months but there was a wide range, as you
can see below. However, nearly every agency indicated that it is very
hard to predict the wait time and that it could change over time. Here
are the results of what I found (I expect that some of the lower time
frames listed indicate agencies that need to update their websites, not
current predictions):
o Time frame not listed - 12 agencies (typically encouraged families
to contact them for up-to-date information)
o 12 - 18 months - 2 agencies
o 18 - 24 months - 3 agencies
o 24 - 30 months - 10 agencies
o 30 - 36 months - 5 agencies
o 36 - 42 months - 17 agencies
o 42 - 48 months - 2 agencies
o 3 - 5 years - 1 agency
* I understand that there are some websites, listservs, and
forums that are predicting wait times of 5 - 10 years. In some cases
this is based on a statistical extrapolation of CCAA's progress over the
last year or two. Personally, I tend to think of these scenarios as the
worst case scenario. I believe that the likely scenario is not as dire.
While I understand the attraction to the statistical extrapolation
format, I think that it oversimplifies the discussion somewhat. It does
not take into account things like the number of families switching to
the waiting child program, the number of families switching to other
countries or withdrawing from China, and the changes in the numbers of
dossiers submitted due to the eligibility criteria changes in May, 2007
and the increasing time frames.
* The referrals sent between July, 2008 and July, 2009 cover the
dossier dates of 1/21/06 through 3/22/06. However, this reflects nearly
4,000 non-special needs children. The CCAA is still working through a
large backlog of dossiers that were registered in 2006.
* There is a possibility that, in light of the increased
orphanage donation, orphanages may begin submitting more children's
files to the CCAA. In the past, some orphanages complained that the
$3,000 USD orphanage donation was not sufficient to cover the staff time
and expenses of gathering information and preparing the children's files
for referral.
* There are changes within China's culture and society that can
affect the international adoption process and the number of children
waiting for families. This includes things like a decrease in
abandonment correlating with the families' improved financial situation,
an increased willingness or ability to pay the fees for an "over quota"
birth, a decrease in the social stigma of adoption among the younger
generation leading to an increase in domestic adoption, and - in some
areas - changes in the administration of the one child policy (see
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-07/24/content_8466365.htm,
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/25/world/asia/25shanghai.html, and
http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-07-30-voa12.cfm for more
information).
* The last group of families to receive referrals (dossiers
registered on 3/21/06 and 3/22/06) waited 40 months (3 years, 4 months)
to see their child's face.
I know that this wait can be both frustrating and painful, especially
for families whose dossiers were registered at a time when the expected
wait time was 12 - 18 months. Predicting the wait time is a complicated
process that takes into account a number of different variables. I also
know that it can be frustrating to not get a specific prediction from
us, your agency. Because there are so many rumors floating around, we
really feel strongly that we only pass along information that we have
verified or information that we believe to be true and accurate. You
depend on us to give you accurate information and that is what we try to
do. I am sorry, though, that we're not able to give more specific
predictions; I know that can be very difficult.
Staff at Welcome House for the weeks of August 10th and 17th
Next week I will be leaving for a two week trip to our offices in
Vietnam and the Philippines. This Friday is my last day in the office
and I will be back in the office beginning on August 25th. For the week
of August 10th, my supervisor, Leonette Boiarski, will be covering my
responsibilities with the China program. She can be reached at
215-249-0100 ext. 137 or lboiarski@pearlsbuck.org. During this week she
will also be covering for my co-worker. She will be working hard to
respond to everyone's needs and inquiries but if it takes her a bit
longer than usual to respond to you, please be patient - she won't
forget about you! During the week of August 17th, my co-worker, Amy
Durie will be covering my responsibilities with the China program. She
can be reached at 215-249-0100 ext. 119 or adurie@pearlsbuck.org.
This has been a looooong email. If you have questions after you read
it, please don't hesitate to contact me or to post your questions to the
China Program Yahoo group. It's very possible that, if you're wondering
about it, someone else is too!
Take care,
Heather
Heather Carter-Tryon, MSW, LSW
Program Manager
(Coordinator for China, Nepal, Philippines, Vietnam, SWAN, and
Post-Permanency programs)
Pearl S. Buck International
Welcome House Adoption Program
Phone: (215) 249-0100 ext. 136
Fax: (215)249-9657
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