Can anyone give helpful advice for inter country adoption from china to UK?

Question

I should like to hear from people who have experiance or advice on adoption from china to the UK. I should like to know the realistic cost financially in the adoption proccess and personal experiance of what the proccess is like? Thanks for your help in advance.

Answer 1

You may want to try posting your question to the Yahoo Answers UK site.  You may have better responses from there.  

Good luck.

Answer 2

Did they run out of children to adopt in the UK?

Answer 3

I live in Australia so I can't give you specifics.  I have heard  from friends in the UK that it can be quite a difficult process and that the govt department responsible for intercountry adoption (ICA) can be quite unhelpful.

I would highly recommend that you contact/join one of the parent support groups such as CACH http://www.cach.org.uk/index.php  They will be able to give you the information you need and help you negotiate the ICA minefield.

Answer 4

Yes, post this question on Yahoo.uk to get the specifics, but I can give you a short account of our expereince (we are Canadians and adopted from China).

First we started with the home study required in Canada to be approved to adopt, it is ou provincial community service who takes care of it. Find the equivalent in the UK. Then we decided on an adoption agency who is specialized in Chinese adoption. They will guide you through the process and let you know which paper work is required. Once China is through with it's process (right now it is VERY long - up to 2 years) they will refer a baby/child to you. Our community services got the papers, forwarded them to us and after we accepted them, we receive a Notice of Coming from China (meaning that you will travel within 7 to 8 weeks to go pick up your child). At the same time we started the immigration process with Canada, we had to sponsor our daughter for immigration and ultimately for citizenship. Then you travel (your adoption agency arranges everything, including flights, hotels, guides etc.). We traveled at first to the province where our daughter was from to do the Chinese part of the adoption and then to Beijing to do the Canadian part. Your Chinese guides will guide you through the process in China.

Of course I can't tell you anything about the fees in the UK, but China charges every foreigner US$ 3000.00 for the orphanage donation and about another US$500.00 - 1000.00 in service fees. The rest is put together by the travel costs and costs in the UK.

Our personal experience was phantastic. We loved every second of it, but we only had a waiting period of 7 month from the time our file got registered in China and the referral. The moment when you open the envelope to see her pictures for the first time and to read about her is so special. Finally you have a face to put to your dreams. I will never forget it. I got the call in the morning, picked up the papers but had to wait until I was home with my husband and my older daughter, because we wanted to open the envelope as a family.

Of course it was an incredible moment when our daughter was finally placed in my arms for the first time. She was so tiny (malnourished and underdeveloped) - she was 8 1/2 month old but was the weight/size and developmentally at the age of a 4 1/2 month old baby. But within 4 weeks she was were she was supposed to be in development, size and weight. All she needed was our love and food (my older daughter came with us to China and she was very instrumental in the bonding). The 2 of them couldn't be closer if they were biologically related.

Now our daughter is almost 3,  very loving, smart, funny beautiful and quite the character. I would do it again, if we could afford it.

Traveling to China was awesome, we were taken care off very well and we loved the country. We want to go back as soon as we can, lol.

China has recently changed their rules for the adoptive parents. There are age, weight and health restrictions as well as the years you need to be married etc. China does or did allow single mothers to adopt too. Check with your local adoption agency.

I hope I could help you a little bit. Good luck.

Answer 5

Good idea but the process should begin from UK where you can check with the Chinese consulate followed by contacting an appropriate agency in China dealing in adoption  and they will take care of the rest until you get in your home the child of your choice if available for adoption!