Waiting Children Process
When you find the child that touches your heart and fits your family, please complete the following steps. If you are interested, but do not see the child that is to be “yours” at this time, please contact us to be added to our list of families to receive information about the next list of children.
1. CONTACT US
We will e-mail you any additional information that we have regarding the child’s medical and growth. You are welcome to take this information to physicians and others for advice. If you would like, we can provide you with the name of an International Adoption Clinic in your area. Please do not post this information to any third party group or online chat groups.
2. APPLICATION
If you have not already done so, you will need to submit an application and the application fee to Small World (Get Started). Upon approval, you will then be able to place a child on “Hold”.
3. PLACING A CHILD ON “HOLD”
If you would like more time to obtain information from doctors and others regarding this child, you can place the child on “Hold” for two weeks. Please make sure that you are serious about this child before asking this. If you decide that you do not feel you should pursue this child, please let us know. We can then allow other families the opportunity to consider this child. We have these children for a very short time and want to find a family for them as soon as possible!
4. SAYING YES!
When your family has decided that this is to be your child, we start the process for bringing you together. We will send you our LOI Packet for you to complete. You will be asked to pay a non-refundable agency fee deposit at this time.
5. PRE-APPROVAL “PA”
If the CCAA agrees to this match and to the family plan and situation, they will send a Pre-Approval to Small World. If the dossier supports the information given in the LOI and the Parent Info, the family will be allowed to proceed with adopting this child. At this point the family is asked to pay the balance of the agency fee.
6. HOME STUDY
If you have not already completed a homestudy, you will need to initiate that process at this time. This can be done by Small World in Tennessee and South Carolina OR the family pays an out-of-state agency for home study completion.
7. DOSSIER
The family completes the necessary documents for China (dossier) with our assistance.
8. THE DOSSIER IS SENT TO CHINA
The dossier is then sent to China along with a photocopy of the Pre-Approval.
9. LETTER OF ACCEPTANCE "LOA"
If the CCAA approves this adoption from the dossier paperwork they then issue a letter of acceptance for the family to complete along with a letter of confirmation for the US Consulate to compete. The family sends a completed I-800 and Article 16 letter to USCIS for approval at this time.
10. TRAVEL APPROVAL “TA”
Once the CCAA receives the LOA from the family and Letter of Confirmation from the consulate, they then issue travel approval for the family to come to China to complete the adoption.
