Children Available

Children are available for adoption in China due to the one-child policy that was implemented by the Chinese government in the 1970's. Many families abandon daughters in the hopes of giving birth to a son who can support them when they get older. As a result, the great majority of children available for adoption are single infant girls. Occasionally toddlers and preschoolers are available. On rare occasions, twins or boys are placed from China.

Children adopted from China come either from orphanages or from foster care, depending on the resources of an orphanage and its director's philosophy. The location, resources, and child to caregiver ratios will range widely from orphanage to orphanage. Foster care is administered by orphanages, so the referral will always come through an orphanage. Families usually do not find out if their child was in foster care until they meet the child in the province.

Waiting Children

WHFC is one of the U.S. agencies approved to place waiting children from China. CCAA has indicated they will expedite the process for applicants who are adopting waiting children. Children with special medical needs, as well as older children who may have more minor medical issues, are in need of homes. WHFC will attempt to secure the information necessary for a family to make a decision about their ability to parent a child with that particular medical problem.

Families can only be considered for a waiting child once they have prepared the complete dossier for China, including CIS approval. After the matching, WHFC will express mail the information to China and typically it will take between 3-6 months for families to be approved by CCAA. Once we receive the approval notice, families can travel to China either with a group or alone. We strongly encourage families to travel with a group. In this way, families will have the support from WHFC group leaders, have the opportunity to build up close connection with other adoptive families, and enjoy more cost-effective group rates. Families adopting waiting children should be aware that they may not be able to adopt their child from the same orphanage as the rest of the group. It is likely that a waiting child may come from a different orphanage, but there will always be a competent guide in the province to take care of the family and accompany them to complete the adoption process in the province where the child is located.

Most waiting children from China have correctable, fairly mild special-needs, or they become waiting children just because they are older (5 years or older). Some of the common special needs are cleft lip or palate, missing fingers or toes, congenital heart disease, or skin disease. Waiting children from China can be viewed in the Waiting Children section. Be sure to read about our subsidies available for the adoption of waiting children.