Sept 2006/What's our dossier doing?

In case any of you are wondering, below is a message our agency placed on it's website to help explain what happens with your dossier once you mail it to China. To help you understand what you are about to read, I will explain the following abbreviations:

1. CCAA (Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs)
2. CHI (Children's Hope International), our adoption agency. They have a branch in Beijing.

As of September 2006, our dossier had made to step #5. It was in Department 1 waiting to be reviewed and either approved or denied.

The picture above shows dossiers waiting in line for review at the CCAA! Our's could be one of these! (I stole this photo off my friend Mardi's blog...I love my fellow bloggers!)



Here is one web site that shows a picture "tour" of the CCAA:

http://familyoffour.homestead.com/June05CCAA.html

While it is not practical to ask the CCAA to notify an agency of where
a certain dossier or set of dossiers is located in their process, the
CHI Beijing office was able to provide me with the CURRENT schedule
for your dossier at the CCAA.

1. CHI Beijing office takes your dossier to the CCAA.
2. Your dossier enters the CCAA administration office and can wait
for up to 1 month to be logged in. Once you have a log in date (LID)
your official wait begins.
3. Your dossier waits to begin the process. This currently takes
3 to 4 months.
4. The CCAA administration office passes your dossiers to Bridge of
Love where they verify your dossier's translation. This process
takes from 2 to 3 months.
5. Your dossier is passed to Department I for review. This process
takes from 1 to 2 months.
6. Your dossier is passed to Department II for matching. This too
can take from 3 to 4 months. Your dossier is matched several weeks
before step #7.
7. Your referral is sent to the administrative office to be signed
by all the CCAA directors and mailed to CHI. This can take several
weeks.
8. You receive your referral - a very happy day! You return your
acceptance of referral letter to the CCAA.
9. The CCAA sends your travel approval to come to China to complete
your adoption. This process takes about 1 month.
10. You travel to China to meet your child and complete the adoption.
This is approximately 6-8 weeks after referral.