Dear Prospective Adoptive Parents:

Thank you for considering parenting a child with special needs. When you open this page, we feel we know you already - a very special person with a big heart! It takes a lot of courage and many sleepless nights to feel comfortable with the decision to adopt a child with special needs. We hope this page will help you make a final decision.

I have visited many Chinese welfare institutes and met with many children who had special needs. My heart aches when I think of those children who come into this world with physical disadvantages. Some children's conditions are severe, but the China Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA) would not place a child who has a known condition of retardation, brain damage, Polio, etc. into your family.

There are many children with conditions that can be fixed quite easily. They are left un-adopted because of families' concerns with unclear medical conditions or lack of information. With that said, the China Center of Adoption Affairs will not place a child with you if you do not feel comfortable with his or her condition, even if this condition is medically correctible.

Our agency receives special needs children's files regularly (approximately every 3 or 4 months) from the CCAA, allowing you to consider a child from the files our agency now holds.  Although, not a guarantee, the wait is typically much shorter than it would be for a regular adoption.

I've never forgotten the children I have met in the Chinese welfare institutes. Many times I have looked into their eyes with sorrow in my heart, and every time they have looked quietly back into my eyes with questions and with hope.

Families like yours are the hope for our children. Our agency has placed many waiting children who have had a large range of medical conditions. So far, all of the families who have adopted waiting children have had only positive things to say about their experience. We would love to talk to you and to learn about your feelings and expectations regarding the adoption of a special needs child.

- Lillian Zhang, Director

Waiting Children

Many children in the Waiting Child program may not be physically perfect. Often, they have a special need that can be corrected or medically treated in some fashion. Other than having a special need, some children in this program may be considered an older child (children over 6 years of age). We hope that these children too can be placed in loving homes and have their needs met. A variety of different special needs are commonly seen in the children from China. Below, you will find information to outline what some of these needs are and what they entail. It is important, if you are considering a child with a special need, that you are informed about their condition and feel comfortable with your decision to make them a part of your forever family. Children may be:

• 1 to 13 years old, boys and girls, children with severe medical conditions such as: cleft palate/lip, heart defects, hearing loss, dislocated hips, albinism, orthopedic problems, blindness, severe scars, Hepatitis B, etc.
• Healthy children six years old and above Children with a medical history: heart and other surgeries, etc...
• To watch a video about Adopting a Waiting Child: Adopt Waiting Child Video

For further information regarding specific needs click here

Children Currently in Our Program Waiting for Families

*CAWLI is currently matching children from the CCAA common list with our waiting families and the Individual list is small.  There are 9 children listed below with various medical needs ages 4-13

There is a new shared list posted 2.26.2008 - call for more information (617.731.0798 ext 4)

PROVINCE           NAME                     SEX                     DOB                   SPECIAL NEED

                   NO CURRENT LIST....Please check back

If you are interested to know more about one of these children, please call us at 800.888.9812 and be sure to review our agency policies below about how we manage our waiting child files.  Thank you for your interest!

How much time before you travel after you accept a pre-identified child with special needs?

It will depend where you are in the process. If you have not started the home study, the wait will be longer than that of a family whose dossier is ready to go to China or already in China.

Qualifications

The China Center of Adoption Affairs prefers married couples under 55 years old. General qualifications are specified on the informational page.

How to Apply to Our Program

• Contact Megan, our Social Work Manager, about our program for waiting children.
• If you are interested in a specific child in our program, our agency will express mail you a complete file which you can then show your doctor for evaluation.
• At your request, our agency will order more/new tests and measurements from the Chinese welfare institute through CCAA.
• Please discuss your intentions to adopt a special needs child with your social worker, your home study needs to approve you adopt a child with special needs.
• We request that you talk to adoptive parents who have adopted waiting children before.
• Fill out the Rehabilitation Plan form for the CCAA's preliminary Approval. After we send your dossier to China, you will get your final approval in the form of a Travel Notice document.
• Review the agency's "General Information" page to learn how to start the document process.
• Please feel free to contact us at 800.888.9812 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it  for a more detailed Informational Package that also reviews the Steps & Fees for the Waiting Program.

Waiting Child Informational Package

• Click here to download the Waiting Child Informational Package

Agency Policies

In the best interests of our children, and in the best interests of our prospective parents, we have agency guidelines regarding the dissemination of waiting children's files. It is our most sincere hope that we do find families for these children, but we feel the need to do this in a way that is the most respectful:

• We only show one child's profile to one family at a time.  Only if there is no match will we then show the child's profile to another potential family.
• We do not post children's photos online.
• You are welcome to give us your contact information about what special needs you are considering without sending in an application. However, please be aware that we approach families already in the process of adoption with CAWLI who have indicated their desire to adopt a special needs child before approaching families who have not yet started the process.