Adoption from China into Hong Kong

hi,

does anyone have any information about adoption from china, whilst based here in hong kong?


I've checked the official website of the China Center of Adoption Affairs. They have an official list of accredited agencies all over the world, including various US states, but nothing for hong kong. (I guess since HK is not "another" country?)


i just need a starting place to get information. and will be grateful for any leads.

I have a friend in Beijing who for many years was the ONLY westerner who could do home visits for adopting couples in China, I will ask Karen about HK based couples adopting mainland babies for you.

why not contact 'Mothers Choice' in HK they may be able offer some advice.


www.motherschoice.org


Lynne - 2849 0328

Matilda International Hospital

Hong Kong

http://www.matilda.org

Hi Tricia -


friend of mine is going through the adoption process. Evidently adopting from China to HK is actually not that easy (and there is some dodgy aspects to it as well.) According to her, the HK system is very transparent, very legal and very efficient. (as many things in HK are.) This is a thread that was posted on moms and dads - it has a lot of interesting information and interesting stories of parents who have adopted using the HK system.


http://hongkong.asiaxpat.com/forums/momsdads/threads/77826.asp


Hope this helps.

It's not dodgy at all to adopt from China to HK if you use a licensed agency. Anything illegal tends to be dodgy (!) and it is required by the CCAA that foreigners utilize a government approved adoption agency for the purpose of an adoption from China. As I write this, I'm assuming you are not HK passport holders. With that being said, it depends on the nationality of the parents as to which agencies are best suited to work with the adopters. It's usually best to work with an agency who is based in your country of citizenship. So if you are a US citizen, best bet is to use a licensed agency in the US that has experience working with families who live abroad. It seems cumbersome, but in the end an agency licensed in your country of citizenship will know what steps will need to be take to ensure that your child obtains citizenship after the adoption.

Indeed, Mother's Choice is a good source of info as well.

We looked into adopting from China as HK residents and US passport holders. In the end, we decided to adopt pursue adoption here, in HK.


Not to start a big debate, but if it's helpful, there were a couple of factors that influenced our decision. The first was (as noted above) for us to adopt, we'd have to go through a US agency, based in the US. That added paperwork, time (both processing and matching), and, of course, signficantly higher fees. A second was that our preference was for as young a baby as possible. Most babies adopted from China seem to be 11-12 mo old, although I have a friend who adopted their second from China at 8 mo. A third has to do with the fees--and here I may make a lot of people irate, but the fees ARE significant, especially in contrast to wages in a country such as China where so many people live at a subsistance level. We didn't like the idea of possibly supporting an illicit baby business--what if the daughter we adopted were stolen from a playground, or purchased for a pittence from a destitute family while some greedy middle man drives a Mercedes? There've been a few such articles in the SCMP recently...(seems to be one bad story after another out of China). For us, we didn't want to always wonder if there was a family in China grieving for our little girl. There's a long line of Americans waiting to adopt little girls from China and the government has capped the annual number (something like 9,000).


A plus for China, there are probably relatively fewer children from the Mainland who suffer the effects of prenatal alcohol or drug exposure.



We've found the HK system to be quite straightforward and things seem to be chugging along at a reasonable pace. We attended our orientation in early Dec 2005 (pretty sure), completed our application as soon as it arrived in the mail (submitted 31 Dec), attended the two workshops in Feb, had our home visit and referree interviews in March and were approved on 2 May. The approval process took 4 1/2 mo for us, and now we're awaiting a match.


As part of the process, prospective parents are asked to indicate their preferences for a child, including age, gender and race, but also a myriad of physical, medical and pychological conditions. The SWD does it's best to match children according to the parents preferences, although if one were only intererested in a truly "perfect" child, the matching period could extend to years. One couple apparently has been waiting 3 years for a child (!) but most people seem to be matched in 3-5 mo. And, while there are quite a few older children available who would love a forever family, many children are placed by 6 mo. The youngest possible match, apparently, is 6 weeks--something to do with the relinquishment process that makes the baby available for adoption.


The entire process is run by the Social Welfare Department. Babies/children might be cared for by Mother's Choice or a foster family, but the approval, paperwork and matching are all handled by the SWD. It's not corrupt, the fees are inconsequential, and all children have been voluntarily relinquished.


One issue to be aware of, once a child is matched, the adoptive family needs to remain in HK for 6 months. No holidays, no foreign relocations. This 6 mo period is the time it takes for the adoption to be completed in the courts, and then the child is granted a visa.


Anyway Tricia, this didn't answer your direct question but I hope it wasn't too off-point. Good luck in your decisions, it's exciting isn't it?

Hi everyone,

So sorry for the late reply. I’ve been having login issues.


Thanks so much for all the information and tips. This is a really helpful forum.


We’ve been in hong kong for less than 18 months, so we won’t qualify yet, but it’s certainly good to find out more first.


Yes, it IS exciting.


Thanks again,

tricia

Both mainland China and HK have good systems with pros and cons for each individual family. There's no length of time to live in HK if you adopt from mainland China. E-mail me at megan@homestudyinasia.com if you would like to discuss further. Good luck!

Just found this, trawling through old posts and wondered how you got on Tricia - if you are still out there?:)