Measures of CCAA for Authorizing Foreign Adoption Organizations to Seek Adoptive Families for Children of Special Needs -- china.org.cn

With a view to enabling the children of special needs in the social welfare institutes to be taken into families at an early date like normal children, the China Center of Adoption Affairs (hereinafter referred to as CCAA) shall authorize some foreign adoption organizations to seek adoptive families for children of special needs. The implementation measures are formulated as follows:

I. Basic requirements for foreign adoption organizations to be authorized:

1. They are foreign adoption organizations currently acting in cooperation with CCAA;

2. They shall abide by the Chinese laws and regulations as well as stipulations of CCAA;

3. They hold non-profit certificates issued by their governments, and in the case of U.S. organizations, they must be organizations which have attained the legal status of 501 ( C ) (3);

4. They have permanent administrative offices and sound setup;

5. They have special department and professional staff responsible for seeking adoptive families for children of special needs;

6. They are capable of rendering services in placing children of special needs; and

7. They shall send post-adoption feedback reports according to the demand of CCAA.

II. Procedure for foreign adoption organizations to be authorized:

1. Foreign adoption organizations shall submit to CCAA the application for assisting the placement of children of special needs and relevant documents, certifying their qualifications and capabilities to be authorized;

2. CCAA shall examine the basic qualifications and actual performance of the foreign adoption organizations, and confirm their qualifications for assisting the placement of children of special needs;

3. CCAA shall send a signed Letter of CCAA Authorizing Foreign Adoption Organizations to Seek Adoptive Families for Children of Special Needs (for details, see Appendix 1) to the qualified foreign adoption organization which is to be authorized;　and

4. After receiving the Letter of CCAA Authorizing Foreign Adoption Organizations to Seek Adoptive Families for Children of Special Needs, the foreign adoption organization should conscientiously study the responsibilities, requirements and conditions for promoting the program of seeking adoptive families for children of special needs in coordination with CCAA, send the Letter in Reply to CCAA confirming its acceptance of authorization when it accepts (see Appendix 2), and at the same time inform CCAA in writing of the names of the person in charge and the liaison officer, ways to get in touch, etc.

III. Basic requirements for adopters:

1. They are loving and caring, mentally qualified and prepared to nurture children of special needs;

2. They have experience and skill to care for children of special needs;

3. They have medical rehabilitation and nurturing plans specially worked out for children of special needs;

4. They are in good economic position and their annual incomes are higher than that of average adopters;

5. They are physically and mentally healthy, free from contagious diseases, AIDS, cancers, psychosis or other diseases which might affect their ability to nurse and nurture children of special needs;

6. They are of good conduct and have no criminal records; and

7. They must not give up adoptive relations and medical care.

8. They are two-parent families in principle.

Foreign adoption organizations shall fill in for prospective adopters the form of Basic Information about Prospective Adoptive Parents (see Appendix 4). In case there is discrepancy between the contents of the form and the contents of the application dossier submitted to CCAA, CCAA shall refrain from approving the application of the adopter/adopters, and make readjustment to that case.

IV. Annual summation and termination:

Annual summation:

Authorized foreign adoption organizations are required to submit to CCAA annual summary reports in writing every year about the placement of children of special needs. The reports shall include the following main items:

1. general situation about the life, medical care, rehabilitation, education, etc. of the placed children of special needs in the current year;

2. ways of placing children of special needs;

3. any proposals; and

4. whether their staff in charge of the program are competent or to be replaced.

Foreign adoption organizations shall submit feedback reports according to the demand of CCAA and fill in the form of Feedback Information on Children of Special Needs (see Appendix 7). The time for annual summation is from Dec. 1 to 31 of each year.

Termination:

In case an authorized foreign adoption organization violates the relevant stipulations on foreign-related adoption and placement of children of special needs, CCAA shall give the organization a warning, and if the organization fails to set right or it persists in the violation, CCAA shall terminate its qualification for seeking adoptive families for children of special needs.

V. Points for attention:

1. Foreign adoption organizations must participate in this work with responsible attitudes towards children and families, must not take the adoption of children of special needs as an excuse to hand over unqualified dossiers of adoptive families, or still more, make exaggerative show of themselves as "authorized organizations";

2. After receiving the materials about a child of special needs recommended by CCAA, the adoption organization must inform the adoptive family of the child's situation strictly according to the facts, not force it to accept, and the adopters shall make choice of their own;

3. Foreign adoption organizations must not publish and circulate materials about children of special needs through media, and not use discriminatory and biased words in presenting materials about children of special needs;

4. Foreign adoption organizations must keep properly the materials about children of special needs, must not exchange these materials among foreign adoption organizations; and

5. Foreign adoption organizations must place children of special needs recommended by CCAA only, must not seek and select in private children of special needs from the Chinese social welfare institutes, neither link up the adoption of children of special needs with their adoption program in China.

VI. For full particulars of implementation measures for the authorized foreign adoption organizations to seek families for children of special needs, see Management Procedure of CCAA for Authorizing Foreign Adoption Organizations by CCAA to Seek Adoptive Families for Children of Special Needs.

These measures will be put into effect from the day of the publication. The Implementation Measures of China Center of Adoption Affairs Entrust Adoption Organizations to Look for Adoptive Families for Disabled Children and Older Children released on Sep. 25, 2000 will be abolished simultaneously.

The China Center of Adoption Affairs

March 29, 2002