Each year China has thousands of children available for international adoptions.
For every healthy baby adopted, countless Special Needs children remain available
but un-adopted, their very existence unknown to families who could and would adopt
them. Some of these children are abandoned as a result of their condition; some
are given up because of their family's inability to provide for them due to illness,
poverty or disease. All of them need loving families just as much, if not more than
healthy children. It is because of these beautiful, unknown children that we introduce
our Special Needs Program.
The Waiting Children Program was started by the China Center of Adoption Affairs
(CCAA) in 2002. The CCAA approves a limited number of agencies to participate in
this program. America World is honored to have the CCAA assign referrals of Special
Needs children to us, and allows us the opportunity to find loving families for
them. Every 3-4 months, America World receives a new group of 30-40 Special Needs
referrals.
Who are the children behind the Special Needs label? The children who are available
through this program can range in age from 6 months to 13 years old. They can be
male or female, and all have some type of condition that classifies them as Special
Needs. The special needs that are typically seen are the cleft lip/palate, heart
defect, club foot, hearing or vision problems, hand/foot deformity, Hepatitis B
positive, etc. The majority of children available through this program have a medically
correctable special need. Healthy children over the age of 6 years are also occasionally
available through this program.
NOTE: Due to changes in CCAA's policy, families who have submitted a dossier to
the CCAA with another agency are unable to adopt a Special Needs child from America
World's Special Needs list.
We have a number of special needs children waiting to be adopted. If you would like
more information about the children currently available, please enter the password
below or contact the Waiting Children Coordinator.
Referrals for waiting children are received through a shared referral system for
agencies to access. Prospective families can contact a China Family Coordinator
to learn more about this referral process. Families currently enrolled in the China
Program can complete a waiting children application to become eligible to be matched
with a referral.
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