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Program Manager: Cathy Murphy
Tel: 613-226-2112 Ext. 6,
Email Cathy

This program has been in operation since 2005 when The Children’s Bridge received a licence from the CCAA (now known as the CCCWA) to operate a Waiting Children Program. The Children’s Bridge has successfully place over 350 children with their forever families.

(February 1, 2012)
Please Note: The CCCWA has recently posted children’s files with higher non correctable medical needs to their Online WC Program. The Children’s Bridge continues to have access to “Multiple” and “individual” children’s files from the CCCWA. Our WC Program China is currently full with 20 families currently in the program. A call back list has been put in place for this program.

General Information

In China there are many children with special needs. The children in our Waiting ChildrenProgram represent a wide range of special needs. Some of the Children's needs may be more minor, correctable, medical needs and others may be more complex. All of the children can benefit enormously from living in a family. The following are some examples of what is considered to be a special needs condition in China.

  • Cleft Lip/Cleft Palate
  • Club Foot
  • Cardiovascular/Congenital Heart Disease
  • Hearing Impairment
  • Visual Impairment
  • Neurological Impairment

If you are open to adopting a child with special needs, this will have to be addressed in your application letter and your provincial approval letter. You must have completed your homestudy process before you are able to access our Waiting Children Program, Green Stream Program.

The Ministry of Community and Social Services and the China Center of Adoption Affairs requires all families who participate in our Waiting Children Program to have identified in their homestudy that they want to adopt a child with special needs and the family must demonstrate the ability to support the child both financially and emotionally.

The family must also proceed through a screening process with the Children Bridge. Cathy Murphy, the Director of Adoption Services will complete the screening process for each prospective family.

We encourage you to thoroughly research and specify what special need(s) you feel you could support within your family unit. It is important that you think about the specific needs of the child and be realistic about the needs your family can handle. Your application letter must clearly identify the special need(s). For example it would be too general to say that you would like to support a child with special needs under the age of two in China. Instead, you must state clearly the specific needs you can support. A more specific example would state: Our family could support a child with special needs who has a cleft lip or cleft palate between 12 months – 2 years of age.

Each family applying to the Waiting Children program will be expected to complete additional paperwork and explore the resources available to them within their community as it pertains to the special need(s) of the child they are proposing to adopt. If the appropriate resources are not accessible within your region it can affect the ability to qualify for our Waiting Children Program.

Considerations

  • The majority of the children are between 14 months – 5 years of age at time of referral to the Waiting ChildrenProgram.
  • Limited health information is provided with each referral.
  • A limited history since coming to the orphanage is provided
  • The adoption is finalized in China.
  • Your file will be expedited in the Waiting Childrenprogram.
  • 4 - 5 months after your LID (log in date) at the CCCWA (China Centre for Children's Welfare and Adoption) you should expect to receive your child..
  • Girls and boys are available for adoption through the Waiting ChildrenProgram Green Stream Program.
  • The family must travel to China to complete the adoption.


Requirements

  • Applicants must have reached the age of 30 and be under 55 years of age. Please note: The upper limit of 55 is ONLY FOR THE CHINA WAITING CHILDREN - GREEN STREAM PROCESS. The upper limit the mainstream China program is 50.
  • No same sex couples or single applicants permitted to apply.
  • Couples must be married for 2 years and have no more than 2 previous marriages. If previously married, current marriage must be minimum 5 years in length.
  • You must be free from criminal record and in good physical and emotional health.
  • Applicants must be free from the following conditions: AIDS, cancer, intellectual disability, infectious disease, blind, deaf, physical disability, lupus, epilepsy, schizophrenia, less than two years after stopping medication for mental illness such as depression, 10 years post surgery of organ transplantation, 10 years free of drinking if history of alcohol abuse.
  • Cannot be noticeably overweight (BMI (Body Mass Index) cannot exceed 40) You can go to http://www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi/bminojs.htm to calculate your BMI
  • Both applicants must have a high school education (or equivalent vocational education) or higher.
  • The family’s net worth cannot be lower than $80,000 US (for conversion to CAD go to www.xe.com/ucc.convert.cgi)
  • Family must have fewer than 5 children in the home with the youngest at least one year of age.
  • At least one of a couple MUST be a Canadian citizen.

Process

  • Completion of a home study and approval in Ontario.
  • Screening process completed by ChildrenBridge for the Waiting ChildrenProgram.
  • Waiting Children files are received at the ChildrenBridge office approximately every 3 months.
  • Once approved, the file is expedited quite quickly in China.
  • Six-month supervision is required by the adoption practitioner.
  • The China Centre for Children's Welfare and Adoption requires post placement reports

Timelines

  • Completion of home study is dependent on the family and Adoption Practitioner.
  • Screening process at The Childrens Bridge will take approximately 2 weeks.
  • Provincial Approval takes between 4 and 18 weeks depending upon your provincial government.
  • Once the family has received their Letter of Approval for the WC Program China they can be presented with a referral/child proposal which meets the recommendation outlined in their Provincial Government's Letter of Approval.
  • The family and The Children's Bridge then complete paperwork for the CCCWA Online System including a Nurturance Plan for the child which addresses the child's special medical needs and medical resources which will be used once in Canada.
  • Once the family's application is sent to the CCCWA through the Online System they will receive their Letter Seeking Confirmaton from Adopter and Letter Seeking Confirmation within 3-5 months.
  • From Letter Seeking Confirmation to Travel is approx. 8-10 weeks while we await the final document from the CCCWA The Notice Of Travel (families cannot travel until this paperwork has been issued by the CCCWA).
  • The family travels to China to complete the adoption. They will be in China for approx. 2 weeks.
  • Post placement adoption reports are a requirement of this program. Families in the WC Program are now required to complete post placement reports at 1, 6 and 12 months home and at the 2, 3 and five year mark.