Waiting Child Program

We decided to apply to the "Waiting Child" program with our adoption agency. This means we would be open to adopting a baby who has a special medical need. I know that might sound scary and cause some anxiety. This is a voluntary program and was not required for us to adopt from China. We are still "in-line" in the "non-special needs program". The Waiting Child program is an additional option.

Actually Jeff was on board for adopting a special needs child before I was and I had seriously gotten to the point that I doubted an adoption was ever going to take place, given the possibility of a three plus year wait time.

A few months ago we watched a movie called "Facing the Giants". There is a scene in the movie where a chaplain tells the main character (summarizing I think from Mark 11:24 and II Corinthians 9:6-7) that if there is a drought and you've been praying for rain then you better plant your fields abundantly before you see the clouds rolling in. Oddly enough this was the same message of "action and faith" at church last Sunday.

We believe there is a child some where out there that is ours. We have done or are doing what we can to plant our field abundantly. We are in the "standard program" in China, we have applied to the "waiting child program" in China and I'm working on a domestic adoption portfolio. The "reaping" part is in God's hands. It won't matter where this child comes from or what he or she comes with, we will end up with the one we were supposed to have all along anyway.

Here is a brief outline of how the "special needs" program works. Our agency has a medical condition check-list. There are about 30 medical issues on the list, some are very minor and don't require any treatment at all, for instance the Chinese think some birthmarks are a bad omens, so that was on the list. Physical defects that are easily corrected in the US, like cleft palate/lip are on the list, etc. The family goes through the check-list and for each condition determines whether it is a: yes, no, or maybe, as far as your openness to adopt a baby with that problem and your ability to provide the needed medical care.

As of last week there were about 200 families on the waiting child list. The CCAI got 40 babies sometime in April and are working on matching those babies to families. They basically go through the list and match up babies to families based on the medical conditions. They start the matching process with the families who have been on the list longest. Our agency gets a new list about every 60 days with any where from 10-50 children on it. There are people who submitted their MCC's (medical condition check-list) in October-November 06 who are getting referrals right now.

Once the agency matches a family with a baby, the family is sent the medical records for that child. They have time to review the record, visit their pediatrician, and whatever they need to do to make a decision about accepting the referral. If they decide not to accept the referral, the family stays in the "waiting child line". If they decide to accept the referral, there is more paper work to be done. It takes about three months to get all that done before they are able to fly to China to adopt their baby.

Based on what has been going on with the "waiting child matches" here lately, I'm guessing we might get a referral around December! What a Christmas present that would be!!