Letter of Acceptance (LOA)

You cannot proceed with your adoption until China sends the LOA, which is your official approval from the CCAA to adopt your child.

Current wait times for LOA depend on a lot of things!!

• It depends somewhat upon your agency, although no one has ever been able to prove this for sure.
• It depends on whether you accepted your referral before or after you received your Log In Date (LID).
• It Depends on the time of year (whether there are holidays during your wait, or other CCAA closures).
• It depends on whether or not the CCAA requests more information from you after reviewing your dossier. Doesn't happen often, but once in awhile it does!

Currently, families are waiting anywhere from 30-70 days for LOA, with 50-60 days being probably the average.

What It Looks Like

When You Get LOA

Your agency will send you the original LOA via FedEx (or something similar). You and your spouse must sign and date the LOA, and check the box that says you accept the referral.

Make several copies of the signed original LOA, and then send it right back to your agency. Your agency must send the LOA back to the CCAA showing that you accept the referral.

• DON'T FORGET: A lot of couples get so excited that they forget to check the box that says you accept the referral. While this isn't earth shattering, make sure you do this before sending it back to your agency.
• IF THERE IS A MISTAKE ON YOUR LOA: Don't panic. This happens more frequently than you would imagine (it happened to us).

You need to assess what the mistake is. If your adopted child's name, date of birth, or gender are incorrect, or if you or your spouse's name is spelled incorrectly on the LOA, you need to notify your agency immediately. Your agency will ask the CCAA to issue a correct LOA immediately.

When we got our LOA in 2009, our little boy's name was spelled wrong. The CCAA had a new LOA at our agency in less than 10 days.

Any other kind of mistake on the LOA is usually not critical.

What Happens Next

Your agency should have provided you with instructions on how to do these forms, and you should have them ready to go BEFORE you get your LOA.

Information about filling out Form I-800 and I-864W can be found here!

NOTE: This information is only intended as a guide, and should never replace the guidance of your adoption service provider.

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