PA (Pre-Approval)There are so many acronyms that get thrown around in the China adoption community. It's hard to know what they all mean! At this point, you have already received the referral of your child and sent in your Letter of Intent (LOI), or your Care and Nurture and Rehabilitation Plan. You may or may not have your dossier completed at this point or have a LID. Different families do it different ways. We have always gotten our referrals before LID, while others wait until after their dossier is done. BUT - back to my point! When you have your referral and have submitted your LOI to China, China will review your Letter of Intent and your qualifications to adopt. Assuming everything looks good, China will issue PA (Pre-Approval). This is also occasionally called EA (Electronic Acceptance). This is an electronic approval that your agency will download from the CCAA online work system. Your agency will then usually send you a copy of the PA attached to an email! What's In The PA The PA is on an plain sheet of white paper - nothing fancy! Below is the format of the Pre-Approval (with our personal information removed). 通 知麦迪逊收养协会收养组织：你们递交的XXXXXXXXXXXXX和XXXXXXXXXXX收养湖北（省、市、自治区）武汉市儿童福利院儿童武槐刚(2008年05月01日出生)的申请已收到，经过对该家庭的基本情况及其为该儿童制定的医疗康复及抚育计划的审核，中国收养中心同意在该申请文件到达（截止日期2010年09月21日，含当日）后，按照收养特殊需要儿童的程序处理，特此告知。中国收养中心2010年06月21日 Notice June 21,2010 MADISON ADOPTION ASSOCIATES, The application of XXXXXXXXXXXXXX for adoption of XXXXXXXXXXXXX( DOB May 01,2008) from Wuhan Children's WelfareInstitute, Hubei of Hubei province that you submitted was received. It is hereby advised that with a review of the basic family situation and the Rehabilitation and Nurture Plan for the Child made by the family, the China Centre of Adoption Affairs agrees to handle and process the case as an adoption of a special-need child after the application file arrives (deadline September 21,2010, that day inclusive). China Centre of Adoption Affairs Save a copy of the PA for your records!!! What Comes Next You don't need to DO anything with the PA. If you have already finished your dossier and received your LID, you now wait for LOA. If you are still working your dossier, then you simply continue on with that!
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Breaking It Down
Getting everything straight in the crazy process of adoption is tough! The adoption process can be broken down into three distinct steps: the home study, dossier, and the post LOA/referral paperwork.
Home Study
A home study is basically an in-depth review of you, your family, your finances, and your home environment. Before United States Citizenship and Immigration Services can approve you to adopt from another country, they need to know something about you - do you meet the requirements, do you have a history of criminal activity or child abuse, are you financially stable, are you prepared for the issues that come with adopting internationally, how do your children feel about the adoption, etc. This is the first step in your adoption process.
Dossier
What is a dossier? The official definition is "a collection of papers containing detailed information about a particular person or subject (usually a person's record). In this case, the record is being compiled on the adoptive parents. In order to adopt a child from China, you will be required to collect a series of documents that tell the CCAA about you, your family, your health, and your finances. Although the dossier and home study are two separate steps in the adoption process, you should be working on them at the same time in order to make the fastest progress. Also, some of the documents needed for your dossier can also be used for your home study, cutting down on paperwork time for you. The medical health for you need for your dossier can be copied and given to your social worker for the home study so you don't have to go to the doctor twice. The same can be done for employment letters and financial information.
Post Referral/LOA Process
Once your dossier and home study have been completed and sent to China, and you have received the referral of your child, you begin the third and last phase of the process. You will begin completing all the paperwork that will classify your child as your immediately relative and approve him/her for an immigrant visa to the United States. This process culminates when you receive your Travel Approval and are able to go to China!