China Adoption Vocabulary:

Dossier: A Dossier is the paperwork that China would like from each family. You gather up the 13 documents which include: Home Study, Adoption Petition, Medical Exam reports for each parent, Employment or non-job letter from employee, Birth Certificates for each parent, Marriage Certificate, I171H, Police Clearances, and Financial Statement. Next, you have them Notarized and mail them to the state from which they came for Authentication signatures. After that, they will be mailed to the U.S. State Department and lastly to the Chinese Embassy for approval signatures and stamps of approval. China also wants photos of your family. Chinese Children Adoption International's copyrighted Dossier Guide will direct you through the process in easy to follow steps. It seems overwhelming but it's really not when you have a Dossier Guide like this one. They will hold your hand every step of the way. Completing your dossier is not hard, just time consuming.


Home Study: First, we called our Home Study agency. We scheduled 4 meetings with our social worker. There are 4 "interviews" that China requires: Interview with the husband, Interview with the wife, Interview with husband and wife together, and a visit to your home. We loved our social worker and she made it lots of fun. Next, she mailed one Home Study to USCIS and one to our China agency for review. Then, we added our Home Study to our dossier.


USCIS (United States Citizenship Immigration Services): Immigration provides us with a form, the I171H that allows us to bring our baby back into the country. To get that form, our social worker mailed a Home Study to USCIS. We also included a birth and marriage certificate. They mailed the approval letter and appointment so we could have our fingerprints taken. Once USCIS approved us, they contacted the American Consulate in Guangzhou and mailed us our I171H, which is added to the dossier.


DTC (Dossier To China): This is the most liberating day of the whole adoption process thus far. All of our dossier is finished and has been mailed to CCAI, our agency. CCAI Critically reviews our dossier, mounts our photos, and organizes the dossier into a beautiful red book. Then, our dossier is mailed to the China Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA) in Beijing.

LID (Log In Date): This is an exciting day when your dossier is logged into the CCAA's computer system. This is your "numbered ticket" then you just wait in line until they call your number.


CCAI (Chinese Children Adoption International): This is our agency that holds our hand through the whole adoption process. A family cannot contact China on their own. They have to have an agency to be their liaison. In our opinion, CCAI is the best agency in the whole world.


CCAA (China Center for Adoption Affairs): This is the Chinese Government organization that logs our dossier into their system, reviews our dossier, and matches us with our child. The CCAA is not to be confused with our adoption agency, CCAI...two totally different organizations. Click to see pictures of the CCAA building in China on the Love Without Boundaries Site.


Match Day or Referral Day: This day is the most amazing day so far in the whole adoption process. Match day is when CCAI will call us with the news of our baby. They will send our Referral information: photos of our baby and medical records. You can read all about Alaina's referral and Hudson's referral.


Acceptance Letter: After the excitement of our baby's referral, we immediately sign the Acceptance Letter and mail back to CCAI so they can mail it back to CCAA.


LOI (Letter of Intent): This is a form/letter that is mailed back to the CCAA that informs them that you want to adopt a specific child that you found on a Special Needs list.


PA (Pre-Approval): You will get PA when China has preapproved your family to adopt a specific child that you found on a Special Needs list.


LOA (Letter of Approval): China sends you final approval after they have reviewed dossier. You sign the accetance letter and mail it back to China.


TA (Travel Approval): As soon as the CCAA gets our Acceptance Letter, they will send us Travel Approval which gives us permission to travel into the country.


CA (Consulate Appointment): After Travel Approval, the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou will give us an appointment. This gives us final approval to bring our baby into the country. Our USCIS are buddies with the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou.


The Red Thread: An ancient Chinese belief. "An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place, or circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle, but will never break."


Ladybugs: One spring while everyone waited for their referrals, there was a huge infiltration of ladybugs across the nation and immediately following these sightings a flood of referrals came. We personally do not really believe in "good luck" because our God is in control of all things. For us, it has been fun to collect ladybugs items while we wait. Every time we have a "ladybug sighting", it reminds us of our baby and that God is protecting her/him. It is a reminder that He loves us and loves our baby and that He is holding our hand through this process.


100 Good Wishes Quilt: (Wording borrowed from Original Quilts owner and Adoption Websites.) To welcome and celebrate a new life, there is a tradition in the northern part of China to make a Bai Jia Bei, or "100 Wishes Quilt." It is a custom to invite 100 people to contribute a single square of patch of cloth. The 100 patches are sewn together into a quilt that contains good wishes from all the families and friends who contributed a piece of fabric. The quilt is then passed down from generation to generation. Our Quilt will represent the good wishes and prayers for our baby.