BRIGHT DREAMS INTERNATIONAL:
China Adoption Program

     The Adoption Law of the People's Republic of China came into force on April 1, 1992. Since then it has been modified. As the American public became aware of this new law, many American agencies rushed to establish programs to help their clients adopt from China. Our agency has been closely involved with Chinese since the early 1990's. Our focus is to provide highly personalized service to small groups of adoptive parents who wish to adopt from China. Our Executive Director, Sally Tan, travels with most of our groups to China to complete the adoption. In order to provide the best service we sometimes combine our groups with another agency, HFS, so that the groups are large enough to be economically feasible but not unwieldy. We believe small groups of adoptive parents provide the ultimate climate for the adoptive process. In this way we can give each family highly personal service. We also always have professional interpreters and guides for each city we travel to complete the adoption.

     The Chinese Adoption Law applies to all foreigners who want to adopt a child from China. All foreign adoption applications must be processed through the China Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA) in Beijing, China. Once the application "dossier" is received at CCAA it is processed in order of receipt. The staff at CCAA evaluate the applicant's qualifications and approve the application based on Chinese law. If the applicant is approved, they are then "matched" to a waiting child.

     The CCAA notifies the American agency of the "referral." The kind of information about the child has become more complete over the years. However, adoptive parents must realize that CCAA acts as a central agency and must rely on information provided by orphanages all over the country from a huge population. Since most of the children are abandoned, the typical information available is a small picture, name, date of birth (often a guesstimate), and current medical information.

     The adoptive parent(s) are given the referral information and it is up to them to decide based on that information whether they provisionally accept the child. If they accept, the agency notifies CCAA and the process is then transferred to the social welfare institution where the child resides. The local provincial officials the must prepare for the adoption. The agency is then notified that they have travel permission to go to China.

     The parents then travel with a small group to the Provincial capital where the final adoption will take place. Typically the child is brought to the capital city from a long distance and the trip is arduous for the child. But, the parents are usually united with their child fairly quickly so the bonding process can begin before the final adoption decree is entered. After the adoption is finalized in the Province, then the family travels to Guangzhou, China for the US Visa procedures.

     Bright Dreams International is dedicated to providing comprehensive cultural counseling to our adoptive parents. We do our best to assist our clients to discover as much as possible about their child and the culture before the adoption takes place. We encourage our adoptive families to continue a friendly relationship with us and other families after the adoption. Each child, each parent and each adoption becomes a cherished memory of our staff. "Bright Dreams" in Chinese can also mean "Tomorrows Dreams." We wish you all the best tomorrows.

     Do not hesitate to contact us with questions or concerns. We love to share our love of China.

Sincerely,

Sally Kayser Tan
Executive Director