OUR JOURNEY TO CHINA – ZHAN CI FEI (MAELYNN)

We knew we were going to adopt two children from China at the start, so the search never ended once we found our miraculous Joshua. However, Jocelyn, which is what her orphanage currently calls her (we are still working on coming up with a name for her), was one of the first children I reviewed when we first started the China adoption process. I requested information on her way back on May 12. Unfortunately, at the time, she was on another agency’s individual list. Therefore, if I wanted to pursue her, I would have to switch agencies and go through Bay Adoption Area Services (BAAS). As briefly explained in Joshua’s post, the CCCWA will release files to specific agencies to go on their individual lists. The belief in this process is that each agency will aggressively advocate for the children on their individual list, helping to ensure these children get adopted. Usually these children have been on the shared list for a while, have harder to place special needs, or older children. Agencies have 60 days to find families for their assigned children, but can also place any child on the shared list. If they do not find a family for their specific children, they have to return the child(ren)’s file to the CCCWA. The child(ren) will either be placed back on the shared list for all agencies to access, or given to another agency for their individual list.

I was already contracted with AAI, and have used them for Amornthep’s and Hana’s adoption, and really fond of this agency. Therefore, this was not an option. BAAS had another month plus to find Jocelyn a family before they would be required to return her referral back to China. So, I moved on in my search for another child. However, I could not get Jocelyn out of my head and checked BAAS’ website frequently to see if she was still showing up on their website, which indicated she was not yet locked by a family.

Time past and the day before we saw Joshua, June 11, I received an email from a child advocate. She stated that she knew I had been interested in Jocelyn, and was aware that BAAS had to return her file back to the CCCWA in two weeks and perhaps they would be willing to release her file to us? I grew very excited and wrote to BAAS asking if they would, indeed, be willing to release her file. A good week past without any response from the agency. We were in the middle of frantically searching for Joshua's file, so her search was temporarily put on hold.

On Tuesday, June 21, I started to actively look for our second child once again. Jocelyn was top of my list so I contacted the advocate to see if she heard anything more. She replied that she was still with BAAS and she was set to be returned end of June. I thought it worth a try to resend my email message. No response all that morning and afternoon. I decided to call the agency directly, and by my fourth call, I finally got through.

As I spoke with BAAS’ agent, Xiaoqing Cai, she remembered my original request for Jocelyn's information back in May. We both shared how perplexing it was that this beautiful little girl wasn’t snatched up. Her special need seem minor compared to most. Jocelyn has atresia (absence or abnormal narrowing of an opening or passage in the body)/microtia (a congenital deformity where the outer ear is very small and underdeveloped) in both ears causing her to be deaf. Other than that, she is a beautiful, healthy little girl. She also had recently developed a severe rash on her face that the orphanage assistants felt was eczema (which you can see in a few of her photos). However, this is not uncommon in orphanages due to malnutrition, poor hygiene, etc.

Xiaoqing went on to explain that normally, children with this condition, especially young girls Jocelyn’s age, get snatched up very fast. She was dumbfounded as to why no one decided to adopt her. She shared that a large host of her clients reviewed her file, but did not pursue. Of course, as she continued to express her frustration with Jocelyn not getting locked by her families, I couldn’t help but think the reason was because she was meant for our family; simple as that.

After I explained that we were committed to her adopt her, that we already had a deaf child and knew sign language, she exclaimed, “you know what; your family sounds perfect for this little girl and there is no sense in making her wait any longer. I will send her file back to the CCCWA letting them know that your agency has a client that is prepared to proceed with her adoption. Just have your agency call them tomorrow.”

I was ecstatic…this little girl that had been my top choice since the beginning was FINALLY going to be our little girl. I had sent her information to Phil over a month ago, but I resent her file to him and he quickly responded that he felt she was perfect for our family. On June 23, the CCCWA released her file to AAI and we submitted her letter of intent. Again, we are waiting for her pre-approval from CCCWA, but very confident that this is the second child the Lord has been preparing to join our family. Our current top picks for her name are Maelynn, Alaina, Adrianna, and Breanna. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Please refer to our Blog often as I continue with our China adoption process. Some huge hurdles yet to be scaled are, getting our official Pre-approval (PA) for each child, getting our I-797C from immigration, mailing our dossier to China (DTC), having our dossier logged-in to their system (LID), getting our official approval from China (LOA), receiving the Article 5 letter, receiving our travel approval (TA), and the crème de la crème, GOTCHA day.