New 1999/10/01
This question came to me:
Dear Edward,
How do the Chinese authorities “match” the child to their prospective adoptive parents?
I asked Laura Cecere. She replied:
From: Laura [mailto:cecere@law.harvard.edu]
Sent: Tuesday, September 21, 1999 1:48 PM
To: [Mr. M]
Cc: ehume@pshrink.com
Subject: Re: FW: ADOPTING CHILDREN FROM CHINA
Mr. M
Ed has forwarded your question to me, as I have helped many families
to adopt from China and stay current with their procedures, to the
extent
that they are made known.
I am delighted, . . . that you are turning to China and are willing to offer an orphan there the opportunity for a family. I will tell you the summary version of what I know about matching these days.
First and foremost, the CCAA looks in your application letter and tries very hard to give you the type of child that you specifically requested. This is why I always stress to applicants to ask for exactly what they really want, not what they think they will be offered by China. In seven years of doing this work, we have only had three families that did not get the age child they requested. In two of those cases, the child was younger than they had requested.
Second, the child that they match you with is greatly dependent on the types of children next up for placement at the CCAA when your dossier comes up for matching. The children wait nearly as long as we do for a match, and they do try to be fair about matching them when their time is up. So, if there is a large number of small infants needing placement when you come up, there is a good chance that this is what you will get. But if there aren’t many and there are a large number of toddlers or preschoolers needing placement, the babies are usually placed with the youngest families then up for matching and most others will get a toddler. You don't say how old you are, so it is not possible for me to know if this works in your favor or not. If you are under 35, it probably would. If you are over 45, it probably wouldn't.
Third, you don't mention if you are grouped by your agency (or whomever handles your adoption) with other families. If you are, and your dossiers are presented to CCAA as a group, they will of course search among the children up for placement for a group of similar size from one place orphanage. Then, among that group of children, they try to satisfy the particular requests of the applicants. Most people ask for the youngest child possible. Therefore, in most groups, the youngest couples will get the youngest children in that group and the older ones will tend to get the older ones. So, learning the ages of the others that your dossier has been grouped with might help you predict the age of the child you are matched with.
Fourth, when all else is equal, the staff at the CCAA have admitted to me that they will use your photos and try to match a child with parents that look most like them. (Don't ask me how they do this since the applicants are almost always Caucasian!)
In addition to this, there is the consideration that some people request a particular place or orphanage. The CCAA will try to grant these requests if they are for a good reason (NOT for reasons that sound like orphanage-shopping. I won't go into this here. This is another discussion.) So, this may also be a consideration of which child or group of children a particular group is matched with.
As you can see, there are many factors that go into this process. It is a difficult job for CCAA to try to make everyone happy, and I for one am always amazed how often they succeed.
I hope you find this helpful.