Requirements to Adopt from China
that take into account Chinese Law and US guidelines

The following synopsis includes current Chinese adoption criteria (effective 2007)

Age and Marital Requirements

• Only married couples who are at least 30 and under the age of 50 are eligible
• Couples 30 and under 55 may apply to adopt a child with special needs

Length of Marriage

• A couple must be married for a minimum of 2 years
• A couple must be married for 5 years if either spouse has been married previously
• If either spouse has more than two previous marriages they may not be eligible to adopt from China

Income and Work Requirements

• Family must show a net worth of $80,000 or more
• Family must earn a base of $20,000 plus $10,000 for each additional family member (including future adoptive child)
• Either the husband or wife must have a stable job

 Health Requirements

Families are not eligible if either the husband or wife have any of the following conditions:

1. AIDS;
2. Mental handicap;
3. Infectious disease within infective stage;
4. Binocular blind or binocular parallax or monocular blind and with no ocular prosthesis;
5. Binaural hearing loss or language function loss; adoption of special needs children who have identical conditions will be exempt from this limitation;
6. Afunction or dysfunction of limbs or trunk caused by impairment, incompleteness, numbness or deformation; severe facial deformation;
7. Severe diseases which require long term treatment and which affect life expectancy, like malignant tumor, lupus erythematosus, nephrosis, epilepsy, and etc.;
8. Post-surgery of major organs transplantation, not yet 10 years;
9. Schizophrenia;
10. Medication for severe mental disorders, like depression, mania, or anxiety neurosis and etc. stopped not more than 2 years;

11. If either spouse's BMI (body mass index) is 40 or higher - to calculate your BMI click here

Children in the Home

• The number of children in the family under the age of 18 must be less than five.
• The youngest child must be at least 12 months old when dossier is submitted to CCAA.
• If a couple is considering adopting a child with special needs this limitation does not apply.
• If there has been a previous adoption form China, the couple may not apply again until one year after the completion of their previous adoption.

Criminal History

Families are not eligible to adopt if any of the following apply:

1. Either the husband or wife has a criminal history.
2. Have a history of domestic violence, sex abuse, abandonment or abuse of children;
3. Have a history of taking narcotics like opium, morphine, marijuana, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamines, and etc. and medication for mental diseases that are adictive;
4. Have a history of alcohol abuse and been sober for less than 10 years.

Adoption applications may be given consideration on a case by case basis when either the husband or wife has fewer than 3 minor "criminal records" with no "severe outcomes", and provided that there have been no arrests or convictions for 10 years and than they have less than five serious traffic violations.

(Please call FRC to ask about individual concerns)

Education Requirements

• Both husband and wife must have completed high school or vocational school equivalent

Religious and Philosophical Requirements

• Families with religious or personal beliefs that prohibit certain kinds of medical treatment (including blood transfusions) for the child may not be eligible to adopt.

Citizenship Requirements

• One adoptive parent must be a US citizen
• If only one parent is a US citizen, they are required to travel to China to adopt.

Time Frame

Historically, from start to finish the process of adopting from China has varried.  The process includes but is not limited to; the time it takes to conduct a home study, to assemble your dossier, to satisfy the requirements of USCIS, to have your dossier/application reviewd and approved in China, and to receive a referral and travel to China.  Over the years time frames to adopt from China have ranged from as little as nine months to as much as two years.

Please contact our China Program Coordinator to obtain the most up to date estimated time frames.

Travel Time

Trips are approximately twelve days in length.

Total Costs

From start to finish, total adoption costs, including travel, range from $20,000 to $24,000. This estimate of costs includes all major and minor expenses.  Costs vary based on the number of travelers, the length of stay, and the time of year. 

FRC is happy to provide a comprehensive Worksheet of Expenses that helps you to understand exactly what your expenses will be, and calculate the potential total cost of an adoption from China.