China and vaccines

[doulakris]

Hi All,

Long story short, DH and I started the Korea adoption process about 1.5yrs ago, only to end up being disqualified for not having our bio son vaxed. We were originally told that we would have to vax the adopted child, but not bio, and then they changed their minds. It was very upsetting. We then became preg with bio son #2. Now due to medical reasons, we really can't have more bio kids. Knowing that the time frame for an adoption from China is 3-4yrs right now, we'd like to start that. We're wondering if anyone knows if China requires bio kids to be vaxed? We so don't want to be halfway through and have it fall through again. If you've adopted from China and it was ok, please tell me what agency you used. Thanks for any info you can share!

-Kris

[Spock]

I don't know if it's required that your bio child be vaxed but we did have to have a medical form filled out by dd's dr. and our home study mentions that she is up to date on vaxes. I think that this is going to be a rule that's set by the CCAA and is not going to vary from agency to agency. It would be a good question to ask an agency since I'm not sure if vaxing is actually required or not.

We are using ASIA in Portland for the placement and so far we've been happy with them. We were originally using our home study agency for the placement as well but we switched to ASIA because we were so unhappy with them. I'd be happy to share our experience with that agency in a pm if you'd like but since we haven't completed our adoption yet I'm a little afraid to do it publicly.

[RedOakMomma]

I'm sorry to hear you were disqualified. Did vaxing come up somehow in your homestudy? We are a delayed/anti-vax family, and it never came up with our (South Korea) program. On the medical form, our dr. just put that the kids were getting their vaxes on a "delayed/as needed" schedule, and the social worker never questioned it.

I'm upset at what happened to you. It doesn't seem fair that some families can get by without vaxing and some social workers or agencies make a big stink about it.

Do you have a supportive pediatrician? Someone who would find a creative and honest way of putting your vax position on the medical forms without raising red flags?

I hope you find a program (and agency!) that will give you clearer answers and more support.

[Tigeresse]

Originally Posted by librarydragon

I don't know if it's required that your bio child be vaxed but we did have to have a medical form filled out by dd's dr. and our home study mentions that she is up to date on vaxes. I think that this is going to be a rule that's set by the CCAA and is not going to vary from agency to agency. It would be a good question to ask an agency since I'm not sure if vaxing is actually required or not.

When we adopted our dd, there was no such form required by CCAA for our bio kids. We did, however have to turn in a medical form on the kids for our state requirements. Perhaps the rules have changed, but I know that was not the case in '04. The CCAA medical forms were only for dh and I. You need to know who is requiring your dc's medical forms, the agency, state or the country and take it from there. Your agency/social worker may have required vaxing and it may not have been Korea at all.

Anyway, our agency worked well with us on this issue:

www.journeysoftheheart.net

[Spock]

Originally Posted by Tigeresse

When we adopted our dd, there was no such form required by CCAA for our bio kids. We did, however have to turn in a medical form on the kids for our state requirements. Perhaps the rules have changed, but I know that was not the case in '04. The CCAA medical forms were only for dh and I. You need to know who is requiring your dc's medical forms, the agency, state or the country and take it from there. Your agency/social worker may have required vaxing and it may not have been Korea at all.

Anyway, our agency worked well with us on this issue:

www.journeysoftheheart.net

You're right about the form and I wasn't clear about that. Dh and I had to have additional medical forms filled out for our dossier but dd just had to have the one for the home study. It does mention that she is vaxed in our home study, though, and that does go to China.

[Tigeresse]

Originally Posted by librarydragon

You're right about the form and I wasn't clear about that. Dh and I had to have additional medical forms filled out for our dossier but dd just had to have the one for the home study. It does mention that she is vaxed in our home study, though, and that does go to China.

Ah yes, that would be it then, it must have been your social worker who included the info. in your dossier. I know that it was not in ours, and that the primary reason for the kids' forms was for a state foster license. Interesting how different the approaches and philosophies can be from agency to agency and sw to sw.

[doulakris]

I should clarify. I guess we weren't exactly "disqualified." What happened was that we talked to the sw about it before we even did an application. We were told that there was no rule that bio kids had to be vaccinated, and that as long as we vaxed the adopted child, it would be ok. After doing the agency's application, and preliminary paperwork, we were given the go ahead to do our homestudy, which went fine. Then when we received the agency's Korea specific paperwork, there was a page with all the vaccines listed and a column for dates they were received. It was very specific, so there was no way we could just put that he had "all necessary vaxes" or something like that. I called the agency and asked if that form was something for the agency, or if it actually went to Korea. They said that they send it to Korea. I asked them if that would be a problem if they send it blank, and they said that they didn't think so, but they couldn't be sure, because they've never had this situation before. They would have to send it to Korea and hope for the best. And we were told that if they rejected us, we would not be able to have any of our money refunded. We didn't want to take the chance of losing thousands of dollars. So now we are trying to find an agency that will let us see the paperwork before we pay any money. I realize that story makes that agency sound really bad, but I honestly don't think they meant to mislead us. I think she really just forgot about that particular form and didn't know what to do. Anyway, lesson learned. We're just trying to figure this out ahead of time this time. Thanks for your suggestions! I really appreciate hearing them.

-Kris

[RedOakMomma]

There are a couple of programs with Korea where no or very little paperwork goes to Korea for approval...it's the social workers in the US that get referral information from Korea and make the match within the US. I know most programs have the "HSTK" or Home Study to Korea policy, but with our agency all of our paperwork went to our agency and only smaller amounts of information went to Korea.

I don't know if I'm explaining that well enough. What I mean to say is that some agencies give the paperwork to Korea for the homestudy approval/match. Some agencies work the other way...Korea trusts them to make the homestudy approval and also to make the match.

You might want to inquire with other Korea programs in your state and see how their referral and homestudy process works.