When you eventually regain your equilibrium, the first clear thought you have will probably be this: you will want to get this little person home, right away.

But that doesn't happen for about ten days. In that time you will take care of business. You will also go sightseeing. You will kill time. You will hang around with other people in exactly the same boat as you. And every day you will fall more and more deeply in love with your child.

What Happens In China

Essentially, three things happen while you are in China:

• You receive your child.
  
• You adopt your child.
  
• Your child receives an American visa in Guangzhou.
  

The first two steps occur in the province where your child is living and are accomplished in the first week of your trip. The last step – getting a visa – occurs on or about your second-to-last day, and happens at the U.S. Consulate.

The process works exactly the same way for everyone, no matter what province or city you go to or what agency you use. The precise timing and some minute details may slightly vary, so I will note here that what I am describing is generally the norm.

Also, this is as good a place as any to note that I will usually refer to a child as "her" or "she." That will make my writing simpler, reflect my own experience of adopting two girls, and also nod to the reality that the vast majority of children adopted from China are girls.

Receiving Your Child

Usually, getting your child is the first thing that happens in China. Depending on when you arrive, it could easily happen on your first or second day.

You will be part of a group from your agency. At every step of the way you and the group will have at least one facilitator guiding you, making arrangements, and taking care of the business at-hand. The reality is that, other than becoming a parent, you have very little to do. You show up, sign papers, occasionally answer questions, and move on.

Where you receive your child is determined by the Chinese authorities. It varies based on the province and city in which the child's orphanage is located. Sometimes you travel to the city itself, and sometimes go directly to the orphanage.

In other cases the adoption is handled in the capital city of the province, and your child is brought there. In those circumstances you may receive your child at the local Civil Affairs office, or she may be brought to your hotel. Wherever it occurs, your child is accompanied by caretakers from the orphanage. Since some children have been in foster care, foster parents may also be with the child.

The Adoption

The adoption usually takes place the day after you receive your child. It normally occurs at the Civil Affairs office. The paperwork has already been completed, so the process usually consists only of a brief interview, the payment of fees plus an orphanage donation, and a photo session.

The interview is straightforward. You are asked to produce your passport to prove your identity. You are asked to orally confirm your annual income. Sometimes you are asked why you want to adopt and whether you will raise the child to value her heritage. Finally, you must promise to take care of your child and never abandon her.

Then you are finished. Toward the end of the stay, you will receive several copies – in Chinese and English – of your child's birth certificate, a certificate of abandonment, and the adoption certificate.

Two additional formalities remain to be accomplished to finalize the adoption. Depending on where you are, they will be performed either the same day or within the next day or two. First, all of the adoption documents must be notarized. Second, you must accompany your child to apply for a Chinese passport. These are activities where you must be present, but your facilitator will actually handle the procedures.

None of this consumes anywhere near the majority of your time that first week. It isn't that things aren't getting done, it's just that you aren't doing them. Your facilitator and the Chinese authorities have the process well in-hand. This gives you time to get to know your child, learn basic parenting skills (if you are a first-timer), re-learn basic parenting skills (if you have been around the block before) and take in the sights.

The sights are fantastic. Your facilitator will arrange sightseeing events to fill your idle time without running you or your child into the ground. China is a beautiful and fascinating country; you are in for a treat.

Prepare to take a lot of pictures and shoot a lot of video. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, no matter how many times you do it. Keep in mind that your child has nothing to hold onto from the first few months of her life, and quite possibly never will. She may be too young to retain memories of this experience, but she can share yours if you do a good job making them tangible.

If you would like some pointers on how to prepare to video and photograph your trip, please visit our Little Dream Pictures website: www.littledreampictures.com.

Guangzhou

Toward the end of the first week of your trip you will travel to Guangzhou, site of the American consulate. Normally you will be in Guangzhou four or five days. In the time before your consulate appointment your child must be photographed for her visa. She also must receive a basic medical exam at an approved facility.

Finally, on the day of your appointment, you gather as a group and go to the consulate for a short visit.

Once again, you personally do very little. Your facilitator has already shepherded through all the paperwork. By the time you leave, everything required to bring your child home to the U.S. is done.

A couple of days from then – or later, if you are brave enough to tour on your own with a new child – you will fly home. Twenty hours or so later you will deplane, step up to a desk at immigration, and hand the officer a sealed envelope. He or she will inspect the contents, stamp those that need stamping, and send you on your way. You will then step across a yellow line.

At that moment you may not yet be at your house, but you – and your child – are home, and I would defy you to not feel a most profound sense of triumph.

How It All Begins

To adopt from China, you have to assemble a set of documents. You will provide all or some of them, in one form or another, to three entities:

• Your agency.
  
• The social worker performing your home study (who may be from the agency).
  
• China's Center for Adoption Affairs.
  

Since I have just used a term – home study – with which you may not be familiar, here is a quick glossary:

A home study is an evaluation conducted by a social worker to determine, based on the laws of your state, whether you are qualified to adopt. The required contents of a home study vary somewhat from state to state, but all generally include an autobiographical narrative, health statements, income reports, a check of police records, description of the home itself, and personal references. Most states require the social worker to interview adoptive parents separately and also together.

The home study is an integral part of your dossier. The dossier is the official packet of materials that goes to China and determines whether you will receive a child.

Every document that goes in your dossier must be authenticated. Authentication is a multi-layered verification process. For example, some documents you submit must be signed and stamped by a notary public. Those documents must later be verified by your state’s authentication office, whose verification must then be vouchsafed by the federal government's Department of Authentications, and finally by the Chinese embassy.

You can certainly manage this paper trail yourself, but you would be well-advised to employ the services of a firm that specializes in this work.

Here are a couple of key acronyms for you. DTC (dossier to China) is when your paperwork is sent to the China Center for Adoptive Affairs (CCAA). At some point thereafter it is logged in by CCAA officials. That day – your log-in date – (LID) is when the clock starts ticking. From this point, it will be a predictable period of time until you receive a referral. (Consult with the agency to determine current waiting periods.)

A referral is the most magical term of them all. A referral is the identity of the child you will adopt. You receive a photo and description of your child. You learn the name she was given and her date of birth. You also receive a medical report, which the agency will have translated for you as quickly as possible. It is an incredibly exciting event.

As soon as referrals come in, your agency works to secure your travel date. This requires making an appointment at the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou and getting official permission to travel from the Chinese authorities. You will have to get an entry visa for China, which is easy and quick. The time between referral and travel varies, but is usually between four and eight weeks.

The Documents

The agency will guide you through every step of the process and give you detailed checklists of what you need to prepare. If you are anxious to get started, here are some key things you will need:

• Your birth certificates.
  
• Your marriage certificate.
  
• If you have a prior marriage, your divorce decree.
  
• A financial statement.
  
• Employment verification.
  
• Tax returns for the past three years.
  
• A physical examination and letter from your physician.
  
• Photos of you, your family, and your home.
  
• Letters of reference from several of your friends.
  
• Photocopies of your passport. (You do have a passport, right?)