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One agnecy told me that anyone can ask for twins and another told me that both parents have to have advanced degrees (master's, doctorates) and make over $100,000. That agency further told me that was a CCAA rule and not an agency rule. So who is right? Does anyone know if there are more restrictions when requesting twins and what they are? Thanks!
The income requirement is for $10,000 per person in your household. So to qualify for twins, you'd need $20,000 for the parrents, $20,000 for the twins and $10,000 for each existing child in the house.
In actuality, twins tend to go to people with higher income levels, advanced degrees, and people with no children at home.
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Yeah I was taken off guard b/c I have an advanced degree but husband does not but he has a really good job and currently is the only one working. I thought it was odd that China would require two people with advanced degrees. I just can't stand that some of these agencies just don't come out and tell the truth that certain things are agency policies.
I don't think that these are policy (CCAA or agencies), they're more practice, KWIM? Anyone can request to be matched with twins if they meet the $10,000 per person income requirement and if their SW will approve them for twins.
What people are talking about is who seems to actually get matched with twins.
It's my understanding that CCAA "favors" one person income for twins ($100,000 or higher, with only one parent working outside the home), and no other children at home.
I've found that agency requirements are sometimes much stricter than CCAA requirements. And, although CCAA has outlined "requirements", if given a choice, they usually choose the highest qualified. I've seen a few twins referred, and of all that I've seen, they all fit the family dynamics of one parent working, and $100K/yr or higher income.
However, if you fit the minimum criteria, and you are open to twins, you can always request twins. We were told to ask for exactly what we wanted. It's possible that your family would be the most qualified for twins of all the families that one matcher is matching for that month. You can always keep it as a possibility, but I have not heard that its a "requirement" from CCAA to have all stated above.
The various "requirements" you hear about are NOT China's. China states only that you should have "above average" income, so that you can raise two children. Otherwise, you simply need to meet the normal requirements for adoption from China.
The various requirements you hear about are basically ways in which agencies deal with the fact that there are very few sets of twins available, and tons of families who want to adopt twins. For some reason, just as American famillies overwhelmingly want girls when they adopt, they also express a surprising preference for twins.
Agencies know that China doesn't want dozens and dozens of dossiers requesting twins at a given time, when there might be only one or two sets of twins paper-ready. Agencies don't want to see families disappointed, if they request twins and are referred a single child. They also don't want to see families stay on waiting lists even longer than those that exist for the general population of China parents, because they want twins.
So, to put it bluntly, they use a rationing strategy. They set requirements that weed out most applicants, and leave them with only a handful of families whose dossiers will request twins. Since there aren't too many other ways to distinguish among families systematically, they tend to use income and, occasionally, education, as criteria.
Using income is not a totally bogus notion. Raising two children of the same age is an expensive proposition, whether we're talking about two sets of pediatrician visits for all the "crud" that kids catch as infants and toddlers, or whether we're talking about two sets of college tuitions at the same time. And twins, triplets, and other multiples are more likely to be premature and low birth weight than children born singly. They may have more long term health problems related to their prematurity, and require an extra amount of medical care.
Using parental education is less justifiable, since truck drivers can raise twins as well as college professors. But some agencies use education as a rationing criterion, in part because they know that people with better educations have higher long-term earning power, and in part because they know that CHINA wants to see educated parents who are likely to give their kids good educations. (When I adopted my daughter in her province, the authorities asked me only two questions -- one about my income, and one about how I planned to educate Becca.)
But agencies could probably do just fine without imposing income or education requirements, IF the supply of twins was greater. Unfortunately for American families, the incidence of multiple births in general tends to be quite low. And the incidence of abandonment of healthy Chinese twins is particularly low. So there has to be SOME way of reducing demand so that it is more in line with the supply of twins who need homes.
There ARE agencies that do not ration by setting artificial requirements. They may try to weed out some families by encouraging them to request one child at a time. But if a family is truly prepared for the challenges of parenting two, the agencies will not deny that family a chance to submit a dossier.
Sharon
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Oddly, I've actually also seen it when twins are adopted from the same SWI to different parents, at different times. Seemingly, they are abandoned at different times and different places, possibly because the b-parents do not think that twins are desirable for adoption.
There was a child in our daughter's SWI who was adopted a month earlier. they look very similar, but this child's papers say that she is 3 weeks older than our daughter. I still follow their blog, and still think they are very similar in look and stature. If they are sisters, they are not identical. But I've seen at least 3 sets that are identical, and adopted separately but from the same SWI. In all the cases, the parents of one was browsing the internet and looking at the older SWI pictures, and found a child that struck them as the same as their own child, but had a different Chinese name.
There might not be a significant number, but I do wonder how many actual twins identical or fraternal are separated at birth or by the SWI.
Karen..did you ever see that story on Oprah about them being seperated and they did a test to find out that they were related but there is no set twin test! It was so cute! I keep it DVR'd!
Sak..I agree I think it is their way of weeding out the groups but I hate being lied too. I actually wrote that agency back today telling them that I will not consider them anymore since they lied about something. It just irks me. I wouldn't have cared if they said it was an agency policy b/c so many have different requirements. I think it is funny though that they think a person with a more advanced degree has more earning power...I found that really true among my friends..most have more school loan debt and half them stopped working to be stay at home wives or mom's like me!
We defintiely want an agnecy that lets us request twins but aren't going to just stay on the that list. I want a baby girl as soon as possible:)
Some people with advanced degrees also go into the arts or worse into education or worst of all ("shudder") arts education like me, hence less pay as well. (heavy sigh....)
It used to be the custom for orphanages to separate twins. Nowadays, however, the practice is discouraged by the CCAA, because adoption professionals around the world have made it clear that siblings should be adopted together, if at all possible.
While it is possible that a few orphanages are still old fashioned and separating known sets of healthy twins, I doubt that it is the case in most facilities. However, IF one child is healthy and one has special needs, separation of twins is more likely. Do remember that, in multiple birth situations -- even in the U.S. -- the children are often born prematurely and have low birth weight. They are more likely than children born singly to have medical issues -- ranging from heart problems to cerebral palsy -- associated with these conditions.
In some cases, it is also possible that an orphanage might not know that two children are twins, because they were abandoned separately, in different locations. Biological parents in China go to great lengths to avoid detection when they make the only adoption plan they can -- abandonment -- and placing the babies separately can be part of their strategy. Many fraternal twins do not look enough alike that orphanages would suspect that they are related.
It is also common for non-Chinese parents to decide that two Chinese children look alike, when they are absolutely not twins. Chinese people would almost always look at the same children differently and conclude that they don't look anything like each other.
The Internet has allowed non-Chinese people to share photos of their children, and it seems that quite a number have found kids on-line who look similar to their children. While it is true that a couple of siblings have been identified this way, I suspect that there are a good many families requesting genetic testing, and finding that their kids cannot possibly be related.
Interestingly, there also appear to have been cases, in the past, where two children were placed as twins, but turned out not to be biologically related. Apparently, some orphanages wanted to get around the rule of one baby at a time, except for multiples, or to place two children together if they seemed to bond in the orphanage.
A friend of mine adopted twins in the early days of China adoption. The two girls looked and acted rather unlike each other, and she suspected that they were NOT actually twins, because of this. At the time, China didn't do genetic testing to ensure that kids referred as twins were actually twins, and the lack of relationship emerged only after the kids were home. Aware that China sometimes referred non-twins in this way, my friend had genetic testing done, and it showed that her daughters WERE, in fact, referred correctly as fraternal twins. Nowadays, genetic testing is generally required for any children whose orphanage claims that they are twins, before their paperwork goes to Beijing.
Sharon
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to think some orphanages would put two together that were bniondign well..I liek that idea too:) How sweet!
I woudl think it is hard for some of the babies to leave all that nosie and excitement of other babies!
Lissa
Some people with advanced degrees also go into the arts or worse into education or worst of all ("shudder") arts education like me, hence less pay as well. (heavy sigh....)
LOL Lissa-
Or you could go to the lengths of getting a teaching credential and go in to sales, like me. :evilgrin: It took me 6 years of higher education to find out that there's more pay for doing something I didn't need more than a GED.
Oh my goodness! I found that out about my own education as well! Thank heavens I do not have any student loans to pay for. I would be so frustrated!
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sak9645
Apparently, some orphanages wanted to get around the rule of one baby at a time, except for multiples, or to place two children together if they seemed to bond in the orphanage.
If two babies/children are really bonded and a family is willing to adopt them both, I wish the country would allow it to happen.
Once in a while, this does happen, especially with older children. The CCAA allows it with some older children, since they feel it will make adjustment to life in a new country easier.