What's The Difference?

http://nohandscurrentinfo.blogspot.com/2009/11/adopting-sn-step-one.html

http://nohandscurrentinfo.blogspot.com/2010/01/adopting-sn-step-two-paperchase.html


The two links above are great because they give a pretty thorough and succinct run down of the steps to adopting a child from China. Now you may be wondering what the difference between NSN and SN is. Heck you may even be wondering what NSN and SN stands for . NSN stands for Non-Special Needs- a “healthy” child and SN means Special Needs, a child with a known medical condition, sometimes referred to as Waiting Child (WC).
Evelyn’s adoption was NSN. We enetered our first adoption a little timid and feeling like it was an adventure enough without complicating things with medical issues. I do not regret this decision at all. We got Ev. We were meant to have her. I truly feel that if SHE were in the SN Program I would have been led there to find her. Liam’s adoption is SN, he has a cleft lip and palate, though his lip has been repaired (Thank You once again Love Without Boundaries). This time, I was led to the SN Needs Program.
The two programs are essentially the same. You have to complete all of the documentation mentioned in the links above, for both types of adoption. The difference comes in surrounding the matching. With NSN adoption, you get your paperwork done and you send it to China. Once in China your Dossier gets “logged in” and put in line. The current wait is up to a horrible, awful 3-4 years, but when we were waiting for Ev it was 8 months. Eventually your Dossier moves through the rooms at the China Center For Adoption Affairs and lands in The Matching Room. Your match to your child takes place in China then.
With SN adoption the “matching” takes place with your agency. China sends files of waiting children out to agencies. The agencies then take time to sift through what families they have on file and what type of SN needs those families have stated that they are able and willing to handle. Since the matching takes place at the agency level, you do not have to have your Dossier complete and in China. As long as your agency has your Medical Conditions Checklist and Family Info along with signed Service Agreements, you are in line. You can be matched and not have your dossier in China.
As a matter of fact even in the SN program, if your dossier arrives in China with no particular child in mind, your dossier gets in line along with everyone else’s - it’s only with the Pre-Approval of a Waiting Child match does your dossier get pulled and sent into the SN line.
So our Dossier was not done when we got Liam. We still had to wrangle with Immigration and get 3 final documents sealed. NOW our dossier is on it’s way, with little Liam’s name all over it. That’s why I can have a son when China hasn’t seen my paperwork. They have seen enough to issue that Pre-approval, they know that we are sending along the rest. They know we want him, they said okay.
That’s the difference. Clear as mud now?