The CCCWA released an announcement yesterday making official changes which have been expected for some time. The statement was posted on the SuperKids blog but it is short so I will reproduce it below.

Relevant government departments and adoption agencies in receiving countries,
Following the enactment of the Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Administration of Activities of Overseas Non-Governmental Organizations within the Territory of China (hereinafter referred to as Administration Law) since January 1, we would like to notify as follows on relevant issues about the programs carried out by adoption agencies such as the One-to-One Assistance Program, Journey of Hope Program, and Summer/Winter Hosting Program based on the regulations of the Administrative law and conclusions of competent authorities:

• All activities concerning the One-to-One program, Journey of Hope Program, and Summer/Winter Hosting Program will be terminated. For children who have been assessed by adoption agencies through the One-to-One program before the enactment of the Administrative Law and whose reports have not been submitted to CCCWA, if their reports are submitted through the provincial department of civil affairs to CCCWA before December 31, 2017 (subjected to the approval date of the provincial department), CCCWA will post these files to the specific list of the original adoption agency. Agencies are requested to look for children within required deadline, otherwise the files will be withdrawn by CCCWA when the deadline is closing.
• Foreign adoption agencies should abide by the business scope specified in the registration when working in China. No activities with inter-country adoption as the purpose are allowed when agencies work in welfare and charity related activities.
• Adoption agencies should look for adoptive families according to the requirements outlines in the Review Points for Decision on the Eligibility of Foreigners Adopting from China and avoid hasty placements without discretion within the deadline.

What this means is that all partnerships (One-to-One program) will be terminated as of January 1, 2018. If files currently in process through a partnership program are submitted to the CCCWA by December 31st, the partner agency will still receive the file. That means that if you are currently pre-matched to a file, you will be able to complete the adoption. Agencies will probably (or should) begin tapering off from pre-matching as it will become increasingly unlikely that the pre-files they receive will be completed in time.

While this announcement did not specify how files will be disseminated without the partnership program, presumably they will all be added to the shared list. You can read more about what this means and what it might look like in this post.

Hosting programs will also cease. Many hosting programs were already canceled this year, so this is making changes already in place official.

The second point reads to me as if the NGO law is causing a separation between adoption agencies and charitable activities which they engage in. If an agency is not listed as an NGO, trips to visit orphanages will no longer occur. Does this mean that aid programs which took place under the partnership system will also stop? Probably, but we will see how it plays out.

The final point seems to be indicating that waivers will continue to not be granted. The CCCWA seems to feel that agencies should be more selective in the matches they make and not jump at any family for a file.

I will continue to update on the blog as information comes available.