Looking at waiting children profiles can be heartbreaking, and I know many people avoid them because it’s too hard to see their little faces and read their stories. But many families are formed from agencies' waiting children lists and adopting a waiting child can be an amazing and rewarding way to build your family.

Waiting children are children who need homes, are paper ready to be adopted and often have mild to severe physical disabilities, emotional disorders, are of an older age or are part of a sibling set. In other words, these are the children who are among the most difficult to place. Many agencies offer reduced fees or special grant monies to assist in the adoptions of waiting children.

If you are interested in adopting a waiting child, you can find more information here:

Dillon International: to find out about Dillon’s waiting children, you need to be pre-screened and then they will provide you with a password for viewing children’s profiles online.

Vietnamese Orphans Relief Fund (VORF): VORF has a waiting children program – contact them for more details.

Holt International: Holt maintains a photo listing on their website that anyone may access.

Children’s Hope International: To view CHI’s waiting children, you must have an approved application with them or have adopted through them before.

Commonwealth Adoptions International: To view Commonwealth’s waiting children you must submit an application along with a home study that was done in the past five years.

International Assistance and Adoption Project (IAAP): On IAAP’s main website, it directs families interested in their waiting children program to go to this website and register for more information.

It may also be beneficial to contact licensed agencies who do not have a waiting children photo listing online to see if they run a waiting child program, and request further information.



Related Links:
Adopting Children With Developmental Disabilities
Definition of Special Needs

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