LOI

LOI stands for Letter of Intent.  When you have been matched with a child and you want to make him/her a part of your family, you must submitt a Letter of Intent to the CCAA (Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs) and ask for their permission to proceed.  The CCAA has a set of requirements you must meet in order to adopt and this allows them to make sure you meet them all.  If you don't you must ask for a waiver of whatever it is you don't meet.  Sometimes they grant them, sometimes they don't.  If they agree to it, they issue what is called a Pre-Approval.  This allows you to continue and to formally go about adopting the child.  On Friday, January 7th, we collected the last piece of documentation (there are 9 pieces for our agency).  Our agency went ahead and sent in our LOI to the CCAA.  We could hear back as early as Monday, doubtful, or as late as the 21st.  It ususally takes a week to get PA.