How the Matching Room works
First, they review the baby dossiers and make sure there are no issues with them. We are told that they then count up all of the baby dossiers that are eligible for matching that month and then look to see how far this stack will go in the parent dossiers without sending out a partial day, and they pull all of those parent files. That is the likely cut-off date. Sometimes something happens and they don’t get this far. Sometimes something happens and they get farther.
Next they match orphanages up with agencies. This orphanage has six babies, this agency has six families. These two orphanages are in the same province and have a total of 12 babies, this agency has 12 families. When they are through with this is when (I believe) some agencies start to get information about the cut-off date. Or at least it is when they used to start getting information.
And then they start matching individual babies to individual families. At some point during this part of the process most agencies used to hear from their person in the matching room to let them know how many referrals they will be receiving and from what province(s). Some agencies shared this information with their clients. Some chose not to. Recently I’ve gotten the feeling that many agencies are still getting this information but they are being given orders by the CCAA to not share this information with the families.
Just as in the review room, each matcher is assigned certain agencies and is responsible for communicating with their agencies. Some matchers tell their agency the cut-off date, some matchers tell their agency “you have X number of referrals arriving”, some matchers give their agency a list of that agency’s families that will be receiving a referral. And some matchers don’t say anything at all to their agencies.
The next question that comes up is generally how the matchers match families and babies. I’ve heard from several people who have had the opportunity to speak with someone who works in the matching room. The various conversations seem to all agree that they first look for something that stands out: a matching birthday, a baby who looks a lot like a parent, or a baby who likes music and a parent who teaches music. Several matching people have stated they match by bone structure of the baby’s face and the parent’s faces (this is why they need our passport photos, so they can compare our mug shot with the baby’s mug shot). Some have stated that they used Chinese astrology, also. Once they’ve matched the obvious matches they then start to look at things like age of child requested. The age requested is not a priority for them, they feel they are matching families and not filling orders. And I have to say that they’ve done a wonderful job matching us and our Big Girl, and now I trust they will do an excellent job matching us with her little sister.
December 7th, 2006 at 10:55 am
I wish my passport photo would have been better! It was just a horrible picture. I even took two. Maybe they won’t be too frightened by me in the matching room! :)
I was glad for this info RQ, since I am still new!
December 7th, 2006 at 10:55 am
I wish my passport photo would have been better! It was just a horrible picture. I even took two. Maybe they won’t be too frightened by me in the matching room! :)
I was glad for this info RQ, since I am still new!
December 7th, 2006 at 10:55 am
I wish my passport photo would have been better! It was just a horrible picture. I even took two. Maybe they won’t be too frightened by me in the matching room! :)
I was glad for this info RQ, since I am still new!
December 7th, 2006 at 10:57 am
thanks RQ for this insight into these often “mysterious” rooms. I’d love to be a fly on the wall, but I know this is as close as I’ll get in understanding how eventually we will be united with the baby that was ment for us.
December 7th, 2006 at 11:00 am
RQ-
Have you ever heard that they may match to your current children (facial structure) rather than parents? My 2 boys are the real cuties in the family — I would prefer she be matched to them rather than her plain-as-white-bread parents, lol!
Seriously, especially since the child will already have siblings waiting for her, do you think they may take the sibs features in to account? I have 1 bio son and 1 son adopted who is of Armenian heritage, and actually has close-to-Asian features, olivey skin and beautiful black/brown hair. Since he is without a bio-connection to us, I am actually hoping they will match to him (since his brother is a blue-eyed blondie). Is this something we can hint at in our dossier or application letter? We have finished our dossier and are just waiting for our fingerprint appt, so we are a long way from DTC (hopefully Feb 2007). I don’t even want to THINK about how long the wait will be!
Thanks for any insight-
December 7th, 2006 at 11:07 am
I’ve been told that the only photos that make it to the matching room are the two parent mug shots - everything else is looked at in the review room but does not make to the matching room.
December 7th, 2006 at 11:11 am
Guess I’d better get my mug shot photos re-done! Yikes!
Thanks for the info! (I knew you would know that!!)
December 7th, 2006 at 11:12 am
I agree RQ, it’s amazing what a great match they made with our little girl. On her baby pics she looked like me. When we received her first picture my mum ran to the attic to get a babypicture of me and we really look alike. My girl is 3,5 yrs right now and still everyone who don’t know thinks she is my own flesh and blood (which feels like it is of course).
She loves music, singing and dancing and so do I.
We received our little girl together with 10 other couples, and although all the girls were sweeties her character just fitted us perfectly. I believe our 2nd child will also be a perfect match with help from Above.
December 7th, 2006 at 11:16 am
In our case it had to be the passport photos because we didn’t have any two-parent mug shots. Our passport photos were horrible, but not to worry–DD#1 was adorable.
I also don’t know about the Chinese astrology bit–I am an ox and my daughter is a ram, which is supposedly the absolute worst combo out there. (Two very stubborn people.)
December 7th, 2006 at 11:21 am
good grief, sorry for the triple post!
December 7th, 2006 at 11:21 am
I re-used a 5 year old passport photo in my second dossier, and placed my daughter’s mug shot next to it.
PJM
10/26
People often ask if I have an Asian husband, but rarely if she is adopted. On several occasions I have been told she looks just like me (different coloring). Personality is similar to mine, so much my mom is always remarking on it (and she had three very different kids). Can’t wait to see who our new family member is going to be! !
December 7th, 2006 at 11:32 am
Ugh, my passport photo was not good. I’m not worried about what she will look like. I just hate the idea of the matchers seeing the worst photo of me instead of all the other “good” couple photos we sent. I guess mostly it was a “very bad hair day”. LOL. At least my husband looked respectable in his passport photo. Too late to change it now as we’re sitting in the matching room and maybe (hope, fingers crossed) up next. LID 9/29
December 7th, 2006 at 11:40 am
I was really hoping that would also be taking a look at our kids pictures. Our passport photos are pretty frightening!
December 7th, 2006 at 12:01 pm
klem: I didn’t say two-parent mugshots. I said two parent mugshots.
One mugshot of the wife + one mugshot of the husband = two mugshots
December 7th, 2006 at 12:06 pm
I don’t think they will be matching on hair :) My baby was pretty bald!
PJM
10/26/05
December 7th, 2006 at 12:06 pm
Thanks RQ– A second read, and I realized what you were saying.
December 7th, 2006 at 12:08 pm
Oh, I should add that for single people just the one mugshot goes.
Also, people who have visited the matching room talk about seeing the matchers comparing the baby and parent mugshots with each other.
December 7th, 2006 at 12:08 pm
just wondering if this is good news… our agency contacted us for travel info - with a 9/29 LID i’m wondering (now that i see this post!!) if they know something — hmmm… thanks for the great info RQ! i sat here and read it and could visually see them matching our files with our future DD! :-) what a bright spot to the day… as i’m working furiously at renewing paperwork…bah humbug! ha
December 7th, 2006 at 12:14 pm
As far as Chinese astrology goes, it’s not just the animal, but also the element and time of year (season) that gets taken into account. Different years have different elements, so a summer wood snake is a lot different from a spring water snake, for example.
Using just the animals doesn’t give the whole picture on compatibility, but when you add the element of that year, as well as season and time (each hour is also an animal), you get the whole package - which is how some “uncompatible” matches (ie, my dh is a snake and I’m a tiger - supposedly not good together matches are good ones. My dh and my match is “good” because our elements and times of year are very compatible - and after 17 yrs together, I’d say we certainly are. :)
December 7th, 2006 at 12:19 pm
Sherry: What do you mean by the element? I will have to check this out because I was begining to get worried about would happen when our DD becomes a teenager. Maybe there is hope for us yet. :)
December 7th, 2006 at 12:31 pm
I’m not sure what criteria the CCAA match person used to match us with our precious Katie, but they sure did a great job!
Katie could not “fit” into our family any better than if she had been born to us. She is the exact child I would have “matched” with us had I been given the opportunity!
check out our cutie at http://katiesantics.blogspot.com
December 7th, 2006 at 12:37 pm
The five elements are metal, water, wood, fire, earth. A book I found most useful on this subject (Chinese astrology) is The Handbook of Chinese Horoscopes by Theodora Lau. Each section (animal) is broken down by element (ie, water rat, earth rat, fire rat, etc) and the differences are amazing! But it definately explained how it is that 2 “uncompatible” signs can actually be compatible. Makes more sense to me, anyway! :)
December 7th, 2006 at 12:38 pm
For our first daughter, her birthday is 10/29 and my hubby’s is 11/07. Maybe they matched based on the similar birthdays, but she also has the same full cheeks as my husband.
For those of you who have horrible passport photos, don’t worry. I don’t know how they do it, but they always seem to match parents with babies that are perfect for them. My passport photo is awful, and yet they matched me with the most beautiful daughter (ok, I’m a little biased).
Erica
LID 09/29/05
December 7th, 2006 at 12:43 pm
Sherry: Thanks–I will take a look at that book.
December 7th, 2006 at 12:57 pm
seeing red -
I”m with ya here -I’ve told friends they try to match our babies features with ours…in the mug shot my nose looks like:—-> and you can actually see up my nose~my hair is bannana yellow (from the photo, not normally) (and just to clarify the hair on my head not in my nose).
Well, I guess when someone says, we didn’t expect your baby’s hair to be bannana yellow, I can say….let me show you the picture they used to match us!
OK! I will say I don’t care what she looks like and that’s not the point but it sure would have been nice if they’re making all the efforts to match features that our agency tells us that so we can do our part and make sure the picture looks something like us…ya know???
twOH
December 7th, 2006 at 1:07 pm
Question,
Do they look at the actual photocopy of the passport or do they look at the passport size pictures of husband and wife that we had to include on a seperate piece of paper. Because, I look like a terrorist in my actual passport picture and it is so dark too. I do not look anything like myself. For the actual passport pictures that we included(not photocopies) I went and had other pictures taken and I look more like me.Hope they usethose. Of course my husband(mr. photogenic) looks great in both.
December 7th, 2006 at 1:23 pm
RQ,
Our agency gives out a timeline of what is happening to your dossier while you wait and approximately how long each step takes. They always say that the actual matching of parent to baby happens several weeks before the referrals are sent out. Everything I’ve read elsewhere says that matching happens right up to the point of sending out the referrals — with time added for signing off. I’ve always been a little curious about this difference. What is your take on this?
Thanks,
clem
December 7th, 2006 at 1:31 pm
HI RQ-
I don’t know how to write you other than in the comments section! We are waiting for a waiting child. Our LOI went 43 days ago. Any rumors about special needs TA’s…how long they are taking, are there any coming soon, ect? Last batch had people that waited 6 1/2 months but our agency was told they would be speeding up again. any news??????? Please I need a rumor or two:)
Thanks,
Ruby’s Mom
December 7th, 2006 at 1:48 pm
This website has some pics and info about the matching room
http://www.wesselsworld.nl/ccaa.htm
We’re in there now!!! Woohoo!
Rachel, Chuck, and Sophie
LID 9/12/05
December 7th, 2006 at 1:53 pm
Just a note that I’m pretty sure those pictures are of the matching room at their old place and is not of the new building.
It’s still a very good job of showing and explaining how things work, though.
December 7th, 2006 at 2:02 pm
as others have said, I would not worry about what your passport photo looks like… (mine is an exceptionally ‘bad hair day’!).. and somehow, despite that photo which I would have would not have submitted had I known that was used for the match!…they were able to match me with a daughter who is, not only beautiful, but is a phenomenal match for my husband and I… Her personality somehow is the better parts of both me and my husband.
Ever since we brought her home we have marveled at how perfect she is for us - and how special the matching process really is. It is really unbelievable…. For all the frustration so many of us have with the CCAA, the matching process works so well - and really defies explanation.
December 7th, 2006 at 2:21 pm
I made such great effort to choose “good pictures” for our dossier that went to China. I thought these were the pictures they matched from. Not true????
December 7th, 2006 at 2:33 pm
Can anyone please explain what a mug shot is? Is it the passport photos which shall be included? I have heard they are the ones used for matching.
Sorry, English is not my first language.
lid 14 September 05 - in the matching room right now, maybe?
December 7th, 2006 at 2:42 pm
Sorry about that Bea - a mugshot is typically an unflattering shot taken of just your face. Like a driver’s license photo, a passport photo, or even a photo taken when one is arrested.
In this case I’m using it to refer to the passport photos that must be included in our dossier.
Perhaps other people may manage to get flattering shots, but it sounds as if most of us are not fond of these particular pictures of our selves.
December 7th, 2006 at 3:02 pm
I look SO high in my passport photos. Ugh. I wish I knew then what I know now….
ODC
December 7th, 2006 at 3:11 pm
Thanks Rumor Queen! Learning new words every day!
When we got our Big Girl it was obvious that the matching was made by similarities in the photos (in our group of three families). One dad got a little girl who looked, and still does, laughably alike him. And our daughter had exactly the same Mona Lisa-expression on one of the referral pictures as my husband had on his mug shot.
I don’t know about the third family.
When we sent our second application we really tried to look okey on the passport photos because of this. I wouldn’t call them flattering, though!
December 7th, 2006 at 3:32 pm
I have seen those matching room pics before. How interesting even if this is their old office. It sure seems like they definately look for the facial features according to what this woman was told. I can’t believe we may be sitting on someone’s desk right now and they are picking a child to refer to us-it makes it seem so random when you think about it this way. I guess though, that it is random, although when I think about our daughter I don’t think about it this way. Here’s to all of September and some of October!
Meg
LID 9/29
jmlance-I emailed you if you have a chance to respond!
December 7th, 2006 at 3:44 pm
Our daughter looks a little like my husband, especially in her referral pictures! Now that she is a little older the resemblence is less, but it is amazing the job the CCAA does. She is perfect for us!
December 7th, 2006 at 3:52 pm
A tip for passport/mug shots:
Find someplace that does them digitally. For our dossier Super Walmart did ours and we got to view them on screen before they printed them. The photography person was able to keep retaking them, until we were happy.
The photos in our actual pasports were taken at a traditional photo place with traditional film. One shot each. I won’t say where but they look TERRIBLE!!!!
December 7th, 2006 at 4:01 pm
Couchcat and RQ
Yes that is the old matching room - either that or the new one has an uncanny resemblence to the old one I visited last year. But it does give a good run down of the process.
Passport photos are never flattering (and when they are in your passport they do actually match how you look after a long haul flight).
But I have to agree that they did the trick in the matching room with our first daughter. Now whether it was just the staff at the SWI trying to be nice but when we went back to visit last year (2 years after we adopted our daughter), nearly everyone commented on how our daughter looked like me. Not that the matching room could know this put her hairstyle on referral was the same as when I was a toddler.
A friend in our batch - her daughter had an uncanny resemblence to the mother as a child. Something else the matching room could not have known.
BTW neither of us are Chinese or of Chinese heritage.
Another friend - I don’t think their first daughter looks like them, and neither does the second but there is a definite strong similarity between the girls. Although I only thought they matched on the parents’ photos on the computer screen, I wonder if sometime they looked at the adopted children in the family as well (the whole file - including the family photos - does go through to the matching room).
Magnolia’s Friend
http://journey-with-magnolia.blogspot.com/
December 7th, 2006 at 4:16 pm
Good evening!
(Right now the time in Stockholm is 10.15 PM)
Can anyone here explain (more exactly) what “the two parent mug shots” means, please?!
I don´t really understand the meaning of it.
For your information: I´m from Sweden and my english is not that excellent like yours…
Thank you in advance!
(I´ve been reading this interesting site for a couple of months, but this is the first time I post a comment)
Solong from Scandinavia!
December 7th, 2006 at 4:25 pm
Swedish Lady,
A two parent mug shot is two small photos (passport size) of each parent that just shows their head.
December 7th, 2006 at 4:29 pm
Our passport is terrible too. With the wait getting so long, I worry that they will lose or misplace our passport(dossier) and not see our passports. I had a terrible time getting our passport pictures. They kept cutting them to small, I had red eyes with orange hair etc.( I have brown eyes with brown hair. ) If I would have known they would match us up to our passport pictures my dossier would have never made it there. I would still be posing for a better picture.(mug shot)
December 7th, 2006 at 4:54 pm
I wouldn’t worry about having unattractive passport photos/mug shots! I mean, what are you afraid is going to happen…you’ll be matched with the most unattractive baby? LOL, we all know every single one of these children is absolutely gorgeous even if you have to sometimes look past the fact that the referral pics are less than flattering due to the child being scared or sick.
Don’t sweat the ugly mug shots! :)
RQ, thanks so much for the excellent description of the matching process. This is one of the most helpful things I’ve read about the adoption process, ever.
For the record I don’t think our child was matched at all on our mug shots–both of us (and our other kids too) have very long oval faces with strong features and our daughter has a decidedly round face and very, very lovely delicate features. Also there weren’t any obvious “links” in our description and hers. I wonder if astrology played a role. Or maybe in our case it was age preference…we were the only ones in our group who didn’t request AYAP (we asked for 12-36 months) and we were referred the oldest baby in the group, 10 months.
I guess we will never know exactly how we were matched but I do know that I can’t imagine anyone else being my daughter and I believe there must be some magic involved somewhere!
Very interesting stuff–thanks again RQ!
December 7th, 2006 at 5:25 pm
I know they say they match to the parents however, after seeing a family on the story of you that was recently in China, it makes me beleive that maybe they do use pics of your family as well. Go to the story of you and click on “were home” and then click on “Angelina”. The referral pic of the baby girl looks exactly like her new big brother. I have never seen a likeness like that before. Check it out!
December 7th, 2006 at 5:38 pm
My question is how many dossiers are in the matching room? That’s what I’m really interested in finding out. Any ideas? My agency says “no one has any idea” what this number is, and also told me that the Chinese gov’t will only allow no more than 10,000 babies to leave China for IA a year.
December 7th, 2006 at 6:12 pm
If there are 10,000 referrals per year, and if someone with a LID of today has a 36 month wait then there are probably about 30,000 dossiers in there right now.
Someone who got a referral last week had about a 15 month wait, so at 10,000 referrals per year, there were probably 12,500 dossiers in the system on that person’s LID.
I have heard there are 900 referrals a month, or 10,800 per year. So that would mean 32,400 or 13,300 dossiers respectivly.
December 7th, 2006 at 6:32 pm
Well, I was actually impressed with my mugshot! We had it done at Walgreens and it looks better than my DL pic.
As for the astrology- what happens when the parents are the same?? We are both rabbits.. born in the same year, but I am 4 months older. I was born in April and the boy in Sept.
RQ- As usual, you have posted something very informative! I was very interested in how the whole matching thing worked! Thanks!
Claire
LID 10/10/05
December 7th, 2006 at 7:27 pm
I was just telling my husband, “Do you think the matching room employee’s have any idea of the stir they cause when referals come out? The mass screaming and excitement? Or is it just ‘their job’?” I think it would be a cool job to have if you realized the effect you were having on the world and helping people create their families.
Pink Punch
LID 11/5/05
December 7th, 2006 at 8:51 pm
Thank you for the info RQ. Not the picture I would have chosen, but great to better understand the process.
December 7th, 2006 at 9:42 pm
OMG-You guys are KILLING me with the passport picture comments. I am dying here.
twOH- Banana hair??LMAO The closest I ever got to that was Oompah Loompah Orange in 7th grade which my mother argues until this day was “Honey Blond” b/c “that’s what the box said!”
Re: the passport pic…I learned my lesson the hard way. My old passport expired last June. Yup! You do the math. 2006 minus 10 years = REALLY BIG 1996 hair..you know, the kind from Flashdance??
Well, I take my students to Europe each spring and for the last 10 years, I had to content with hoots of laughter whenever they saw my Big Hair. Funny thing is…at the time, I thought it was a REALLY good picture…and I guess it was…at the time. (Did I mention that I was wearing Tangerine lip gloss? My God, I looked like a Mascot for a Produce Parade!)
Anyhoo..I decided I was going for the sleek, new, non-Big Hair “me” look this time around. I actually like it. But then again, let’s see how i feel about it ten years from now.
Speaking of matches and referrals, I had heard from so many of you how CCAA always seems to make the perfect match. As some of you know, I received my referral last Fridayfor Isabel Grace and it’s really scary how much she looks like my baby pictures. I mean…Rod Serling..Night Gallery…scary.
Of course, you only need to take a look at her hair and you KNOW she is my perfect match! I laugh everytime I see it (not unlike the hoots of my past students). You can check out Joan Jett (I mean.. my punk rocker baby) at my website.
Good to be back after a few crazy days.
Absolutely LOVE this community!
Laureen
(My baby is one tomorrow!!! )
PS A special shout out to Jan in Texas…! :-)
December 7th, 2006 at 10:52 pm
>As for the astrology- what happens when the parents are the same?? >We are both rabbits.. born in the same year, but I am 4 months older. >I was born in April and the boy in Sept.
You differ because while both the same element (year) and animal, you are a spring rabbit, and he a fall rabbit. It’s really interesting reading - I highly recommend the book! :)
December 7th, 2006 at 11:11 pm
Mom2 Isabel. I’ve always loved your posts!!! I’m departing tomorrow for Beijing. Gotcha the 12th. I’m blessed, overwhelmed, ecstatic, etc.. YOU get it! my DH saw the referal pic and declared, “that’s my daughter” so she’s ours on the spot :-)
Safe travels to all my RQ friends!!
December 7th, 2006 at 11:17 pm
Happy Hour-
I am so excited for you!!!! PLEASE tell me you have a website so that I can follow along. I want to see a picture of your little munchkin.
:-)
Laureen
(Okay, I just realized that I could check and see if it is listed in the forum.)
Godspeed!
December 7th, 2006 at 11:41 pm
Mom2Isabel - I just looked at your little one - she is so absolutely darling! I just want to reach through the computer screen and give her a big kiss. Can’t wait to get our referral! Congratulations!
I actually sent baby pictures of my DH and I along with our dossier - thought they might like to have them for matching. I guess that won’t be happening. Our passport photos are really bad too! Oh, well!
Ziggy
June 6
December 7th, 2006 at 11:46 pm
Ziggy-
What a great idea, though!
Night to all from the east Coast!
Laureen
December 8th, 2006 at 7:57 am
Hi All! I had a phone call the other day (sorry I’ve been working) from our case worker, just making sure that all of our paperwork was ok and nothing was expired and that our homestudy was updated! With a LID of 9/26/06 I’m hoping to be in the next batch! We also talked about travel and all that good stuff! Maybe they know something!!
Jennifer
December 8th, 2006 at 9:41 am
Our daughter from China looks a lot like our bio daughter. People always comment on that so I always wondered if they used the pictures of the family to match. Maybe not.
Also I was going to comment on the info about the matching room people contacting the agency. With our agency it is BLAS that has sometimes given them early info because they are the ones that translate for us. A few days before we got our referral last time we knew the province and age range of the children but not which baby went to which family and the agency said they got that information from BLAS (Bridge of Love Adoption Services). Now that BLAS isn’t in the same building, we may not get that info.
Debbie
LID 7-26-06
September 24th, 2007 at 9:28 pm
Hi RQ the only good thing about your submit commet button above your submit security space is that it allows me to cool off before I submit and have to re-write my comments in a calmer tone:) I just get on a tear and go submit and then have to write it all over. any way My re-take it could be the CCAA or it could be anybody above the Minister of Civil Affairs but it’s done and the spin on it is amazing , if this was the USA we culd find somebody who was responsible and cry foul but it’s China and they have a great wall around them so good luck trying to “shake the boat” it might jsut wind up being my boat or yours or somebody who dosent even sign on this site. It’s not fair and it sort of feels like an oil comapny seasonal price manipulation but we still fill our tanks and we still want our little someone from China no matter what we have to do to feel that little hand in ours. m