Adoption Update- Latest Announcement

I know that for the last month or so, we've had a hard time keeping up with blogging, due to packing our rental home, closing on our current home, moving a few miles down the road, and now slowly unpacking and trying to get organized all while several other crazy things were going on. Though we could write about a number of things this week (if we had slightly more time) I thought it might be good to give you the important update for this week about our adoption process. (since it has been a while since we've had a fun update to share)

For those of you who have been keeping up with our China adoption, we'd like to share with you that this week marks another great milestone in the process. 

DRUMROLL PLEASE.........................................................

We found out Monday that our dossier has officially gone through the review room at the China Center for Adoption Affairs (CCCWA) and has been approved. (this is where you can do the happy dance along with us if you'd like) 

I know many of you are probably scratching your head right now slightly confused, since you can't remember what a dossier is and you may slightly recall that ours went to the CCCWA on April 2. As a refresher, the dossier is the compilation of all of our adoption paperwork that China requires. Ours was mailed to the CCCWA on April 2nd, arrived on April 6th, and was officially LID on April 16, 2012. (LID means "Log in Date" which means it was basically just checked over to make sure it contained what was required and then "stamped in" and given a date that this was completed....it was not officially reviewed for approval at that time)

It generally takes months for dossiers to go through the review process and be screened in China if a family does not yet have a child match when their paperwork goes in. (even for families who do have a child match, it still can take a couple of months) This process involves various individuals reviewing every item we have sent in, reading all of our "life story" so to speak, and deciding whether or not based on all of their regulations, our paperwork is approved. There are some situations where a family may get matched with a child prior to their dossier being mailed to China; however, it is not quite as common and solely depends upon what a family is requesting- such as gender, age range of the child, whether or not they are requesting a child with certain medical needs, etc. (see our blog's FAQ section for more on this)

There are many factors that determine when a family will be matched with a "referral". (a.k.a. child file- which includes the history that is known of the child, their development information, several photos, and limited medical records/history). 

For our process, we knew that we wouldn't get matched for while and prayerfully hoped that our dossier would get reviewed first by the CCCWA before we received a child match from our agency.  You're thinking "why would you not want to be matched quickly?"  The reason this was something that we really were hoping and praying for is that if our dossier had not been reviewed prior to receiving a child match from the agency, we would have to wait longer for approvals from China (yet another step when China decides if they will approve the actual child the agency matches us with after we have requested to pursue that child's adoption). This, in turn, means waiting quite a while until traveling to pick up our child. To put it in terms everyone can understand, it would mean having those cute little photos on the refrigerator or in your purse for a very long time and not being able to do anything about getting on a plane to China any faster to meet "Little Miss".  

China, unlike some international adoption countries, do not have families travel to meet their child first and then come back to pick them up. This is a common practice in many international adoptions, but also difficult because parents have met their child and then have to say goodbye and go back home only to wait for several more months for more approvals in order to be approved to come back to the country to pick their child up. Talk about heart wrenching!  

For China's process, everything is done by a family reviewing the file of a child (agency emails the child's file to the family) which includes photos and information a family will look at, and then based on that info given or any additional information obtained, a family then makes their adoption decision. It is basically site unseen and a leap of faith, as the first time we will actually meet our child is the day that they bring her to us once we are in China. Talk about a crazy thought sometimes!

Even though I work in the field of international adoption and know this process, it is still mind boggling sometimes to know that we'll make this decision without having seen, held, or met "Little Miss" and will just hop on a plane for a 24 hour trip to China and within a few days are "insta-parents". (let me take a deep breath for a moment..whew)

Had we not had our dossier reviewed before our child match, it would have taken up to around 6 months or more until we could have traveled. Now that our dossier has been reviewed, once we get matched with a child, it will take around a month usually or less to receive our final official approval from China (Yes, there will be yet another round of "are we actually approved or not") and then another 10-14 weeks approximately until we will most likely travel. ( so around 4 months approximately) If you are doing the math, understand that these are tentative timelines and are certainly subject to change. I've seen families travel somewhat sooner, and some that have taken somewhat longer to get to the point of travel. There are so many factors related to the entire process, that you can't compare one family's process with another as they can be slightly different.  That is a very important thing to remember. The China adoption process has changed so much over recent years that I'd have to blog for a week about it all to explain it to those of you who have adopted previously from China. This is why timelines for families just cannot be compared with one another. 

So why was all of this important to us and why is this announcement exciting? Well, this means that once we are matched, our child will only age a few more months older than the age they were at the time of matching, before we will travel to pick her up which means hopefully bringing home a slightly younger child as well as knowing the child will hopefully not have to be in an orphanage or foster home longer than necessary. (this is helpful for bonding/attachment, and other purposes in the early years of life) 

For international adoptions, there are so many unknowns when it comes to how a child will react once they are adopted, as they transition to a new country, new foods, new smells and sounds, new schedules, and hearing- in our case- English consistently for the first time in their lives. You can imagine what it would be like to go from your previous surroundings and then have all of that taken from you, placed in the arms of strangers, only to be taken to the other side of the world in just a short period of time. (think of the first time you were immersed in a foreign country where you knew no one and couldn't speak the language, didn't recognize the food, and couldn't sleep at night because the sounds and lighting in the room were different-- that's a slight comparison to what an internationally adopted child experiences) You can understand why this transition can be much easier at a younger age than when a child is slightly older. No matter what age a child may be when they are brought home, most all do have some challenges acclimating to their new environment and this is to be expected having transitioned from another culture as well as from an orphanage or foster family. 

We know that many of you have continued to pray alongside us during this process and we thank you for your prayers and support. Please keep them coming as we know there are still many more steps along the way in our journey to "Little Miss".