It's a very exciting day for us, although it may not mean much to others. We have been given the go-ahead to submit our "Expression of Interest in Adoption" before we get married .. something that we initially thought that we were only able to do once our marriage was finalised! Soon after we found out, I popped the all important form on the fax and 'voila, we're on our way!!!
I know, I know. We're nowhere near 'there' yet but somehow this just makes it all feel a bit more real.
Add to that the excitement of this month's referrals being announced on the CCAA website - so exciting for those soon-to-be-adoptive parents that have been waiting for just on 14 months now.
For those not in the adoptive community, this 'referral' time is the event that all parents adopting from China are working towards and the referrals come about once a month, our very own stork delivery!
Once you have been approved by your country for adoption and then been reviewed, translated etc. by the country you're adopting from, the next step is to be matched and 'referred' to a child. With China, from your dossier arriving in China til referral, this takes about 14 months currently. Adoptive parents live in hope that this time will drop back down to the 'normal' 9-12 months again once things settle down. CCAA had a recent change of premises and training of new staff that may (or may not) have affected the waiting times. No-one really knows.
I can just imagine how we'll feel when it's our turn for a referral :)
For our adoption, in the next two months we will be :
Next stop after that : our next mandatory adoption seminar (all things being equal this should be in January 2007) and allocation of a social worker to complete our homestudy.
Hooray!!
I know, I know. We're nowhere near 'there' yet but somehow this just makes it all feel a bit more real.
Add to that the excitement of this month's referrals being announced on the CCAA website - so exciting for those soon-to-be-adoptive parents that have been waiting for just on 14 months now.
For those not in the adoptive community, this 'referral' time is the event that all parents adopting from China are working towards and the referrals come about once a month, our very own stork delivery!
Once you have been approved by your country for adoption and then been reviewed, translated etc. by the country you're adopting from, the next step is to be matched and 'referred' to a child. With China, from your dossier arriving in China til referral, this takes about 14 months currently. Adoptive parents live in hope that this time will drop back down to the 'normal' 9-12 months again once things settle down. CCAA had a recent change of premises and training of new staff that may (or may not) have affected the waiting times. No-one really knows.
I can just imagine how we'll feel when it's our turn for a referral :)
For our adoption, in the next two months we will be :
- Arranging police checks
- Going for medical examinations
- Preparing documentation
- Arranging character references from various people in our lives
Next stop after that : our next mandatory adoption seminar (all things being equal this should be in January 2007) and allocation of a social worker to complete our homestudy.
Hooray!!
Posts
