Saturday, February 11, 2023
Saturday, August 15, 2015
Monday, April 27, 2009
Road to Hana is Moving!
I've learned so much and gotten great support and inspiration through others' adoption blogs and that was key to my decision to keep this blog public - to pay it forward. As we inch closer to referral we are starting to think more seriously about preparing for our child's arrival. Part of that is ensuring privacy when the need arises. Blogger gives me the option of password protecting the entire blog, but I like the Wordpress option of password protecting individual posts better. That gives me more precise control over what is public and what is meant for family and close friends only.
I've moved all the posts and links from here over to The Road to Hana, Wordpress edition. Please update your links and Bloglines accordingly and I'll see you on the other side!
The Road to Hana
I've moved all the posts and links from here over to The Road to Hana, Wordpress edition. Please update your links and Bloglines accordingly and I'll see you on the other side!
The Road to Hana
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Politics vs. Child Welfare
Someone posted a link to this article on one of the China adoption message boards I read - it's an opinion piece, and in line with my beliefs about international adoption and how politics are ultimately sentencing many children around the world to institutional living, a detriment to their development, education and eventual success in life, often putting them at risk of falling into homelessness, crime and prostitution as they age out.
While I believe that in-country adoptions should supersede international adoptions, in many countries, there are far more children than families willing to adopt them. In these cases, it is better for the children's welfare to get them into families abroad rather than raise them in an orphanage. Unfortunately, politics too often holds the children hostage for the sake of nationalism.
Click here to read the opinion piece.
While I believe that in-country adoptions should supersede international adoptions, in many countries, there are far more children than families willing to adopt them. In these cases, it is better for the children's welfare to get them into families abroad rather than raise them in an orphanage. Unfortunately, politics too often holds the children hostage for the sake of nationalism.
Click here to read the opinion piece.
Monday, April 20, 2009
36 Months LID...3 years!
Our dossier has been officially logged in with the CCAA for 36 months - that's 3 years of official waiting in the slow line that is China adoption. The wait is far from over, but we're at the point where it's unlikely - we hope - that our wait will continue to consistently stretch further and further with no end in sight as it has since we started this. Our current estimate for referral using forecasting is January 2010. Our agency is hoping we'll see referral this fall - they are hoping to see a slight speed up in referral rates soon. We'll just continue waiting and see.
It's been a bit surreal, this journey. When we logged in we were told to expect referral in 8-10 months, then that estimate quickly grew to one year and we've been expecting referral "in about a year" for 3 years now...Well that estimate should now start to ever so slowly go down. "Should" being the key word here.
Monday, April 13, 2009
April Stork Alert
April referrals came last week, covering Log in Dates (LIDs) March 7 and March 8, 2006. Congratulations to all families who now wait to travel to their new children!
There are 43 days left to refer until our LID of 4/20/06 is reached. The current 12-month rate of referral is 4.83 days per referral batch, which come about once per month. If this rate remains unchanged we can expect our referral in January 2010. This is significant because it reflects our wait from current time to expected referral actually shrinking slightly after 3 years of expansion.
As for our concurrent adoption attempt, we have put a limit on our patience and if nothing happens in the next few weeks, we'll be ending it. I'll let you all know what happens - and what was going on. Right now I'm thinking perhaps this fell into our laps last year to be a distraction from the long China wait.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
35 Months LID
We've now been logged in for referral from China for 35 months. There are still hopes coming from agencies that things will pick up later this year and time will tell. We are still in limbo with our concurrent adoption and are dreading the decision we will have to make soon.
One milestone that was just reached yesterday - I belong to a small online China adoption group and had opportunity to meet several of them in person - of the ones that I have met in person I am officially the last to receive referral. It has been fantastic watching these wonderful people meet their children and it has truly helped me cope with this wait.
One milestone that was just reached yesterday - I belong to a small online China adoption group and had opportunity to meet several of them in person - of the ones that I have met in person I am officially the last to receive referral. It has been fantastic watching these wonderful people meet their children and it has truly helped me cope with this wait.
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
March Stork Alert
March referrals are here and they cover LIDs March 3 through March 6, 2006. That leaves 45 days until our LID of 4/20/06. The rate of referrals over the past year is about 5 LIDs per month (the only stat we have to work with). If this rate remains unchanged then we can expect referral in January 2010. Since we've been logged in, this rate has been on a steady decline.
Congratulations to all of the families seeing their child's face for the first time!
Friday, February 27, 2009
Homestudy Update #3
We just had a visit with our homestudy social worker for our third update - our state requires annual updates plus our I-171H immigration approval is due to expire soon and we need to send an update with our renewal. It was a good meeting and it was nice to be able to gently vent about the state of our concurrent adoption attempt and the fact that it's looking more and more like we will be forced into a very difficult decision soon. When we started the concurrent, the timing was such that we would either have a child(ren) at least one year before our China referral as required, or we would know for sure that it would not happen and we would proceed as normal with the China process.
Now because of extreme stalling in the concurrent country and because it looks like we will see a China referral sometime between this fall and next spring, it's looking more and more like we are going to be forced into a very difficult decision.
We must have at least one year between placements. If it comes down to us having to choose, do we go with the process that is a sure thing, just very slow (China) or do we go with the process for which we already have referral (photos and all) but for which it's apparent the home country is trying to discourage adoptions to the US and it may never really happen?
I'm feeling very resentful that we're being backed into this corner and I really hope we get news from the concurrent country in the next week or two - one way or another.
Now because of extreme stalling in the concurrent country and because it looks like we will see a China referral sometime between this fall and next spring, it's looking more and more like we are going to be forced into a very difficult decision.
We must have at least one year between placements. If it comes down to us having to choose, do we go with the process that is a sure thing, just very slow (China) or do we go with the process for which we already have referral (photos and all) but for which it's apparent the home country is trying to discourage adoptions to the US and it may never really happen?
I'm feeling very resentful that we're being backed into this corner and I really hope we get news from the concurrent country in the next week or two - one way or another.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
34 Months LID
We've now been logged in for referral from China for 34 months...that 3 year mark is just around the corner. I spoke with our agency recently and while they believe the next batch of referrals will be small due to the Chinese New Year holiday, they are hopeful that we will see more children referred in the months to follow. I asked them if they have information to support this or if it's just hope...it's just hope. The orphanage donation has been raised for the first time in 15 years and they hope that this will encourage more children to be referred to the international adoption process - while China reports increases in domestic adoption, the general belief is that it has still not increased enough to eliminate the need for international placement.
As for our attempted concurrent adoption, things are not looking great right now.
As for our attempted concurrent adoption, things are not looking great right now.
Monday, January 19, 2009
33 Months LID and Stork Alert Update
We're still here!
Tomorrow we'll have been logged in for referral from China for 33 months. Based on the average number of LID days referred per month over the most recent 12 months, we estimate our referral to be October of this year. That said, there are rumors out there that March will take a full year to refer, and if that comes to fruition we won't get referral until 2010. To date, China has referred up to February 28, 2006.
Meanwhile we continue to work on our concurrent adoption and things have stalled a bit there as well. I thought we would have more definitive news by now, but we don't. I'll be sure to keep you all posted.
Tomorrow we'll have been logged in for referral from China for 33 months. Based on the average number of LID days referred per month over the most recent 12 months, we estimate our referral to be October of this year. That said, there are rumors out there that March will take a full year to refer, and if that comes to fruition we won't get referral until 2010. To date, China has referred up to February 28, 2006.
Meanwhile we continue to work on our concurrent adoption and things have stalled a bit there as well. I thought we would have more definitive news by now, but we don't. I'll be sure to keep you all posted.
Monday, October 20, 2008
30 Months LID and Stork Alert Update
We're pretty busy with our concurrent adoption and should have news whether or not it will be a success within a month. Stay tuned for that.
Meanwhile, I missed 2 Stork Alerts and the CCAA has now assigned referrals for families logged in up to February 15, 2006. A few families logged in on the 16th received referrals about a week later, but not all of the 16th has been completed. This means there are 64 LID days to receive referrals ahead of us and at the current 12-month rate of 6.42 LID days referred per month we estimate receiving referral from China in August 2009.
As of today, our dossier has been officially logged in for 30 months. So far there is no sign of the much hoped for post-Olympics speed up and the news coming out of China says domestic adoptions are up (a good thing).
Meanwhile, I missed 2 Stork Alerts and the CCAA has now assigned referrals for families logged in up to February 15, 2006. A few families logged in on the 16th received referrals about a week later, but not all of the 16th has been completed. This means there are 64 LID days to receive referrals ahead of us and at the current 12-month rate of 6.42 LID days referred per month we estimate receiving referral from China in August 2009.
As of today, our dossier has been officially logged in for 30 months. So far there is no sign of the much hoped for post-Olympics speed up and the news coming out of China says domestic adoptions are up (a good thing).
Sunday, September 28, 2008
29 Months LID
Almost forgot!
Our dossier has been officially logged in for 29 months. Referrals continue to drag and our current guesstimate of referral is late 2009 based on number of days referred per month (the only number we have to work with, unfortunately).
The concurrent adoption is going well so far - if you can ignore the paperwork delays seemingly inherent in international adoption. Still in line for China, though, because with our concurrent country nothing's final until it's final.
Our dossier has been officially logged in for 29 months. Referrals continue to drag and our current guesstimate of referral is late 2009 based on number of days referred per month (the only number we have to work with, unfortunately).
The concurrent adoption is going well so far - if you can ignore the paperwork delays seemingly inherent in international adoption. Still in line for China, though, because with our concurrent country nothing's final until it's final.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
28 Months LID
Our dossier has been officially logged in in China since April 20, 2006 - 28 months. Referrals continue to drag and our current guesstimate of referral is late 2009 based on number of days referred per month (the only number we have to work with, unfortunately).
We ultimately want more than one child and it's looking like our chances of those children coming from the same country (China) is limited. As I said last month we are working on a possible concurrent adoption and will update you all if anything comes of it. We're very excited about the possibilities and are really looking forward to completing our family.
We ultimately want more than one child and it's looking like our chances of those children coming from the same country (China) is limited. As I said last month we are working on a possible concurrent adoption and will update you all if anything comes of it. We're very excited about the possibilities and are really looking forward to completing our family.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
August Stork Alert
Congratulations to all of the families logged in January 26 through 31, 2006 on your referrals!
There are now 79 LID dates to be matched until our LID of 4/20/06. The most recent 12-months average number number of LID dates referred is 5.92 per month. If referrals continue at this rate, we would receive our referral in October 2009.
There are now 79 LID dates to be matched until our LID of 4/20/06. The most recent 12-months average number number of LID dates referred is 5.92 per month. If referrals continue at this rate, we would receive our referral in October 2009.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
27 Months LID
We've been logged in for 27 months. With our prediction for referral stretching into late 2009 or later, we have chosen to pursue a concurrent adoption. We are still in the very beginning stages of this possibility and will certainly keep you all updated when we have more answers. Stay tuned!
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
July Stork Alert
Congratulations to all of the families logged in January 21 through 25, 2006 on your referrals!
There are now 85 LID dates to be matched until our LID of 4/20/06. The most recent 12-months average number number of LID dates referred is 6.00 per month. If referrals continue at this rate, we would receive our referral in October 2009.
There are now 85 LID dates to be matched until our LID of 4/20/06. The most recent 12-months average number number of LID dates referred is 6.00 per month. If referrals continue at this rate, we would receive our referral in October 2009.
Friday, June 20, 2008
26 Months LID
We've been logged in for 26 months. You can probably guess my enthusiasm level for this whole process by the frequency of my blog posts...we've even had some really fun things going on, but I just can't bring myself to blog about it. If that doesn't change soon I may just end this blog - but I can't quite bring myself to do that yet, either.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
June Stork Alert
Congratulations to all of the families logged in January 13 through 20, 2006 on your referrals!
There are now 90 LID dates to be matched until our LID of 4/20/06. The most recent 12-months average number number of LID dates referred is 6.17 per month. If referrals continue at this rate, we would receive our referral in September 2009.
I know LID days is not the best number to use but because the CCAA does not share the number of actual dossiers receiving referrals each month and we have no idea how many dossiers are ahead of us in line, it's the best thing we have.
There are now 90 LID dates to be matched until our LID of 4/20/06. The most recent 12-months average number number of LID dates referred is 6.17 per month. If referrals continue at this rate, we would receive our referral in September 2009.
I know LID days is not the best number to use but because the CCAA does not share the number of actual dossiers receiving referrals each month and we have no idea how many dossiers are ahead of us in line, it's the best thing we have.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
