Back to Blogland with an Adoption Update...

Where does time go? I have no idea, but somehow nearly 4 months have passed since our last post. And I must have thought "hey, I should blog about that" a million times between then and now. I have no excuse. But I do have news that will eventually...some day...lead to my excuse for getting nothing done...

Today referrals began rolling in quite unexpectedly, as it has only been 22 days since the last round. (That's a record!) For those unfamiliar with the China adoption process, the CCAA (government agency in China that handles both domestic and international adoption) sends out batches (for lack of a better word) of referrals (the matches!) about once a month. China's system is very orderly. Upon receipt, the CCAA scans the dossier of every family seeking adoption through China into their system. The date of that "log in" is known as your "LID" (log-in date) and marks your place "in line". When we started this process in summer of 2005, the CCAA sent out about 30 days of LIDs every month and families received their referral about 7-8 months after LID. By late 2005, the CCAA began sending out fewer and fewer referrals each month. Within the past year, an average of 6 LIDs have been referred each month.

We have been logged-in since 02-23-06. Yep, since February 23, 2006. Yep, 30 months. Yep, 30 months and still counting.

So, the news? Well, the CCAA, with the round of referrals received by agencies today, has made it into February 2006! OUR MONTH! Matches have been made for families logged-in through 02-09-06.

What does this mean for us? Well, according to the China Adoption Forecast website (http://chinaadoptionforecast.com/) updated today:

Our prediction for LID 2006-02-23:

China has 14 days of dossiers to be processed before they get to your dossier. China currently processes about 6 days of dossiers each month.

Our best guess:
2008-11-14

Since China generally sends out referrals in a batch about once per month, your referral date could easily vary +/- one month depending on whether you just get included or just get missed in a particular batch.

Will we really have our referral in November? Who knows?! November, December... But the point is that there are only 14 days of dossiers to be matched before they get to ours. We are really close! (Though not close enough for my Mom who wants this kid here yesterday...) We will travel to bring K home 6-8 weeks following referral.

So much to do, so little time!