We researched adoption for over 6 months and made the decision as a family to bring a little girl home from China. We are all very excited and the boys cannot wait to have a sister!
On Good Friday (April 14th 2006) we sent our application to CCAI; Chinese Children Adoption International, a non-profit adoption agency in Denver, Colorado. Our application was accepted a few days later and the "paperchase" began!
We have spent the last 6 weeks gathering documents required to compile a 'Dossier' that will be sent to the China Center of Adoption Affairs in Beijing. Compiling the Dossier is a lengthy process as we need our birth certificates, marriage certificate, financial report, police clearance reports, background checks/fingerprints, a Home Study done by a Social Worker over a period of weeks, 3 references, physical examinations....and so the list goes on.
When you have gathered all the relevant paperwork, you need to get it notarised (locally), certified (at the state dept.) and authenticated (at one of the Chinese Consulates). A very tricky process that involves sending our documents to Washington, D.C. to the State Department, the British Embassy and the Chinese Consulates in San Francisco and Washington, D.C.
It wouldn't be as complicated if we were both American, had been born and married in the same state and had lived in the US all our lives!
When our Dossier finally gets to China (we hope in September or October '06) we will receive a log-in-date (LID). From that date we will be counting down to a referral which is when we will be matched with a baby girl who has been orphaned. The age at referral varies but we know our daughter will be at least 6 months as this is the length of time the Chinese Government requires an abandoned child to be in an institution before being eligible for adoption.
We have requested a baby girl in the age range 8-18 months. Most baby girls adopted from China are about 10 months old. We will be happy with whatever is meant to be.
The current wait time to be matched is 8-10 months. After receiving a referral, we will travel about 6-8 weeks later to China to bring her home. Our adoption will be final in China after a 2 week trip. We hope we will be home with our daughter around Christmas/New Year of 2007/2008.
P.S. The photos to the left are of us all on Mother's Day 2006. We spent the day Geoduck (giant clams) hunting on the beaches of beautiful Guemes Island, Washington.
UPDATE: October 2007
Since we applied the wait time has steadily increased and there is now a 22-24 month wait from LID to referral...unbelievable.
At this time, we are now looking at Sep-Oct 2008 for our referral and Christmas 2008 till we bring our daughter home.
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