The Process

Without boring you with too many details I thought I would give you an idea of the process we have to go through. Currently we are in the paperchase. Basically China requires that we put together a packet of certain documents to prove our citizenship, health and ability to care for an adoptive child. Each of these documents have to go through a process to be notarized, certified and authenticated by the US government before the Chinese government will accept them. We also have to complete a homestudy. We are in the middle of that right now. A social worker comes to our home, meets the family, inspects the home and talks with us about issues regarding adoption and our lives. Jeremiah says it feels like going through therapy. She will give the final say in whether we qualify to be adoptive parents. Please be praying that she will approve us! After the homestudy and paper chase are complete, all the documents are sent to our agency for review and then translated into Chinese. The compilation is call a dossier. The dossier is then sent to China and the first of three important dates in the adoption process is recorded (DTC Dossier to China). Next we wait for word that China has received it and we recieve a LID (log in date). That date is important in that now the waiting game begins. When everything is going "normal" the wait time from LID to referral is 6 - 8 months. Referral is when China matches you with a child and sends you information about that child including a picture. Now you have a baby. From there it is usually 6 - 8 weeks until you travel. However, I have recently come to learn that the CCAA (Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs) has received an enormous amount of dossiers. It is so wonderful that there are many people wanting to adopt, but that has now pushed the wait time from LID to referral to 10 -12 months. That can be quite frustrating and honestly turns this into the longest pregnancy I will ever experience. However, we know that all things work together for good when we trust the Lord. And God is in control. Until that day when we receive our referral, we will put our trust in God knowing that he has already chosen a special child to be apart of our family and in his perfect timing he will bring us together.