Global Spin

Updated June 24, 2008.

Hey everybody, guess what? We’re adopting a baby girl from China.

You’re adopting? Whaa???

Yes, we’re adopting.

Why adopt?

We have always said that if we had one child and enjoyed being parents, we’d adopt. We adore being Ben’s parents, so we’re adopting.

Why China?

Short answer: Because there are many children there who need families. (This is where you ask, “So? There are lots of kids here in the U.S. who need families.”) The long answer is, there are an extraordinary number of baby girls orphaned in China each year, and their story touched us a long time ago. So this is where we are going.

There are a lot of children in the U.S. who need homes. However, we have always felt that for us, international adoption was the option that felt right.

How long will it take? How long have you been doing this?

We filed our application to begin the process in late December 2006. We were approved and began the paperchase (putting together our dossier) in mid January 2007. We completed our dossier (our sheaf of paperwork that says who we are and includes financial information and social worker write-up) in early March 2007. It was sent off soon thereafter, and we now have an official Log-In Date (LID) of April 15, 2007.

What’s an LID and why do we care?

The LID refers to the date on which our dossier was logged into the computers at the Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA). It means we have made official contact. It does not mean we are automatically approved, but in general it means the hard part–the waiting–is what’s left. We care about the LID because the process from here will be all about watching the status of LID’s who have been given their referrals. To see what I mean, visit the CCAA website. There, on the right-hand side, you’ll see a status bar named Document Processing. It will say something like, “The CCAA has finished the review of the adoption application documents registered with our office before Monthuary XX, 200X. The CCAA has finished the placement of children for the families whose adoption application documents were registered with our office before Monthtober XX, 200X.” Read “registered with” as “having a log-in date with”.

So, to get back to the question, how long will it take?

The current wait time from LID to referral is a bit tricky to estimate, but it’s something like 3 years. (See the updates below.) This is written in mushy clay, however. Things are always changing.

What’s a referral?

When we receive our referral, it will be paperwork from the Chinese government that may include a short medical write-up and probably a small photo, perhaps more. It will also include a letter that says the baby’s name and states that she a year or younger and is in reasonably good health, and it will ask if we will accept this child. We say yes and the ball is rolling. After that it is a matter of receiving Travel Approval (TA) and then a Chinese visa, and making our travel arrangements with our adoption agency, CCAI.

How old will she be?

We’ve requested a child who is between 9 and 12 months old at time of referral. That probably means she’ll be 10-14 months old when we bring her home.

So what size should I shop for?

9 to 12 month sizes and up should be just fine. She’ll be small when she comes home, but all indications are she’ll grow quickly once she’s with us.

How can I help?

Yay! We’re so glad you asked. This is a labor of love but it is also expensive. If you feel like donating, please use the Paypal Donate button over on the right, or contact us if there is some other way that you can help. Please do not think that it has to be a big amount (although certainly it can be). $5, $10, $15, $20 donations go a long way to pay for the multiple sets of fingerprints, notarizations, certifications, and authentications we’ve had to provide, and will continue to help with the next round of government filing, passport renewals, and fingerprints, not to mention agency and orphanage fees. So, should it occur to you, thank you.

What does Benjamin think of all this?

Ben knows and approves. It’s all still a bit too abstract for him, but he’s referring to her as “our baby” and already saying unbearably cute and big-brotherly things about her.
Please visit back from time to time for updates and additional information as it becomes available. While this won’t be a regular blog, it will be the most current way of letting you all know what is going on with what we’ve taken to calling the “BGR Project.”

Will BGR be her initials?

No.

October 3, 2007 Update:

1. Ben knows now. Karen mentioned to Chris that it was probably time to let Ben know what was up (”he probably already knows” was the comment we tended to get) so Chris brought it up one morning. Ben’s first comment was “can we get a boy?” but when pressed, it turned out this was just because “a boy can play trains with me.” When it was made clear that girls play trains as well, he agreed it was an OK idea.
The next question was, “Can we go to France?” Well, it’s not really on the way to China. (Globe comes out, relative placement of countries is displayed.) “Can we go to France and then to China another time?” Sure, but we’ll probably go to China first. And that was it.

2. The wait time has increased slightly–not just ours, everyone’s. It is now 21-23 months from LID, which puts us in the January-March 2009 ballpark, but do not etch this in stone quite yet as from what we have seen, it will change a lot more before we reach the end of this journey. The Chinese government has indicated that it wants to address the long wait issue, but will look into it after the Beijing Olympics next August.

June 24, 2008 Update:

The wait time has increased to the point where it doesn’t make sense to count it. (Let’s just say it’s measured in years.) CCAA has reiterated they’ll devote more energy to international adoption after the Beijing Olympics, so we’re not even going to look at estimates until fall.

On the paperwork front, we’re updating some of our US paperwork in order to keep it current. (The all-important approval form expires after about a year and a half, and we’re getting close to that already.) Our situation hasn’t changed much, so it’ll be a straightforward process. Then we go back to daily life.