Missed it, by that much....

Yep, we found out a few days ago that we will not receive our referral this month as we had expected.

We are gutted

This whole adoption journey is such a rollercoaster - so unpredictable, and so bloody random. Just when you think you know the rules, they go and get changed!

Turns out that China only processed 2 days of Log In Dates this month - and they were 2 days with very few people logged in, so this is by far the smallest month that they have ever done.

Figures right?

We're feeling pretty sad and sorry for ourselves, but as always we will pick ourselves up and get on with it....'cause really, it's not like we have a choice.

So, taking 2 days off work to get ready for Bug wasn't really necessary....'cause it looks like I've got at least 4 or 5 extra weeks now before we hear anything....

Bugger.

Nesting....

I have taken the last 2 days off work as annual leave to begin the process of "nesting". I know that I finish work next week, but I have been feeling so overwhelmed with everything that has been going on (including P's big birthday party with 50 people last weekend - no mean feat to organise I might add!!) that my darling husband suggested that I take a couple of "nesting days".

As recently as Chrismtas Eve, we never would have imagined that we would potentially have our referral in January/Feb - our best guess was that we would get our wonderful news in Feb/March or March/April, so to suddenly have it looking like we will get news at the beginning of February was pretty unexpected, and really jolted us into a state of panic.

After 7 years, we're not prepared!!!

For so long we have been trying to put the whole child thing out of our minds, and concentrate on other aspects of life (not very successfully I might add, but it has worked somewhat) that all of a sudden we find oursleves not having a clue about the latest prams/cots/baby carriers/etc etc etc....

So we are in full-on research mode. 5 years ago I knew which pram I wanted, and had a pretty good idea about baby carriers, brands of formula, nappies etc. As I've discovered, however, a hec of a lot changes in 5 years....and I'm back to square one.

Still....it's fun doing the research!!!

Are we being Matched with our Child???

The rumour mill is saying that the Matching room is working hard this week.....are we being matched with our child RIGHT NOW??

It's too much to think about really, how one person's decision half a world away will alter our family forever.

Getting Closer....

and closer.....

The rumour mill on the internet has started up, and we are becoming more and more hopeful that we will know who our darling child is in the next FEW WEEKS!!!!!!!

Chinese New Year is on the 26th of January, and traditionally the Matchers (in the Matching Room at the China Centre for Adoption Affairs) like to clear their desks before they go on the week-long Chinese New Year holiday (26th-31st January this year). What that means is that we are expecting referrals to be posted from China at the end of THIS WEEK!!!!!!

Referrals will probably arrive in the USA on Monday the 26th (Tuesday 27th our time) and at that stage we should know whether our Log In Date has been included this month (our LID is 3.3.06). We are pretty certain that we will be in this month's allocations, but nothing is certain yet......So keep your fingers crossed that we have made it in this month OK??!!! I don't know if I could stand having to wait another month to find out who Bug is!!!

We are 40% excited, 40% terrified, and 20% numb....does that add up?? It's hard to believe after so many years of waiting and longing that we may find out who our child is within mere weeks!!!!

The China Process

So...you spend years of your life getting through the Australian process and breathe a sigh of relief on that glorious day that your paperwork (your adoption dossier) leaves Australian soil.

All done, right? All hurdles crossed? Not by half my friends!! There beginneth the China process....

1. Dossiers are received by the China Centre of Adoption Affairs (CCAA) in Beijing. From there, they are given an initial look-over by staff, and if all paperwork is up to scratch, the dossiers are then Logged In to the CCAA system. The date that your dossier is Logged In is very important....it is your Log In Date, and this forms the only way of tracking when you will hear news of your baby, as China processes all adoptions in chronological order by Log In Date.

Our Log In Date (LID) is 3.3.06

2. Sometime after being Logged In, your dossier makes it into the "Review Room" - where, funnily enough, dossiers are reviewed - this is the point at which your homestudy report/medicals/police checks are given a good look through. If the CCAA have any concerns about your suitability to adopt, or any concerns about whether you meet eligibility criteria, you are generally asked for more information at this point. Periodically, China will release information about which Log In Dates have successfully made it through the Review Room - this is a huge milestone as it is the first real sign that China think you are OK :-)

We made it through the Review Room in January 2008.

3. The Matching process.
As I said before, China processes parents' dossiers in the date order in which they were logged in. Matching of parents to children and the subsequent posting of these "referral packages" tends to happen once about every 4 weeks or so....So every month (or thereabouts) China will post referrals to couples all over the world who have certain Log In Dates. So in our case, the day that our referral for our child is posted from China, couples all over the world who also have a Log In Date of 3rd March 2006 will also have their referrals posted to them.

The million dollar question is how many Log In Dates China will process every month....and therefore hoq quickly you will hear news of your child. It makes sense that in order for wait times to be stable, then China needs to process one month of Log In Dates every month. In order for wait times to decrease, China needs to process MORE than one month of Log In Dates every month.....Unfortunately what has happened since we sent our dossier is that wait times have INCREASED, as China has only been processing 2-15 days worth of Log In Dates each month....this is why we have been waiting nearly 3 years now rather than the 10 months we were counting on.

Why are the processing times and wait times increasing? Well may you ask....there is a lot of debate in adoption circles and no clarity from Chinese authorities....but that's a topic for another post.

Right, so back to the processing.....

When your Log In Date gets to near the front of the line, your dossier is moved to the Matching Room...where (you guessed it!) your file is matched to a little person who needs a family.

Once all the matches are made for a particular month, the referrals/allocations are posted out worldwide.

About 2 weeks after we have confirmation that our Log In Date has been processed (we hear this via rumours on the internet that start out slow, then build and build as more and more people, usually Americans, get confirmation from their private adoption agencies that they are about to hear news of their children) we will get a phone call from our government agency.

Australians are usually the last in the world each month to get the news of their children as our government insists on having all information translated and checked by immigration/medical officers before they tell us who our children are......others who have been before us tell us that this time is absolutletly nerve wrecking - you know that your child's information is sitting on some government desk but no-one will confirm or deny that it is there.....THEY know who your child is, but you don't.....

I guess we're just going to have to suck it up and ......god forbid....be patient!!

I don't know if any of that makes sense......it's kind of hard to explain.....
T xxxx