[Barksum]

We didn't adopt older children, so...who knows if the age will make a difference in the time line. I would think that the older you were willing to go the faster you'd be matched (depending on the kinds of things you can deal with, etc.) but you just never know. We adopted a 2 year old, then a 1 year old, then another one year old, and then ANOTHER 1 year old. We only looked for kids younger than ours, so the age level really kept going down with every adoption. We adopted all but one in our own state, and the one out of state was a relative.

Our bio child was also the youngest of many cousins on both sides of the family. She did adjust to having younger sibs. I think that having ANY sibs join the family calls for adjustment, regardless of their ages. Time has to be split with the parents and that is Never Fun for the kid having to learn to adjust. But adjust she did, as have the other kids with each new addition. (Some additions did go more smoothly than others, and some took a lot longer to become smooth.)

So, that being said, we waited 9 months for our first match. We went to committee 4 times and were not matched. We were matched with the 5th child for whom we went to committee. We had sent inquiries in on around 40-50 kids. The majority of those inquiries went unanswered at all. The most common response was that the child was matched or they weren't interested in our homestudy.

The second adoption we had been looking for a few months and were matched with the first child for whom we went to committee. (I guess the thought we knew what we were doing by then....) We had probably inquired about 30 or so kids for this adoption.

The third child took longer and we were matched after about 8 or 9 months. We had withdrawn from 2 committees, not been matched at one, and had taken a hiatus due to a death in the family, so that whole process took over a year, maybe a year and a half, the last 9 months of which we were actively looking. We had inquired about a fair number of kids this time, too. 40 or so, probably. Very few responses at all. We were surprised to be selected to go before the committee for the child we were matched with, and then doubly surprised that we were matched. (But were very happy!)

Our last adoption was a relative so we sent out no inquiries, and the timelines just don't really apply to that situation.

ROFL Had to edit and say how many inquiries we sent out. Sorry!