[Kimberj71]

Our agency's website estimates 3 to 8 month wait for a referral of a girl after your dossier is complete. In our case, we waited 6 months for our first referral but didn't receive our current referral until 8 months after our completed dossier was in Guatemala. I think the wait for referral depends greatly on the size of your agency and the number of attorneys they work with as well as if they work with any hogars or just with individual birthmoms. In our case, our agency is smallish, works with a single attorney (who we love), and our attorney works only with individual birthmoms. So it makes sense that our referral wait time was much longer. BUT we knew that going into this. Which I think is the key indicator.

As for length of time of the process once you've accepted a referral, I think that is anybody's guess. I think an agency can tell you how long it has taken "in general" in the past. They can tell you how long folks in the Guatemalan program are taking right now. But I do not believe with the situation in Guatemala as it is, that an agency can reliably give you a definite timeframe. I also believe this is something you really need to search your heart about. It may be a matter of months or it could be over a year or more before your little one comes home.

Good luck in this amazing process!!!

Kim