[calikismet]

Mary --

The waiting period is what is imposed on national and local levels (time and ability to run them concurrently varies by region) and relates to the child being ON the databases.. this is supposed to be a period during which Russian have 1st dibs, of sorts, to adopt these kids. OOnly after their periods on these databases have run can foreigners adopts them. The day that the child is placed on the registry varies by the child's situation - if the child is abandoned, or signed away at birth, it can begin more quickly; if signatures of people need to be obtained, then it can be later (and hence the child is a tad older). But in any case, that database period usually runs about 4-6 months long.

Once the child's period on the database has expired, and before the court can approve the adoption a foreign couple, an officer with the central Ministry of Education has to certify (by issuing a "databnk release slip") that the child has indeed been on the resgistry, that it has expired, and that no Russian couples wanted to adopt the child. The courts absolutely require this "slip" as a part of the final package for trip #2, and no adoptions can proceed if those cannot be issued. Families can get referrals and go on trip #1, but no court dates can usually be set (as judges usually will not grant court dates if they cannot get all of the papers, or if they know that it they will not have them by the day of court), and the adoptions cannot be finalized. So trip #2 is ultimately placed into limbo when there is no one to issue the databank release slips.

There have been 2 delays that have been discussed (and BTW, I got a confirmation thru the grapevine -- current client of an agency, who got the info from the agency -- this AM that no slips will prob be issued until after at least the 1st of the year), one relating to the slips and the other to the inability to get re-acceditation for those agencies who have run out.

Hope that helps!