[Amysue1112]

KFlora,
You will find that soo much has changed in Russia in the last year...delays, law changes, accreditation issues..it used to be that referrals came very quickly. We started our process in Oct. 04. At that time, all things were fairly smooth in Russia, and they assumed if we got our dossier in Nov. 04 we would probably have our baby home June 05. Well.......since then....there have been so many problems, many regions closed, some would not accept agencies who were not re-accredited (and at one point, almost NO agencies were..r/t Russia's delay). Anyway, we held our dossier until March 05, for fear that Russia would completely close, and we would have to go to another country or lose the $. Now our dossier is in our region, but we are now looking at a 12-15 wait for a referral!!!!! Ours happens to be a very popular region, and we liked it for many reasons. But with all the delays, adoptions slowed and waiting lists got longer. Now from what I see on this board, some regions still seem to be giving referrals fairly quickly, but there are many of us that have waited or plan on waiting at least a year between the dossier in Russia-referral. I am sure this is not the news you wanted to hear, but it is best to be prepared. Your agency should be able to give you a better idea of wait times, depending on the region, the sex/age child you want..etc.
We thought when we started that the wait for the I171H was gonig to our longest wait. But the wait is more to do with delays/backups in Russia than our INS.
As far as the Russian response to the death of that child in NX (I got this info off of the Kemerovo Yahoo group)..that Russia is going to require parent education, psychological testing, and from what it looks like, stopping independent adoptions. Good luck! This is a roller coaster ride, but this forum is a wonderful place to get info and support!!!!
Amy