[kacmom1]

Hi,
I'm popping over from the Guatemala adoption forum to ask you all a question. My good friend and her husband just made the decision to adopt from China. They are starting to look for an agency, and they are getting ready to start their homestudy. From beginning to end, can you tell me what a typical time frame is? Just wondering!

Also, can anyone give me any feedback on All God's Children Int'l or China Adoption With Love, Int'l.

Thanks and good luck to all of you!
Kelly

[PiperH]

The last referral came in at 16 months - that's dossier to China to referral of child. It takes 3 to 6 months (give or take) to get to the point that you are ready to send dossier to China.

[overflowing]

For the traditional, non-special needs route...Once their documents are sent to China the current wait is approx. 16-17months to referral.

If they are open to a child with minor/correctable special needs then the wait will be a little shorter.

If they are open to adopting child 6yrs. or older the wait is currently at 10months after docs. are sent to china.

If one of the adopting parents is of asian decent (rules apply to this) then the current wait is currently 10months, as well.

Hope this helps!

[sakelley]

If you are open to a child with special needs (some can be very minor & correctable) and you find your child on your agency's waiting child list, the wait is much shorter. We adopted a SN child off our agency's list and it took us 7 1/2 months from application to agency until we brought our daughter home. My full timeline is in my signature.

[Chinagirl2007]

I think it is important to note that while the wait is 16 months right now, the waittime has increased -- by one month -- every two months for the past year. I.e. the wait was about 8 months a year ago and it has steadily increased ever since. There is a huge backlog of parent dossiers right now, and China has let it be known that they don;t intend to increase the amount of babies sent overseas for adoption. My agency is telling new clients to expect at least a 2 1/2 year wait ( not including paperwork) so that would be close to 3 years start to finish. This is a large china only agency - since they stand to lose alot for their honesty, i believe them

I feel lucky, I am almost one year into my wait ( 18 months if you include paperwork) and i hope to have my baby home within a year from now. So for me, it'll probably be about 2 1/2 years from start to finish, but i have been logged in since feb 06. Those behind me will likely have it worse.

As long as your friend is aware that the wait is most likely going to be quite long, she'll be ok. Most of us in the process now have been blindsided by the doubling (and expected tripling) of the wait time...I just wish i had been prepared...

[kacmom1]

Thank you for the info! I'll pass it all along to my friends. They'll be so appreciative!
Have a good week!