[meganicolson]

Hello,
I am looking for any encouragement at all. We have been waiting a relatively short time (9 months) and I understand that we still have a LONG wait ahead of us. We are patient and able to wait as we are in the process of finishing grad school. However, I was hoping to hear from some of you who have recently adopted from Colombia. How was your experience? What was it like? Do you have suggestions for those of us waiting? I was also hoping to hear from some of you who are closer to receiving your child...those who have received their referrals and will be traveling soon, or those who are nearer to receiving their referrals. Any information from anyone will encourage me that the process is not at a complete stand-still (like it feels to me)...that people are bringing home children and making their families more complete...that would be an encouragement. Thanks!
Megan

[Leslie]

Megan, We are not as far along as you are, we are just submitting our dossiers, but I don't know if it was on this
forum or another one, but someone just returned in March. There is someone who has adopted four seperate times , and many others. I know the process is not fast, but from what I have seen and understood it is stable and consistent? You are sooo close, I hope you have your child before Christmas, what a joy that would be! (How rude of me to assume you celebrate Christmas!, but it would still be wonderful) What are you hoping for in referal? We are hoping for siblings with one under two and one girl, we have one boy turning 15 this Aug. I hope some others can give more feedback. Just think how much closer you are than us and enjoy what little time you probably have left! Leslie

[Edited To Remove the name of the Private Yahoo Group]

[entropy]

we submitted our paperwork to colombia back in march. we are still awaiting word on wether we are even "accepted" or not. its getting extremely annoying.
however, i am also working on my second BA in spanish, so i am using my time wisely, i suppose as well.
i didn't expect it to be fast. but going months without hearing from anyone is upsetting.

[meganicolson]

Leslie,
I will have to check out that forum. I have never looked there. My husband and I don't have any children yet, so we are open to either a boy or a girl...twins or siblings or just a single child...hopefully at least one infant. We had always wanted a large family, so we will see how it grows by adoption. It is expensive to adopt, so we are trying to be diligent about saving. It seems like there is not as much news for people adopting from Colombia as there is from people adopting from Guatemala. We have not yet been put on an adoption house list and we have heard that the wait for referral once you get on the adoption house list can be 12-18 months. At least that is what our agency told us. So...if we get onto an adoption house list in the next month or so, we will still have at least a year to wait. I hope that the proecess speeds up a bit. We are trying our very best to be patient, but that is not a virtue that I exhibit often...other than with my kindergarten students (I am a teacher). How exciting for you to add to your family through adoption! Has your agency told you how likely it is to get siblings or if the wait time will be longer to get sibilngs? We are interested in siblings too and I hadn't thougth to ask until now. Also, is the wait time longer for requesting a girl? I am excited that there is someone else going through this process at the same time we are! I hope to hear from you again and from others who have adopted and have encouraging stories to share with us!

Megan

[meganicolson]

Entropy,
I am sorry to hear that you haven't heard from Colombia since you applied! That is very disheartening! When you began the process did you first go through a waiting list in your agency in order to get placed on an adoption house list? We had to wait through 17 families before we are able to apply directly to Colombia. We are currently number 2 waiting to send down our paperwork, so we are not even close to beginning the longest part of the wait. I wonder why different agencies have this long wait and others don't. Will your agency contact the adoption house in Colombia to find out how your paperwork is progressing? I would assume that they would do that for you. I agree that not knowing how things are moving can be very discouraging. We went from being number 10 on our agencies waiting list to being number 2 and no one told us that we were even progressing, so for nine months we didn't really know where we stood. As far as I'm concerned it is still too far away to even look for baby clothes, etc. We have some of the big items (crib, changing table, etc.) but I have made myself quit looking for a time because it just seems soooooo far away. I hope that you will hear soon where you are at in the process. I would also like to hear how your process has been different from ours. Thanks for adding your post.

Megan

[Leslie]

Megan, yes I believe we will be referred siblings. I would
think the wait time for an infant girl would be the longest, as with most places, I believe an infant any sex would be the next longer wait. I would guess that siblings, just like everywhere, are harder to place than one infant or toddler,especially if there is an older sibling involved. I think Colombia really works hard to place siblings and to keep them together. I know the time seems long, but in reality it can go very fast. Of course I am different than some waiting moms, I already have a busy teenager and a sister the same age as my son. I work, very hard right now as I don't intend to work outside the home, at least not for awhile, after the adoptions. I never have enough time to do all the reading and study spanish as I would like, and I never have enough time to work on the house and yard as much as I would like. You could also plan any special little trips that only adults might enjoy with your husband as you won't have much time later! It is when I look at kids clothes or toys, etc. that I just can't wait! I hope we can recall this time for each other when we haven't had any sleep and the little one is throwing up on our car seats! The people who have already adopted say the wait is forgotten after you get your child. I guess our pregnancy a labor pains are different and longer!! It's the wait!!! Bye for now. Leslie

[entropy]

after we submitted our paperwork to the agency, it was translated. last real update we got was about a month a go saying it was in with ICBF. this was in late april, i believe. and they tell us that the ICBF part can take up to 3 months. for approval.... then i suppose, we'll be waiting for a match. we are requesting under 12 months, we've got about an 18 month wait that i am planning on after approval. so yeah, maybe in jan/feb of 2006 i'll be able to go to colombia to pick up or son/daughter!

[waitinginms]

I will have to try that group as well. I wonder what it was that made me seem unacceptable for the group. Oh well... I can't worry about that, right? Especially with so much other work to do!!!

Marian