[flowermom]

They definitely will not let you submit your dossier before 30 but good news is they let you apply and start to get things ready at 29 1/2. We are 30 and 33 and honestly the tiem worked to our favor..we wanted to get settled, lower our debt (still trying) and I want to be a stay at home mom. I am a stay at home wife now.

As for special needs I know I was surprised how they labeled them as well but be aware thet usually a missing finger or birthmark is not their only problem. I know a lot of people that came home only to find that there were more serious issues. Some of the orphanges don't look into any further "needs" once they find one or two. A couple of agencies I talked to told me this.

You just want to be prepared. We are going on the Non special needs list and will jump on it a few yrs. from now if they wait looks like it will be over 5 yrs. Youc an trund down a referral after talking to your dr.

We wanted this child to be our first but will probably have a biological child while we wait. Not all agencies let you do this though and the biological child has to be a yr. old by the time of your China referral.

As for everythinh else hang in there you could see a shorter wait time when you do eventually apply