[MissyAmomChina]

Hi,

I know that Korea is a stable and predictable international adoption program. Yet, I know all programs have that unpredictable quality. It's my understanding that there is a quota of visa's issued to each of the four placing agencies in Korea. I also know some agencies have already have hit their quotas or are anticipating that they will soon.

Is there a pattern in general? Meaning do people who receive a referral in the second half of the year tend to have a longer wait for travel/escort? Wait time isn't a huge factor for us--but like all families, it's helpfull to know have some general idea how the program works. Any information you can share would be greatly appreciated.

Take care,

[ahfdragonfly]

When we started the process in the fall of '04, we were told that families who get referrals in the late summer / early fall, seem to have the longest wait to travel calls, as they have already issued the quota of visas. As far as getting the referral, I don't know if there is a pattern, or just that there seems to be a general slowdown for some reason. Even within the agency we used, I have heard of 14 mos for a referral (a year before we started) to ours which was a few days after the home visit, before the homestudy was even in rough draft.

[dmrjcr]

I'm not sure but the slow down is all of a sudden for SWS. Up to a month ago the wait was still 2-3 months and now all of a sudden it is 3-4.


Maybe more folks are applying for Korea now? China has slowed down and folks are switching programs. I suspect as Vietnam opens back up the waits may go down again.

[Max'smom]

My understanding from my agency, one of the largest in the country, is that the slowdown has nothing to do with the quotas, but rather that it results from a sudden decrease in referrals. The number of children placed for adoption has decreased this year and a slight increase has also occured in the number adopted domestically within Korea.

In our case, we had a referral in the second half of the year (November 2005 to be exact) and our wait until travel was very close to annual average for our agency, which was around 3 1/2 months.

[abcolo]

I'm not sure but the slow down is all of a sudden for SWS. Up to a month ago the wait was still 2-3 months and now all of a sudden it is 3-4.

If you are talking referral, it depends on the USA agency working with SWS. We were fast for our agency and got our daughter's referral in 11 months from SWS.

If you are talking travel, it is 8-12 weeks for the SWS referrals through our agency.

Andrea

[dmrjcr]

I'm talking travel. We got our referral 2 weeks after submission to Korea but travel is taking 3-4 months instead of 2-3. One family has had their I600 approval in Korea for 4 weeks now with still not travel approval.

Originally Posted by abcolo

If you are talking referral, it depends on the USA agency working with SWS. We were fast for our agency and got our daughter's referral in 11 months from SWS.

If you are talking travel, it is 8-12 weeks for the SWS referrals through our agency.

Andrea

[jchrapcyn]

It depends on your agency and which agency they work with in Korea. We got a referral in 3 weeks but we are going to wait 6-9 months for travel because of the passport quota in Korea. They seem to be rationing them out (the passports) so many a month so they don't run out all at once like last year.

[ndoscoptec]

Korea has worked very hard to change the Korean attitudes about adoption. The goal for Korea is to have as many of the children adopted in Korea and to send as few as possible overseas. A board member of the agency we used commented that girl referrals are way down for this reason (Korean's are more open to adopting a girl because of their attitudes about the paternal blood line) I have also heard that Koreans are begining to change their attitudes about single parenthood, maybe some of the mothers are choosing to raise their children.

Just some theories to toss around
MLH

[racytracy]

When we were at Eastern in December, Dr. Kim told us that the number of children is decreasing as well, due to greater use of birth control pills (funny aside--it took me like 5 minutes to figure out that this dignified 90-year-old man was saying "oral contraceptives.").

But I think that Korea is really starting to view the international adoption as indicating that they can't care for their own children, as the other countries from which children are adopted tend to be developing countries. Korea doesn't fit the description any more.

Tracy