[pdinocco]

Hi Everyone!

We are in the process of waiting for a referral for a little girl between 8 and 18 months. I was just wondering how long anyone who has recently adopted a girl from Russia waited for their referral??? The wait is killing me and I just need to hear that my time will come!! thanks!

[amyfk]

hi,

I just wanted to let you know that we're waiting for a referral for a female for age 0-18 mo.

We had two referrals, but unfortunately we turned them down due to health reasons that we felt were too much for us personally to handle.

I just "assumed" that within another month or so we'd get another referral.. lol I sort of thought the referral pr process was like being dealt another card in the deck so to speak. Boy was I wrong.

I, like yourself, had asked around and I found out that the most requested referral for adoptive parents is girls who are infants. I didnt realize this when we started out. We've been waiting since the end of Feb. for a new referral and my agency works in about 20 regions of Russia.

So, no youre not alone by any means. I'm not sure the avg. wait time for girls. You may want to call your agency and find out and also ask others on here and on other Russia boards.

Just try to keep busy while youre waiting. Before you know it, your referral will be here.



Sorry I couldnt help more.
Amy K, NJ

[catmele]

Hi! We are also waiting for a girl under 18 months. Our dossier was sent to Kemerovo last week & we got our I-171 yesterday. We were told originally to expect to wait at least a year but now are told it will be shorter since this region seems to moving. There are 2 other families in front of us waiting for a baby girl from this region.

Cathy
Mommy to Erik adopted from Tomsk 1/19/04;

[GCS]

the agency I used (and will be using again) is currently quoting 12-18 months for a girl under 18 months.

My advice - add a few months to the quote you got from your agency so that if your referral comes in earlier you'll just be pleasantly surprised!!!

Best of luck!
Christina

[amyfk]

Wow 12-18 mo. Wow!

Amy K, NJ

[amanda_p]

My agency said that it would be 6-10 months for an infant girl. But of course that can change at any time.

As for as the waiting it all stinks. You have to wait for a referral, wait for trip 1, and trip 2. Thats alot of waiting I mean good grief.

[amyfk]

Hi,

Sorry for any misunderstanding.

WE have technically been waiting for a referral since last summer. We switched from Russia, to another country(which we were a pilot family which never ended up going ahead),and back to Russia. We are at the top of the list for a girl, but since we moved laterally,I dont know how long the wait is now from dossier completion to referral. I apologize for any misunderstanding and inconvenience.

Amy K, NJ

[Happy2Bhere]

When we contacted our agency, they said since we just needed an updated home study, and our I-600A's are moving very fast (4 weeks) that we would probably get a referral & travel in about 4 months.
WELL, that caseworker is now fired, and we have a new one. The new one said "You can probably expect this to take approx 9 months from start to finish" That is probably more realistic- but I don't like the change of time frames from the SAME agency.
I guess if I was able to get pregnant, the process would take at least 9 months, so I am here for the ride. :-)

[momtobe06]

We were open to gender & age- requested healthy & under the age of 3- our dossier was sent to Russia w/171 H approval in Dec, we got a referral for a 14 month old girl in Jan, Trip 1 was in Feb and trip 2 in march-we got home in the end of march
hang in there

Lauri

[votemom]

as far as waiting goes, there is just no guarantee, rhyme, or reason.

some people have great luck in a certain region, and then for others it's terrible.

go into it expecting it to be a very long wait with lots of obstacles to overcome. then anything better will just be a wonderful surprise.

[pdinocco]

Hi Everyone. Thank you so much for your help. I thought that I would be able to handle the wait, but ever since our paperwork went over to Russia, I have been very anxious. I wanted to call my social worker and ask her what the average wait time might be, but was afraid of being too pushy! Again, thank you all for your responses, I really appreciate it!!

[happyhome]

Hi there,

pdinocco, I had the same worries when I first started out. I didn't want to be too pushy with my agency because I trust that they are doing their best and if I'm a pain they might not go that extra mile to make this happen for us.

BUT... I've since realized that other case managers and agencies are much more forthcoming with the same information. The agencies get these questions all the time, and the pushier you are (in a very nice way) the more they have to answer to you. They do work for you. You are paying them A LOT of money, and you deserve fair, honest, and complete answers to your questions.

Something like 'how long should I expect to wait' is a more than fair question. Seeming too relaxed by not asking those questions could send the wrong message too.

The agency might be reluctant to tell you how many families are ahead of you, but again, this information is regularly given to other people, why not you too? I should say that my case manager has not told us where we are in line, but through another forum I met someone who is with the same agency as me. Her case manager did tell her that information.

Anyway, I think it's okay to ask whatever comes to your mind. If they don't want to answer, fine, at least you asked. If it's important to you though, you should push. You have to be your own advocate.

JMHO.

BTW - to your original question. I can't help with the wait time for girls, but the wait for boys with our agency was 9-10 months after the dossier was submitted to Russia, or about a year total.