Hope's Song - Melody Zhang's Blog

Click here to read the latest from Melody Zhang's blog. She is associate director of CHI and has been in China since right after the earthquake.

http://www.melodyzhangorphans.blogspot.com/

Current Wait Time

The current wait time, as of May 9, 2008, is 29 months from log in date to referral. As you all know, our LID is 8.23.07. As of the 23rd of this month we will have been logged in for 9 months. Sooooo....... that means if everything remains constant, which I don't expect it will, we should get a referral in January of 2010. We'll travel two months after that.... sigh. :)

When we started this process, I was 35 and Brent was 38. Couples under the age of 40 are eligible to adopt a child 6-18 months old. Couples over the age of 40 (not sure if this means one or both) are eligible to adopt a child who is 12-36 months old. I've often said that she would be "around 1" when we get her.... I think this is still true, although I can't be sure.

National Geographic

Very cool spread in National Geographic on China. Check it out.

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/

689 Dossiers Ahead of Us!

There were no referrals this month for any CHI families, so the next LID that is up is still 1.13.06 -- but for whatever reason, 6 families dropped out. There are now 689 dossiers ahead of us.

695 Dossiers Ahead of Us!

With the most recent issue of the CHI China Program newsletter I learned that with families dropping out, waiting children adopted and Chinese expedited families traveling, there are now 695 families with dossiers ahead of us in line. We moved up 16 spots in a month.

Stories in the news about the wait

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080409/ap_on_re_us/china_adoptions_long_wait_1

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080409/ap_on_re_us/china_adoptions_glance_1

Movin' on up...

CHI received 7 China referrals on 4.4.08. These referrals were for their 1/6/06 log in date families. This group of referrals included 7 girls from the Jiangxi province. Their ages were 7 to 9.5 months and one 3 ½ year old. The family that received the 3 ½ year old little girl requested a 0-18 months old girl but the referral fell within the CCAA age guidelines. These families waited 27 long months from log in date to referral and are expected to travel in about 8 weeks.

There are now 704 families ahead of us. :)

Recent info on China's One Child Policy

Here is a recent NYT article on China's one child policy.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/11/world/asia/11china.html?ref=world

711 Dossiers Ahead of Us!

I made a little spreadsheet based on information that is in the monthly China Program newsletters we receive. Every month there is a list of log in dates (LIDs) and I can see where we are in line.

After looking more closely, I can tell you some "fun" facts about our place in line.

1. There are 711 dossiers ahead of us. In other words, 711 families have LIDs that are before 8.23.07.
2. There are 417 dossiers with 2006 LIDs.
3. There are 299 dossiers with 2007 LIDs (including ours; there are 4 other families with the same LID).
4. The next LID that will get referrals is 1.6.06.

I think that if I keep track from now on when referrals come, I might someday be able to offer an educated guess about when we might get ours. I really have no idea if that will work, but it gives me something to play with.

Believe it or not, it could be worse. When we got our LID, there were actually 942 dossiers ahead of us. The growing wait time as well as a host of other issues has caused 231 families to drop out of the China Program.

Expiration of Forms

After US Citizenship and Immigration (USCIS) approved our I600A application, the "application for advance processing of an orphan petition," (for $670), and we had our fingerprints taken and approved by USCIS, ($80 each), we received our I171H form from USCIS that says we are approved to get a Visa for our child. These are very important steps in the adoption process and were the final pieces that allowed us to submit our dossier to China.

The I171H form expires after 18 months, in our case, in December of 2008. We get one free extension that lasts for one year. If we are not home with our child by December of 2009, we have to submit and pay for the I600A all over again.

Fingerprints expire in 15 months, in our case, in August of 2008. We will most definitely have to go through this process and pay all over again. Insane.

It would be very easy to get discouraged by all this, but in the end, that would just make us miserable. We knew the process was lengthy and we jumped in anyway. The more into it we get, the more we learn just how bizarre it can be. Nothing to do about it but abide by the rules and wait. :)