We’re hearing that question a lot these days, and having been in this adoption process since 2004, we tend to assume that everyone is down with adoption jargon.
Here’s the process (and our timelines) in brief, I’ll work on getting it into haiku form:
- the application: (1.5 years) gathering birth certificates, marriage certificate, financial statements, letters from employers (and some job shifting), recommendations from friends & family, medical exams, social worker visits, criminal records check, personal statement of reasons for adopting, and some money
- the dossier: (4 months, starts when home study results come in) notarizing, certifying, registering (by Massachusetts, Virginia, and New York, and then at the US Chinese Consulate) birth certificates, marriage certificate, medical exams, home study (social worker visit results), immigration forms, criminal records results, fingerprints, local police chief letter of clearance, a family photo album and a bit of money
- DTC (dossier to China): the date our Dossier is mailed along with the agencies other batched families (23 , in our case) to China: August 10
- LID (log-in date): the date our Dossier is stamped as received and logged in at the CCAA (China Center for Adoption Affairs)
- The Interminable Wait: 13 months and counting since LID. During this time the Dossier goes through the Reviewing Room and the family-to-be is thoroughly checked out by the CCAA. (You only hear from them if there is a question or you are not approved.) The stacks of hundreds of Dossiers approved are then moved to the Matching Room, where somebody matches each “paper-ready” baby to a Waiting Family. Using the photos. Meanwhile, we waiting families are doing just that: waiting. With no information whatsoever: will it take 6 months? 12 months? 18 months? Not a peep (officially). So we rely on the adoption community: listservs and Yahoo groups and Rumor sites to hear from those in the process ahead of us. Last month, families whose LID was July 13 - July 22 got their referrals.
- The Referral: the CCAA sends referral info (typically in batches at the end of each month) to the agencies around the world: name, province, pictures, health & development report, age, gender.
- The Call: The agencies receive these packages in about 3 days and social workers begin making the Calls to anxiously Waiting Families. This info. received by phone is followed in a couple of days with a full translation of the documents.
- TAs (Travel Arrangements): Not so sure about how this goes down, but I think we then await word (which can take ~4 weeks) that we have our immigration visa appointments in Quangzhou
- China visit (2 weeks)