Common questions

I have been getting a lot of questions lately about the adoption and I thought I would discuss a few of them.
Are you still waiting???
Yes, we are still waiting and we really have no idea how much longer we will wait. We were told a 6 - 8 month wait from our LID but it has been 15 months. I think we will be lucky to travel before Christmas. Our LID is 1/26/06 and I am preparing myself for a 2 year wait.
Why is the wait so long?
There are lots of reasons that I believe the wait is so long but I will give a quick rundown on what I think the top reasons are. Basically there are not enough "paper ready" babies. When a child is abandoned in China they can only be internationally adopted if they are placed in an orphanage that particiaptes in IA and not all orphanages do, in fact only a small percentage of orphanages do. A child needs to have certain paperwork completed in order for CCAA to refer that child to a family. Right now there are more people "in line" to adopt from China than there are paper ready babies and that is because China became a popular country to adopt from when the wait was only 6 months. Unfortunately there are lots of orphans in China but China will only allow a certain number of children to be adopted internationally each year. It is believed that less children are available for IA becasue domestic adoption from within in China has increased and abandonement in China has decreased. If less children are being abandoned then that is truly a wonderful thing but unfortunately there are hundreds of thousands(China has quoted 600 thousand) of children in orphanages right now and that is what makes this wait the most difficult. I know there are babies needing homes but I have to wait util our date of 1/26/06 comes up. Righ now the CCAA has matched families with dates up to 10/26/05.
"You must be so angry at China"
No, I am not angry at China! China is my daughter's birth country and they are allowing me the opportunity to raise one of their children. No country has to participate in IA, but China does and I am thankful for that. They are giving 10,000.00 families a year a child and that is the best gift I will ever receive!
Why does Angelina not have to wait for her children?
Angelina Jolie has adopted three children. From what I have read she has gown through the same process as everybody else. When Angelina adopted from Ethiopia there was no wait and adopting a 4 year old boy from any country is a much shorter wait than an infant girl. If people decide to adoprt becasue Angelina and Brad do then that is one less child in an orphanage and I am all for that!
I hate to ask...
People tell me they hate to ask about the wait. Never be afraid to ask about the wait, it is something I think about all day long. When you do ask, just be emphathetic and don't say, " is this really going to happen?" or "are you still doing that?" Of course we are still adopting and yes we are certain that in the end we will receive our daughter and the one that was meant for our family!
Is she going to be three by the time she arrives?
Probally not. We requested an infant girl and that means China will refer us a girl under 2 years old. We do not get matched until right before our referral so it is not like our daughter is sitting in an orphanage getting older by the day as we sit here and wait. Most likely our daughter will be between 8 - 15 months old at the time of referral and then we travel 2 months later to bring her home. I would love to have Lily home for her first birthday!