Can You Wait?
The adoption wait can be agonizing…I don’t mean painful or dreadful. I don’t mean anticipatory. I mean it stinks to wait.
I have a friend who began her adoption process in China during our Russian adoption process in 2005. Unfortunately, she is still waiting to go to China to meet and bring home her daughter.
Over the next 6 months families who submitted their paperwork in December 2005 and January 2006 will be referred children.
The problem? Simple. Supply and Demand. Sure, it sound crass but adoption is a business, right?
Here are November and December’s numbers for 2005. Take a look at the graph above, take a look at the numbers and do the math. Exactly how long will it take for an average couple to adopt a child from China?
Years. According to Brian at Research-China.org, the wait time is currently hovering around 36 months for anyone entering the system in 2008.
My friend speculates a trip in November or December and is praying to be home with her daughter by Christmas. Anyone else out there waiting?
I think the waiting is the hardest part (of most things…Christmas, birthday’s, adoption!) When a person is pregnant, at least they know the ‘about’ date that a baby will arrive. The adoption process puts your who life in a holding pattern. We are doing a domestic adoption through DYFS, so our wait will be shorter than a foreign adoption, but it still feels like forever.