We're not usually ones to get political but this is important. On July 1 the CDC started requiring TB testing for all "immigrant" children over the age of 2 from China and Ethiopia. If the child tests positive they cannot enter the U.S. until they test negative even if they are no longer contagious. This could take anywhere from several weeks to six months, significantly complicating a family's trip to adopt a child.
Here's our beef, this new rule only applies to children being adopted from China and Ethiopia. If a family were to have a biological child in say China, they would not be subject to this rule. Anyone else traveling to the U.S. is not subject to this rule. This is blatant discrimination on the part of the CDC against internationally adopted children.
The reason we bring this up now is because there is a family currently in China who's legally adopted daughter tested positive for TB. To make a long story short, they had to leave her behind because the CDC would not approve her visa to enter the U.S. To read more about this family check out their blog here. Although we understand this family's situation, we talked about it and if this happened to us one of us would stay behind with our daughter for as long as needed. We know this is not an option for everyone but luckily we both work jobs that would allow this (thank you Uncle Sam and HCPSS).
There is a online petition that we urge everyone to sign that urges the CDC to alter its policy on TB testing. Beth and I both signed it. You can get to it here.
Now for the update. Things are going even slower now but are expected to speed up soon per the Rumor Queen, lets hope.
As of 8/8 here's our wait statistics:
Referred through: 3/22/2006
Current wait: 41 months
Projected referral date: 9/13/2012
Projected months to referral: 37
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Baby China Girl Name
Recently, Benjamin asked if his baby sister from China has a name. The answer is not yet. We have talked about names but haven't agreed upon one yet. As per our history, the name will remain secret until we have the referral and have to put her name on the paperwork thus making it official and unchangeable. We did tell Benjamin that he(and Eli) will be the first to know the name when the time comes.
That begs the question of whether we're going to keep her Chinese name and so forth. We are planning to keep her Chinese name as her middle name and name her first name after a dead relative according to Jewish tradition. She will also be given a Hebrew first and middle name following the same tradition. However, she won't get her Hebrew name until she is officially converted to Judaism (we'll have a post on that another time).
Now for the wait update:
As of 7/13 (our 2 month wait mark) here's our wait statistics:
Referred through: 3/20/2006
Current wait: 40 months
Projected referral date: 8/13/2012
Projected months to referral: 37
That begs the question of whether we're going to keep her Chinese name and so forth. We are planning to keep her Chinese name as her middle name and name her first name after a dead relative according to Jewish tradition. She will also be given a Hebrew first and middle name following the same tradition. However, she won't get her Hebrew name until she is officially converted to Judaism (we'll have a post on that another time).
Now for the wait update:
As of 7/13 (our 2 month wait mark) here's our wait statistics:
Referred through: 3/20/2006
Current wait: 40 months
Projected referral date: 8/13/2012
Projected months to referral: 37
Sunday, June 14, 2009
The Wait Begins
Now that our paper chase has ended we have a lot of time to kill while we wait. For here on out, we intend to use this blog to update everyone on "the wait" and to discuss various issues relating to our paper chasing experience and other adoption related issues such as attachment, Chinese culture, room renovations etc. We hope to post at least once a month to at least provide an update to "the wait" if nothing else.
So, for the first time as of today's post here's our wait statistics:
Referred through: 3/14/2006
Current wait: 39 months
Projected referral date: 7/13/2012
Projected months to referral: 37
How did I come up with this? Simple. Using MS Excel, I calculated the difference between the current date and referred through date to calculate the current wait. Then I extrapolated out the current wait from our LID to get a projected referral date. Finally, calculated the difference between that date and the current date to get our remaining wait. Pretty fancy huh.
Of course this is all based on current data (courtesy of the Rumor Queen) and could very well change for the better or worse. Also, remember there is a several week lag from when you get your referral until you travel to China.
That's all for now folks! Maybe things will speed up by the next post. Most recent rumor is that they are matching the rest of March but we shall see!
So, for the first time as of today's post here's our wait statistics:
Referred through: 3/14/2006
Current wait: 39 months
Projected referral date: 7/13/2012
Projected months to referral: 37
How did I come up with this? Simple. Using MS Excel, I calculated the difference between the current date and referred through date to calculate the current wait. Then I extrapolated out the current wait from our LID to get a projected referral date. Finally, calculated the difference between that date and the current date to get our remaining wait. Pretty fancy huh.
Of course this is all based on current data (courtesy of the Rumor Queen) and could very well change for the better or worse. Also, remember there is a several week lag from when you get your referral until you travel to China.
That's all for now folks! Maybe things will speed up by the next post. Most recent rumor is that they are matching the rest of March but we shall see!
Monday, May 18, 2009
We got our LID!
Today we were informed by our agency that our login date (LID) is May 13, 2009! What this means is that our dossier has been officially "logged in" at CCAA and is now in the queue for review. Not much has changed since our last post as they have reviewed dossiers logged in through April 2007 and referred through March 8, 2008. At the moment, with the current wait of 38+ months we would get our referral sometime in July 2012.
Although we are excited to finally get a LID, it is a little frustrating that it took so long as our dossier was sent to China on April 21. However, we have expected to expect the unexpected in this process so it is what it is. Hopefully, the wait will get shorter but whatever it is will be worth it in the end.
Our thoughts are currently with all those families who are so close to a referral but whose wait has been extended due to the swine flu scare. The most recent expected batch of referrals seem to have been delayed until the swine flu scare settles down. We hope this won't happen to us!
Although we are excited to finally get a LID, it is a little frustrating that it took so long as our dossier was sent to China on April 21. However, we have expected to expect the unexpected in this process so it is what it is. Hopefully, the wait will get shorter but whatever it is will be worth it in the end.
Our thoughts are currently with all those families who are so close to a referral but whose wait has been extended due to the swine flu scare. The most recent expected batch of referrals seem to have been delayed until the swine flu scare settles down. We hope this won't happen to us!
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Dossier to China!
Our adoption agency called yesterday to let us know that our dossier was back from the Chinese Consulate and will be sent on to China! What this means is that it passed authentication at the Consulate with no problems (phew!) and was returned to Bethany's HQ in Michigan. The next step is that it is sent off to the China Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA) in China to be logged in and translated into Chinese. Once logged in the real wait begins. At last report they have referred children to families with login in dates (LID) as of 3/8/06 so the wait continues to increase.
We'll get another phone call from Bethany once we have a login date. Hopefully, we'll have a login date sometime next week but may not be informed of it for a few weeks. The reason we won't have a LID before next week is because Bethany is holding our dossier until they have a few to send (to cut back on costs) but more so until Eli turns a year old (on Friday!). Yes, although the wait is 3+ years CCAA requires that your youngest child is 1 before your dossier can be logged in.
Next, there is one more "review" that our dossier goes through. This is the review by CCAA to officially approve you for adoption (on the China end). At some point our dossier will pass through CCAA's review room where it will be closely scrutinized. They might question a few things (not likely as Bethany is very thorough) and then approve it for adoption. Then, you wait until can be matched with a child. Right now, they have reviewed dossiers with LIDs through March 2007 expected to speed up soon.
We'll post again once we have our LID!
We'll get another phone call from Bethany once we have a login date. Hopefully, we'll have a login date sometime next week but may not be informed of it for a few weeks. The reason we won't have a LID before next week is because Bethany is holding our dossier until they have a few to send (to cut back on costs) but more so until Eli turns a year old (on Friday!). Yes, although the wait is 3+ years CCAA requires that your youngest child is 1 before your dossier can be logged in.
Next, there is one more "review" that our dossier goes through. This is the review by CCAA to officially approve you for adoption (on the China end). At some point our dossier will pass through CCAA's review room where it will be closely scrutinized. They might question a few things (not likely as Bethany is very thorough) and then approve it for adoption. Then, you wait until can be matched with a child. Right now, they have reviewed dossiers with LIDs through March 2007 expected to speed up soon.
We'll post again once we have our LID!
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Blog Description
I have nothing to update today as our dossier is still at the Chinese Consulate being authenticated. However, I wanted to explain some of the links I have setup on the lefthand side of the blog.
Currently, I have posted links to 2 other blogs in the "adoption links" section. The Rumor Queen blog is authored by this woman known as "The Rumor Queen" who adopted from China a ways back. She setup this website to track the wait for a referral based on several factors when she was waiting for her own referral. She has proven to be fairly accurate and decided to keep the site going after bringing her daughter home from China. This is our main source of information when we post updates on the wait. According to her site, they just referred babies to families who had LID (login dates) of March 7-8, 2006. Hence, that is why I am saying the current wait is 36 months. If you can't wait for our update check out her site. The site also has lots of good information for adoptive parents (from China) as well as forums on China adoption.
The Bethany China Blog is our adoption agency's blog on China Adoption. The blog also has updates on referrals but is mainly concentrated on adoptions related to Bethany families. It also has been a good source of information for us.
Our intention with this blog is to not only keep everyone updated on our situation but also go back and recant our experiences going through the paperwork as well as our reasonings for many of the adoption related decisions we made. We are planning posts on such topics as why we are adopting, why we choose China, why we choose Bethany and so forth. We'll try to post something at least once a month but that is sure to increase as we get closer! If there is any question you might have please feel free to ask us. We also welcome comments!
Currently, I have posted links to 2 other blogs in the "adoption links" section. The Rumor Queen blog is authored by this woman known as "The Rumor Queen" who adopted from China a ways back. She setup this website to track the wait for a referral based on several factors when she was waiting for her own referral. She has proven to be fairly accurate and decided to keep the site going after bringing her daughter home from China. This is our main source of information when we post updates on the wait. According to her site, they just referred babies to families who had LID (login dates) of March 7-8, 2006. Hence, that is why I am saying the current wait is 36 months. If you can't wait for our update check out her site. The site also has lots of good information for adoptive parents (from China) as well as forums on China adoption.
The Bethany China Blog is our adoption agency's blog on China Adoption. The blog also has updates on referrals but is mainly concentrated on adoptions related to Bethany families. It also has been a good source of information for us.
Our intention with this blog is to not only keep everyone updated on our situation but also go back and recant our experiences going through the paperwork as well as our reasonings for many of the adoption related decisions we made. We are planning posts on such topics as why we are adopting, why we choose China, why we choose Bethany and so forth. We'll try to post something at least once a month but that is sure to increase as we get closer! If there is any question you might have please feel free to ask us. We also welcome comments!
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Dossier off to the Consulate!
We were informed today that Bethany's HQ in Michigan has deemed our dossier "perfect" and sent it off to the Chinese Consulate in DC. And no, this is not an April fool's joke :) as we are perfect.
Now it goes for more authenticating via the Consulate (2-4 weeks) then back to Grand Rapids. Bethany's home office will then send it off to China to be logged in and translated into Chinese. However, it is my understanding that this won't happen before April 24 as per China's rules our youngest child has to be a year old before our dossier can be logged in. We expect a login date (LID) sometime in late April/early May and then the real wait can begin. Right now, the wait is approaching 37 months but expected to pick up soon. We shall see.
So, you might be wondering how the boys feel about this whole adoption thing. Well, obviously Eli has no idea as he is not even 1 yet. By the time he can understand we'll be close to bringing her home, we hope. Benjamin is another story. He understands that he's getting a baby sister from China (apparently he's been bragging about it at school as one of his classmates asked his mother if they could go to China to get him a baby sister too!) and is very excited. Of course, he was very excited about Eli's birth until after he was born. He has a little different perspective on Eli now, as this conversation I had with him on Friday morning illustrates:
Benjamin: "Daddy. you don't have work today?"
Me: "No, I'm off today."
Benjamin: "Am I still going to school?"
Me: "Yes, Mommy and Daddy have to go to an appointment to submit all our paperwork for your baby sister from China."
Benjamin (with excitement): "Is she going to be here when I get home?"
Me: "No, we first have to submit all this paperwork and then wait and eventually go to China to get her"
Benjamin: "Are you going to China today?"
Me: "No, it's going to be a few years before we can go to China."
Benjamin (after a few moments of thought): "Daddy, when you bring my baby sister home from China are we going to take Eli back to the hospital?"
You see what I mean? Not the first time Benjamin has made such a suggestion. Much to his disapointment, we are not taking Eli back to the hospital just in case you were wondering. :)
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