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is 4 years typical? (and hi!)
s/o sandra bullock.
hi! new here.
I've been a lurker on and off for a few months now. I'm usually on saIF (dd is a true IVF miracle.) dh and I hope to start the foster/adopt process later this summer. we're not looking for a newborn and most likely (maybe?) we will go to korea (dh is asian.) so is 4 years waiting something we should expect and prepare for? we're both very new to this whole concept of adoption so no doubt I will have a ton of questions.
thanks!
it's great to see so many names I recognize!
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Re: is 4 years typical? (and hi!)
I'm wondering if she struggled with infertility first and that's what they meant by saying the baby has been a 4 year process?!?!
and as private as a person as she likes to be, I'm wondering if she was very selective plus being in as many movies as she has been lately, it does put a stall on things i'm sure.
It really depends on the type of adoption and a lot of other factors. Maybe it was 4 years from the time they first started thinking about adoption. Maybe they pursued one type of adoption (eg, international or foster/adopt) and it fell through/wasn't for them, so they moved on to DA. They may have had issues with their adoption agency. They may have been looking for a specific type of situation and either it was really strict or they broadened their scope as time went on. Or a host of other things that aren't being reported. Heck, the whole thing was done without anyone knowing!
I know that adoption waits from China are getting close to the 4 year mark. DH's CW just got a referral after almost 4 years. There are some folks on here who are doing Korean adoption who can give you a better timeline. Foster/adopt can have quick placements (or not) but finalization can take months/years, but there are also children who are legally free for adoption from the foster system.
I think the best idea is to talk to agencies and get a feel for what their wait times are like. Then you'll start to get a better idea of what you're likely in for.
Hi there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I don't know much about the US system as I'm in Canada, but I just wanted to say I'm SO thrilled you guys are moving on to adoption!!!!!!!! So nice to see your name over here!
At our rate it would have been.
We tried ALMOST 2 years domestically before we switched to IA. We worked with more than one agency.
We applied to our IA agency in December, got our referral in March. I am in heaven.
Regarding China... the people who are getting referrals now submitted their dossiers just about four years ago, but many observers predict that people submitting their dossiers today may expect to wait at least *seven* years for a child without special needs. China has slowed down significantly in the past few years. (See the website https://chinaadoptionforecast.com/ for some interesting stats -- the Chinese central adoption authority currently processes only 3.5 days' worth of dossiers each month.)
As for Korea, I've heard that program is much faster than China, but Korea also hopes to end international adoption entirely by 2012, I think. There are posters here who have adopted from Korea, and perhaps they can give you a better idea of their timelines.
Foster/adopt is often the quickest for placement (once the foster home licensing process is done), but as Dr. L said, there can be a very long wait until finalization, since the initial goal is almost always reunification with bio family and you'd have to wait to see if the child will become free for adoption. There are children in the foster care system whose bio parents' rights have already been terminated and they are already free for adoption. If they don't yet have an identified adoptive placement, they tend to be older, have special needs, or be part of a sibling group, aka "hard to place." Some of the children who are free for adoption can be found on the website www.adoptuskids.org
So, in short, as other posters said, the length of the process depends on a lot of things -- what type of adoption you are pursuing, what agency you are using, what kind of situations you are willing to accept, etc. Once you decide what type of adoption you are interested in pursuing, and begin "interviewing" agencies, start asking about their typical wait times and the number of placements per year.
Welcome to the the board!
I was very surprised by the timeline. From the time we had our first meeting with a facilitator, had our home study done, applied with agencies and had our first match, it was only 4 months (this match fell through). We were also presented to 4 more birth moms and turned down showing our profile to about 2 others. After the failed match, we updated our home study and contacted our facilitator that we were ready and two weeks later I was holding my precious Ben.
Maybe they just took longer doing their home study and finding an agency. Maybe like a previous poster said she went through IF treatments and it had taken 4 years to get to the point of adoption. Since she adopted and AA baby I would think it wouldn't have taken as long either because there are more parents waiting for CC babies than AA or bi-racial. I am anxious to read the People magazine because I hope she'll talk about the process and maybe explain better why it took so long.