The Adoption Process
We haven't talked adoption for a while. That's mostly because I haven't wanted to publicly revisit the heartbreak of this spring. It's partially because not much has happened.
But now, we have really made progress so I want to bring you back into the inner circle.
The adoption process in China is totally different than Bulgaria, so let me give you a brief overview as we navigate the next few months. (And keep in mind that China's program changes fairly frequently so this may not be the same process that your friend went through 5 years ago or that your friend will go through 5 years from now.)
There are 2 ways to adopt a child from China.
Pre-approval (PA)
or
Locked-In Date (LID)
What we did this spring was PA. A family goes the PA route when they find a child on the "waiting child" list but they are not yet "registered" to adopt in China. (These are not necessarily the terms used in an adoption from China, but these are the terms I have used here with you before, so consistency.)
You apply for pre-approval and when you receive it, it means that child is yours so long as you get your dossier completed by a given date and the information in your dossier fully matches what was on your pre-approval application and there've been no major changes in your family situation.
Summary: You fall in love with a child, submit for PA, receive PA, submit your dossier, finish up some other paperwork, and travel to get your sweet baby.
The LID process is the other way around. You complete all of your paperwork first, submit it to the China and then you can be matched with your child. This process can take a wide variety of time depending on several factors, which I won't go into here, but is generally a a couple of months up to 18 months for a child living with some special needs. (Email me if you have specific questions and I will talk to you all day!)
Summary: You submit your dossier, become LID, fall in love with a child, finish up some other paperwork, and travel to get your sweet baby.
We are about a hot second from being LID. Woot.
Our immigration approval, the most difficult piece for us of every home study, is complete. Woot.
Our final piece of paperwork is on it's way to our agency as we speak. Woot.
When AGCI receives that special piece of paper, it has one more step to go through before it can be sent to China and we can get logged in.
Over the past couple of months I have really been losing hope. Feeling discouraged. Right now, in this moment, I don't. It may come back. It will probably come back.
But right now I feel excited again. I feel that we are actively working towards our next family member. I feel that there is light at the end of this tunnel. I feel "Oh yeah, this is all about a CHILD! A sweet child who will be in our family!"
But now, we have really made progress so I want to bring you back into the inner circle.
The adoption process in China is totally different than Bulgaria, so let me give you a brief overview as we navigate the next few months. (And keep in mind that China's program changes fairly frequently so this may not be the same process that your friend went through 5 years ago or that your friend will go through 5 years from now.)
There are 2 ways to adopt a child from China.
Pre-approval (PA)
or
Locked-In Date (LID)
What we did this spring was PA. A family goes the PA route when they find a child on the "waiting child" list but they are not yet "registered" to adopt in China. (These are not necessarily the terms used in an adoption from China, but these are the terms I have used here with you before, so consistency.)
You apply for pre-approval and when you receive it, it means that child is yours so long as you get your dossier completed by a given date and the information in your dossier fully matches what was on your pre-approval application and there've been no major changes in your family situation.
Summary: You fall in love with a child, submit for PA, receive PA, submit your dossier, finish up some other paperwork, and travel to get your sweet baby.
The LID process is the other way around. You complete all of your paperwork first, submit it to the China and then you can be matched with your child. This process can take a wide variety of time depending on several factors, which I won't go into here, but is generally a a couple of months up to 18 months for a child living with some special needs. (Email me if you have specific questions and I will talk to you all day!)
Summary: You submit your dossier, become LID, fall in love with a child, finish up some other paperwork, and travel to get your sweet baby.
We are about a hot second from being LID. Woot.
Our immigration approval, the most difficult piece for us of every home study, is complete. Woot.
Our final piece of paperwork is on it's way to our agency as we speak. Woot.
When AGCI receives that special piece of paper, it has one more step to go through before it can be sent to China and we can get logged in.
Over the past couple of months I have really been losing hope. Feeling discouraged. Right now, in this moment, I don't. It may come back. It will probably come back.
But right now I feel excited again. I feel that we are actively working towards our next family member. I feel that there is light at the end of this tunnel. I feel "Oh yeah, this is all about a CHILD! A sweet child who will be in our family!"
A stack of paperwork has been cried over, stressed about, completed, and mailed (with prayers and tracking. Always tracking.)
Bring on the next steps...
xo,
M
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