First, a little adoption terminology lesson:
CCAA - China Center of Adoption Affairs is the government agency in China who oversees the adoption program. Dossier - Fancy name for our adoption file, which is basically filled with the blood, sweat & tears of six months worth of paperchasing (not to mention all our hopes and dreams).
LID - Log in Date - this is the date our dossier was logged into the database at the CCAA (our LID is 2/17/06).
Review Room - this is were the CCAA reviews all the paperwork in our dossier to make sure everything is in order and complies with their guidelines.
Matching Room - this is were the CCAA actually matches you to an available child in their system (it's a total mystery how they actually do the matching, although there are theories out there).
Referral - this is the paperwork on the child they have matched you with and includes photos and medical information. Referrals are issued once a month.
TA - travel approval - this means that an appointment has been made in China for your adoption to be finalized and they are authorizing you to travel.
Since our dossier has been reviewed already, it is basically in a HUGE stack of files waiting to go into the matching room.I don't know at what point our dossier goes from the holding area to the matching room, but I suspect that once they are almost done matching January LID's the February dossiers will be heading in.
This is the matching room...the place where all the magic happens and they match us to a precious baby waiting for a family. How long will it be until we get our referral?? Well, if I had a crystal ball I could answer that for you, but no such luck! The CCAA has been issuing about two weeks of LID's each month and they have issued referrals for LID's up to October 13th. If they maintain this pace, we are likely to see our referral in Sept/Oct. If they speed up, it could be sooner. It's a monthly waiting game to see how many dossiers the CCAA gets through.
Well, that's that in a nutshell. This waiting game has been our life for the past year and it appears we have another eight months or so to go! Fasten your seatbelts, it may be a bumpy ride! ;)
8 comments:
Thanks for all the great blog help...I finally got it all worked out!!!
I love how you explained the waiting process...I find it so hard to explain this to people not in the China adoption world....I might have to blog-lift this post and send it to all my family and friends!!!
Have a great week!
It feels so great to be through review and more comfortable that our bumpy ride will lead to an eventual landing...in China where our kiddos are. :0)
Hey Donna, I think I see your dossier next to mine on the third shelf over!!! This is pretty exciting to think that next stop is referrals!!!
HUGS
Lisa
Thanks for giving the detailed explanation for those of us who aren't as familar with the process. This is good news, congratulations!
Amy
Wow, when I see all of the dossiers, I feel so overwhelmed. There are just so many of them.
Hey, getting out of the review room is a big deal...congratulations! Here's hoping they speed things up a bit and you get your referral sooner!
I love those pics! Makes the "Matching Room" seem real, not some fantasy place in my head!!! Yep, Sept/Oct... or if you're like me, you'll be hoping that Dec/Jan/Feb are all allocated as whole months, in one month, bringing our referral a little closer - could I really be that stupid as to lull myself into such false hope... yep, I am.
Donna,
I have gotten so many comments on my blog and I was wondering if you wanted to get into a little header design business or something..
Let me know, I could refer a lot of ladies your way.
I would also be interested in placing an order for another header or two. I want to swap mine out from time to time. Let me know.
You can delet this if you want to remain anonymous.
You are very talented though.
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