It's looking like 2011

While chatting with some other parents currently in the process of adopting from China through the same adoption agency as we're using, I found out this morning that DCFS will probably take even longer than we thought to get us an endorsement on our home study. I'd be lying if I didn't tell you that I'm discouraged about that.

When we first started the process in January, the step of DCFS signing off on the home study was taking about 4 weeks for most families. Mere weeks later, that process jumped to more of an 8 week estimate. This morning, I learned that a family whose home study was received by DCFS on April 8 didn't get their endorsement until YESTERDAY, June 21...that's well over 10 weeks, closer to 11. Therefore, the staff shortage at DCFS alone is adding a good six weeks or more to our estimates.

I feel very badly for all of us that are so anxious to get Shaling here as quickly as possible. I feel especially bad for Preston, because I was just so sure we'd have her by Christmas that I've used that as our gauge for trying to help him be patient through the process.

Just as a review for everyone, here is the timeline that we were given in January:

Home Study & USCIS approval (I-800A): 2-3 months
Dossier submitted to China: 2-3 months
LID/Log In Date: 2-3 weeks after submitting the dossier
LOA/Letter of Acceptance: 3-4 months after the LID
Hague Process: new process/length unknown
This process consists of submitting a form (I-800) to USCIS, which will be approved by USCIS, at which time they will transfer our case to the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou and our adoption agency will submit all required documents to the consulate & China Centre for Adoption Affairs
TA/Travel Approval Notice: 5-6 weeks after LOA
CA/Consulate Appointment in Guangzhou: 4-6 weeks after the TA
Travel to China: arrive 10 days PRIOR to the CA

Now some of those steps do overlap, for instance, we've got most of the papers gathered for our dossier submission (did that while gathering papers for our home study), so that part shouldn't take us an additional 2-3 months. Because I'm familiar with some people who went through the process last year (2009), I am aware that expecting our process to take roughly 8 months was realistic.

Unfortunately, that first step "Home Study & USCIS approval (I-800A)" isn't anywhere NEAR complete for us. Considering we received pre-approval from China to adopt Shaling on January 26, that puts us at 5 months and counting, WAY over the 2-3 month estimate. AND, we haven't even submitted the I-800A to USCIS yet, because we haven't received the home study endorsement from DCFS. Submitting the I-800A to USCIS and awaiting their response will take 6-10 weeks as well.

At this point, I suspect we won't be submitting our dossier to China until October. As you can see from the timeline above, that means China may not even send us our Letter Of Acceptance until early 2011. Our Travel Approval comes nearly 2 months after that and our Consulate Appointment another 4-6 weeks after that. Heck, here at one point we thought we *might* be getting Shaling in LATE summer 2010 and now it looks quite possible we won't be getting her until early summer 2011.

I've been trying not to say/type all of those details out, as I kept telling myself that I should remain optimistic and that perhaps some of these ensuing steps would surprise me and happen quickly. At this juncture though, in order to remain patient and attempt to help Preston remain patient, I needed to re-evaluate where we were at on the timeline.

Please pray for our little girl to keep her heart open to joining our family and to also help her realize how much we already love her and want her. One of my concerns is that with the amount of time that will pass between her being told she will be adopted and the time we actually go get her, she will think WE are the ones holding up the process. Please also pray for the three of us, that though we may have discouraging days like today, we won't let them dampen our spirits for the long haul.