Today we got word that our LAST piece of paper was received by our agency, CCAI Adoption Services.
We were able to get all of our paperwork to them and checked in on December 6, 2012. This gave them time to look through it all to make sure that it was accurate.
So once they received this last piece they were able to approve our dossier and send it on to translation.
The translation process should take a few days and then our file will be sent on to China. Officially ending our paper chase portion of the adoption process. This process has taken just a little over 6 months…which is average. I had to really bust my bootie though and personally walk papers into state offices and push and pay extra to get this done so quickly.
THIS IS A BIG DEAL
Now we move into the Matching phase.
My agency told me that they have about 200 families in their matching file at any given time. We got into their “line” at the beginning of July when we completed our Medical Checklist sheet stating which special needs we would be comfortable with.
You figure that our agency matches 25 families each month so in 6 months they would have matched 150 families….moving us way up in that “line.”
Before finishing the paperwork, if a child’s file came along that matched our Medical Checklist but required that the paperwork be to China, we would have been skipped…even if we were at the front of the line. But now that we have all of that paperwork done, if a child’s file comes along that matches our checklist, then we are eligible.
And since we’ve got to be getting close to the front of the line, we’re hoping that it won’t be too much longer. But they told us that it could be up to 6 months from the time we get our paperwork in just to make sure we were prepared for the wait.
China will be celebrating Chinese New Year or Spring Festival on February 10th. They will probably release files sometime before that. We are excited to have gotten to this step before they go on vacation!
Things could get very interesting around here very quickly!
We are working on decorating the room and picking out names. This is becoming very real!
UPDATE 1/11/13: Our dossier was sent to China today! WAHOO!!!
PS – Check back for more updates or check the Adoption Timeline