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I don't have any pregnancy test photo to post this time, but Ted and I are sort of "expecting"... just in a different way. This is the official blog announcement that we are in the process of adopting from China!
Those of you who have talked to us recently probably already heard this news, and those of you who have talked to us EVER might know that this is something we always planned to do. Our "family plan" has always been to give birth to one baby and adopt the second. So we are moving ahead with the plan!
This has actually been in the works since before Christmas, when we decided it was time to get started and attended some seminars and stuff. We count our official "start date" as January 10th, though, which is when we had the first interview with our "adoption practitioner". He is basically a social worker who does a series of interviews with you to talk about parenting, and why you're adopting, and the stability of your relationship, and all that good stuff.
We finished all those interviews, got all the necessary paperwork done (which included criminal background checks in Canada and the US, reference letters, medical checks, etc). Now the social worker is in the process of writing up our "Home Study" which is where he compiles all the info he has gotten about us, and then concludes with a recommendation of whether or not we would be fit adoptive parents. According to his timeline he should be finished that any day.
After that, the next step will be to submit the Home Study to the Ministry of Social Services (or something like that, not sure of the exact name) where they will give the final approval. Next the documents get notarized, translated, and sent to China where they are approved again. THEN finally if you are approved through all that, they match you up with an available baby and send the info for that baby to you (it is called a "referral") after which point you travel to China to pick the baby up, about 6-8 weeks after receiving the referral.
To answer the most common questions we get... it will probably be spring 2007 or maybe even later when we get our baby. The baby will almost definitely be a girl, although we didn't specify, most of the babies available in China are girls. The baby will probably be about 1 year old, I wish we could get her younger, but "that's just the way it is". Why adoption? Well, just because we both feel there are enough children in the world, we have space in our home and our hearts, so why not open up this space to someone who really needs it? Ted was adopted as a baby, and we would like to "pass on the favour". Also I am totally fine with skipping the whole pregnancy and giving birth thing this time around. I mean, it was cool to experience that, but it was so hard too. I certainly don't mind doing it a different way this time. Why China? Honestly, for me, it's mostly because the process seems a lot easier. Adopting domestically is not just one roadmap that leads to a definite baby, it seems from the research we have done. If you want a young baby it involves "selling yourself" to birth parents, allowing them a window during which they could change their minds (how heartbreaking!), and potentially very long waits. The process of adopting from China is well established, pretty well the same for everyone, and takes about 18 months - 2 years on average, so it's pretty predictable. We also have concerns that if we adopted domestically we could be taking a baby from some other potential adoptive family who couldn't conceive biologically and really wanted a same-race child. And, we feel that children in Canada who aren't adopted are usually in foster homes and so on, fairly well cared for, as opposed to in orphanages like in China where no matter how well they are treated, they are still institutionalized. So, there's lots of stuff to think about. Basically, though, we always pictured that we would adopt internationally so this feels right for us. We are excited we will get to travel to China too! From the trip reports I've read from other adoptive parents, it sounds like they get to do quite a bit of sightseeing in addition to picking up their baby, so that will be cool.
Well, I think that's about it for now, but I'll be sure to post more about how this all unfolds as we work through the process! We are excited about it, but just staying calm because we know it will take a while and now that we've finished collecting the paperwork and so on, there's nothing much for us to do except sit back and wait for each step along the way. It is very strange (and sad, actually) to think our future baby might actually already be born and be out there somewhere... I hope she is doing okay... hold on, little one, we're working on getting you into a safe loving home!
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Wow Janice, Ted, and Peyton, what great news! As an adopted person, I'm really glad that you have decided to build your family through adoption. As a member of the human race, I'm glad you are giving a Chinese orphan the chance at love, life and the kind of childhood that everyone deserves.
Cool!