Our Adoption Timeline

Here's the process and where we're at:

Jan/05 - To adopt a child in British Columbia, regardless of where you are adopting from , you must go through one of the 5 licensed agencies in the province. We chose Choices Adoption and Councelling Services in Victoria. We could never have guessed the incredible paperchase that was to follow. We met with the agency, asked a bazillion questions, and submitted an application.

Feb/05 - Began our Homestudy. This is an indepth series of meetings with a Social Worker assigned by our agency. Their job is to determine what is in the best interest of the child, and determine if we are capable and prepared to meet the needs of a child. Our home study consisted of 7 sessions in total and was really a positive experience - thanks Debbie!

Feb/05 - We chose Family Outreach International to be our facilitator. They act as the liason between Canada and China. They will also accompany us to China with some other families to translate and make sure everything goes very smoothly. They set up all the formal meetings, legal appointments, etc and attend them with us. While there are several facilitators to choose from, we chose Family Outreach because they were so great at answering our millions of questions and they have a very comprehensive and informative web site and anyone who has used them has spoken very hightly of their personal attention. I couldn't drag a single negative comment out of anyone who has used them - and I've spoken with many.

Mar/05 - Compiled and submitted our dossier. This is a fancy term for the package of documents that is required to go to China with our application. The dossier includes: Passports, birth certificates, marriage certificates, copy of the homestudy, criminal record checks, medical evaluations including HIV and Hep B seriology, Mininstry of Social Services prior contact checks, letters from employers, financial statements, immigration approval to sponsor a child, photos of our life, friends, and family, letters from assigned guardians and a bunch of other stuff.

Mar. 31/05 - Recieved Provincial approval letter.

Apr.4/05 - Dossier was sent to Family Outreach International in Ottawa who sent it to the Chinese embassy in Ottawa to be authenticated and approved. Then they sent it back for final provincial approval in BC.

Apr.28/05 - We are officially DTC!!! This means "Dossier to China" and it's a big milestone in teh adoption process. As of 1:13 pm Fed Ex has our dossier on route to the CCAA (China Centre of Adoption Affairs) in Beijing. Hopefully we will have a LID (Log In Date) in 2 weeks or so.

August/05 - Just found out our LID is May 31/05. This is the date that we are logged into China's systems and the clock start on our wait for referral.

As of now, we are still waiting for our referral. The referral is the information about the child we are matched with and generally includes a brief write up, 2 or 3 small photos, and some other information about the child. The request on the initial application that goes to China has to include what sex and age we are requesting, although they don't always follow that request. We have requested a girl under 12 months, but could possibly get a child as old as 3 yrs. We will be thrilled either way. The vast majority of referrals are 7-11 months old at the time of referral.

Once we get a referral, we have to wait for travel approval from the Chinese governement and will travel to China 6-8 weeks after referral. We will get custody of our daughter on the first or second day we arrive and spend close to 2 weeks in China to complete all of the paperwork and legal appointments. The adoption is completely finalized in China.

Feel free to ask us any questions about the process. We're happy to answer them!