An anniversay we will not be celebrating with joy -- or with Miaya! January 12, 2007 will mark the one year anniversary of our dossier (adoption application documents) being registered at the China Center Of Adoption Affairs office in Biejing. At that time, we felt confident we would either have her home for Christmas, or be in China picking her up.
The slowdown in the pace of matching children to applicants seems to have several causes: an increase in the number of inter-country applications, decreasing number of of children being abandoned, and increasing numbers of domestic adoptions in China. Opinions on all theses factors vary depending on the source. China has an estimated 1,000 orphanages or Social Welfare Institutions (SWI), of these, about 250 are participating in International Adoption (IA). The other 750 SWI's do not participate for various reasons. Many apparently do not meet certain minimum standards for child care, and it has been reported that many of them are not aware of the IA program.
According to various reports, the SWI's participating in IA have seen decreases in abandonments, especially for children without special needs. There is also a waiting list for domestic adoptions in China as well. Chinese officials are working to bring more of these other institutions up to standards so they can participate in IA as well.
It is diffcult to see this anniversary approach, especially with no firm end in sight. If the rate of macthing stays the same, we may not get our referral until August or September of this year (2007). A 19-20 month wait for our referral, plus another 6 to 8 weeks to get all the approvals and arrangements to travel. A very long wait from when we began paperchasing in August of 2005. Then it was 6 to 7 months wait time to referral, had things stayed the same, we should have already been back with her several months ago.
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