Monday, July 03, 2006

Update (July 3, 2006)

Wow, only two months into our long wait and I am soooo anxious. I am ready to go right now. Lisa seems to be handling the wait much better than I. We both try our best to keep busy and keep our minds off the wait.
There is so much going on right now that could potentially effect our wait time.
First of all I am keeping a close eye on the situation with the North Korean missile test. From what I have read, China looks at North Korea as a sore thumb, but I am sure if things got out of hand that they would side up with them long before siding up with the U.S. Anyway, I am probably reading way too much into this situation but I see it as a potential show stopper for our little Alison if things get out of hand and China cuts off all diplomatic ties with the U.S.
Also I have been following the Rumor Queen web site recently. That is an excellent site for keeping up to date with the current situation with the CCAA as well as getting information from others who are in the process. I just have to take it all with a grain of salt. After all, it is called the "Rumor Queen".
Here is a picture from the CCAA web site that lists the current status of document processing.

As you can see, The CCAA has finished review of documents posted before October 31, 2005 and have placed children with families who had log-in-dates on or before June 28, 2005. Our Log-in-Date is April 29, 2006. We should be in the review room sometime around September or October and are expecting our referral around April or May of 2007. Here is a good explanation of the process that goes on when your documents go to the CCAA.


1. CHI Beijing staff translates your dossier and takes it to the CCAA.
2. Your dossier enters the CCAA administration office and sometimes can wait for 1 month+ to be logged in (ours took 24 days and recent LIDs have been assigned even quicker).
3. Your dossier waits to begin the process. This currently takes 3 to 4 months.
4. The CCAA administration office passes your dossiers to Bridge of Love where they verify your dossier's translation. This process takes from 1 to 2 months.
5. Your dossier is passed to Department I for review. This process takes from 1 to 2 months (Currently they have completed the review of Dossiers registered prior to October 31, 2005).
6. Your dossier is passed to Department II for matching. The length of this step can vary dependent on many factors - mostly by the # of paper-ready children available vs. the # of registered families by LID. It can take from 1 to 6+ months.
7. Once matched, your referral is sent to the administrative office to be signed by all the CCAA directors and sent to CHI. This can take several weeks.
8. You return your acceptance of referral letter to the CCAA.
9. The CCAA sends your travel approval to come to China to complete your adoption. This process takes about 1 month.

The current wait from LID to referral is 12.5 months as of 6/2006, but many are predicting it may even be longer than that.