Adoption update for those not "in the know"

Well being that I started this blog for the purpose of keeping family and friends in the know... I guess I should babble on the mundane happenings in the world of adoption. Everyone in the know... run away fast... this will be a perfectly boring post for you!!!

As of right now the CC@AA has matched families with log-in-dates through March 8, 2006. Yes, people that year is correct... 2006. It is now May of 2009. They are more than 3 years behind. I am logged in in April of 2007... you do the math. It's not good!

They have not matched more than a measly 2-5 per month in ohhhh about 3 years. And this month they have not even sent referrals yet and it's the 20th today. They "normally" and I use that term loosely, send referrals during the first week of the month and it ranges at about 28-33 days between batches. It has now been approximately 47 days since the last batch of referrals were received. Why you ask? In a nut shell... Pig Flu. Here is what our fearless leader AKA Rum@r Queen had to say on the subject back in the end of April.... Click the date to go to the actual post on RQ.

April 30th, 2009

The way I read the CC@AA’s announcement is that those holding a TA can travel, but the CC@AA would rather they wait. I’d like for someone who grew up speaking and reading Mandarin to read the Mandarin version and give us their input on that, but my reading of the English version is just that the agencies should “counsel” their families to wait, but that they aren’t telling families who already have their TA that they absolutely cannot come.

As for those waiting for referral or TA, I think you’re just going to have to wait until next week to get a definitive answer. The CC@AA is giving different answers to different agencies, and in the past when that has happened it has sometimes meant that the higher ups haven’t reached a final decision yet but they are discussing all of the options. Employees then give out information based on what they want to happen, or sometimes based on what their superior wants to happen. So, those who don’t think they should halt referrals say that everything will proceed normally, and those who think they should halt referral and TA’s say they aren’t going to issue them for a short time.

My guess is that the agreed upon decision was that since they are going into a long weekend that they would just wait and see what the state of things is when they return and then they would make a formal decision and announcement. The only thing that needed to be addressed right away was the question of those already holding TA’s, so they posted that they’d rather those people wait, and that they would automatically extend the expiration date so families could wait without worrying about their travel approval expiring.

To recap, here is what agencies are reporting:

• Several agencies have been told the “20 to 30 days” thing, that referrals and TA’s will not be issued for 20 to 30 days and then another decision will need to be made at that time.
• Several agencies have just been told referrals and TA’s are not being sent at this time due to the swine flu outbreak.
• Several agencies have been told the rumor is not true and that once the matches are made they will be mailed as normal.

However, under “normal” circumstances we usually would have seen TA’s by now. So (assuming the agencies have nothing on the way) I believe that the CC@AA is at the very least holding off until they come back from their long weekend to make a decision.

So... here we sit and wait with yet another speed bump in the road. I've been watching the message boards this week very closely, as some of my "real life" blog friends are leaving as I write this to travel to China to pick up their daughters. So to negate what some agencies have told their clients.. TA's (travel approvals) were indeed issued and families are allowed to travel at their own risk. AND... just today there have been some pretty substantial rumors that referrals were just sent out and the cut off is March 14th 2006. (6 days worth).

So now the question stands... will they resume "normal" practice and send another batch of referrals the first week in June or does this VERY LATE batch throw a whole wrench into the timeline we are currently used to relying on? Adoption is not for the faint of heart... nor the impatient. This is a roller coaster of emotion and fear and joy.

Where I struggle the most is in making present life decisions. Job changes, location changes... all things to consider with the forethought that it will impact another human at some point. But at what point is it okay to make changes or just stay in a holding pattern. There are always so many factors to consider that it seriously makes my brain hurt. The biggest and most current struggle is my job... I want to move into educational administration, but as my closest friends know... the life-altering factors that change could cause prior to completing the adoption are so uncertain. I'm so very torn. I change my mind daily and have good reasons to back up each side of my own internal arguments. It's not easy being in my brain!

I hope to get back into the reporting of all things adoption. That is what this journal is about. I want to get back to more regular posting.. mostly because at some point I want to be able to look back when I do find out who "she" is and see what I was doing on the day she is born or any other important day I will be desperate to remember. I want to print this one day into a book of sorts for her so that she can read about what I was doing during these times... and I don't want a book about me griping about work all the time. I want to record life, all the good stuff, mundane stuff, silly stuff and rough stuff. So be warned... this place could get really scattered and well... boring! I have to get back to the mindset that it is a journal for me... as much as it is for the bloggy universe!!!!

~Night all