About "The Wait for DD#2"

That's, "About the Wait for Darling Daughter #2..."

There is no way to predict what the wait time for referral will be. I waited only 6 months for Elizabeth's; this one will be different. One thing is certain: wait times will go up before they go down again (if they go down again). This is what I do know:

1. There are 2 months of LIDs (log-in dates) left to be referred for 2005 (the May 1st, 2007, referrals covered up to November 1, 2005);
2. There are 12 months left for 2006 (all of 2006);
3. We are 4 months into 2007 (January - April);
4. So, there are 18 months of LIDs to be referred as of today;
5. There has not been a full month of LIDs referred since September, 2005 (when I received Elizabeth's referral, by the way)(the average is 11 days per month since then); and
6. the CCAA (see its site to the left of the blog) says that there are fewer babies available (paper ready) to be referred - that is, it is not that the CCAA is dragging its feet reviewing dossiers and matching babies with families, it is that the number of babies available to be referred is smaller than number of adoptive parents' dossiers waiting to be referred.

So, the absolute earliest that I would receive the referral for DD#2 (using the above analysis, if the CCAA refers 30 days of LIDs each month from now on) would be 18 months from my LID of December, 2006, or in May, 2008. Yuck. Now, if they refer less than that per month, then my referral date is pushed farther into the future, and I don't want to go there...Keep your fingers crossed!

There are so many variables that could affect referrals: if the CCAA allows more orphanages to participate in international adoption and more children become available for adoption; if prospective adoptive parents in the referral pipeline decide the wait is too long and drop out; if the CCAA begins to refer more LIDs each month, now that the new rules have gone into effect as of May 1, 2007...those are just a few off the top of my head. It's the "not knowing when I will receive her referral" part that is so very, very hard.