A lot can change in a year. It doesn't seem like it, but it's been almost a year since I last posted an adoption update. We are still waiting for a referral from Uganda, as things have really slowed in that program. A short overview of our adoption journey so far...
November 2012: We filled out the formal application to start the process for an international adoption in Uganda. (wait times for a referral were estimated at 3-12 months)
March 2013: We started the home study process.
May 2013: First official home study completed!
July 2013: Took about 1.5 months to finish the dossier and sent it to Uganda on July 8, 2013.
July 2014: Waiting a year. The wait was extended to 12-24 months.
July 2015: Waiting 2 years. The wait was extended to 36-48 months.
September 2015: We decided to do a concurrent adoption! We will keep our paperwork in Uganda current, but we will also begin the paperwork for an adoption in China!
October 1, 2015: We were officially accepted into the China program!
So what does a concurrent adoption mean? We will pursue both adoptions at the same time. But once we receive a referral in one country, we will go on hold in the other country until the adoptive child has been placed in our home for at least 6 months. So while we will be doing both adoptions, there will be some time between placements.
Because the China program is fairly established, it's likely that we will receive a referral from China before we will get a match from Uganda. Wait times for China are typically 1-12 months.
We just started the process of updating our home study specifically for China. Once that is finished (in the next month or so), we can begin work on our dossier (huge pile of paperwork) for China. My first dossier for Uganda took me about a month and a half to complete. I am expecting to finish this one in well under a month! :)
These 2 adoptions are treated as completely separate adoptions. Separate paperwork, email addresses, fees, etc. We will likely start doing some fund-raising again at some point...rummage sale in the spring, grant applications, etc. Fun stuff! Not really, but totally worth it for these kiddos that just need the love of a family and the love of our Savior, Jesus.
Please pray that we are perfectly matched with the child God has for our family and that we can have peace about some difficult decisions we will be making about accepting a match for a child that might have some special medical needs.
We are so excited to share this news with you all!
