It has been one month since our documents arrived in Vietnam!
The list serves are still buzzing with news that time lines are not as short as they used to be. There are also messages about large adoption agencies that are now not allowing prospective parents to specify that they want girls. Agencies can set their own restrictions above and beyond those imposed by the country of the child's origin. So, it appears that agencies that realize that there are more boys available than girls are no longer taking applications from parents that want to specify gender. (Note that prospective parents that want girls can still find other agencies to work with).
So, to keep from obsessing over time frames and rumors, I decided to do a bit of research on charities that benefit Vietnamese children in areas of health, education etc. Here are some links to some such charities if anyone is interested in learning more:
Project Vietnam
Catalyst Foundation
VNHelp
East Meets West Foundation
Monday, March 26, 2007
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Counting Down
Okay, I am already starting to over estimate the amount of time that we have been waiting...
So, I decided to find a countdown ticker, which is something that I have seen on other adoption blogs. I looked around, and Lilypie.com seems to have a monolopy on free adoption tickers. All the other websites I found with tickers seemed to be geared toward known time frames. So, I created one (with a cute elephant) at Lilypie and put it at the bottom of the blog. And, as you can see...it has not been very long since our documents arrived in Vietnam (even though it seems like a long time).
Adoptionbuzz.org has broken down the timeframes found in the agreement between the U.S. and Vietnam (there are links to both adoptionbuzz and the agreement to the right in the links list).
The timeline identified in Article 40.1 is 120 days. Article 40 also allows for the period to be prolonged 30 days for police verification. The breakdown is as follows:
7 days for the Department of International Adoptions to review the submitted dossier (Art 42.1).
7 days for the Provincial Ministry of Justice to request the orphanage to begin collecting documents for the child dossier (Art 43.1).
30 days for orphanage to agree to place child for adoption and compile the documents that make-up the child dossier (Art 43.2).
30 days for Provincial Ministry of Justice to review the legality/accuracy of the child dossier (Art 45.1).
30 days for the police offices to verify any unconfirmed information within the child dossier (Art 45.2).
7 days for Department of International Adoptions to review the child dossier and the adoptive parents dossier (Art 46.1).
7 days for the Provincial Ministry of Justice to invite the adoptive parents to travel to Vietnam (Art 47.1).
This would mean that if all is going well, the orphanage is either waiting to find a child for us or is putting together a dossier for a child for us. Of course, there are no guarantees on timeline...
So, while we wait, our agency (as well as friends we know that have adopted) recommended looking at day cares, and getting on waiting lists. We visited our first one on Friday afternoon, and we are on a waiting list...they do not anticipate having any openings until September, so I guess it is good to be on a list...
So, I decided to find a countdown ticker, which is something that I have seen on other adoption blogs. I looked around, and Lilypie.com seems to have a monolopy on free adoption tickers. All the other websites I found with tickers seemed to be geared toward known time frames. So, I created one (with a cute elephant) at Lilypie and put it at the bottom of the blog. And, as you can see...it has not been very long since our documents arrived in Vietnam (even though it seems like a long time).
Adoptionbuzz.org has broken down the timeframes found in the agreement between the U.S. and Vietnam (there are links to both adoptionbuzz and the agreement to the right in the links list).
The timeline identified in Article 40.1 is 120 days. Article 40 also allows for the period to be prolonged 30 days for police verification. The breakdown is as follows:
7 days for the Department of International Adoptions to review the submitted dossier (Art 42.1).
7 days for the Provincial Ministry of Justice to request the orphanage to begin collecting documents for the child dossier (Art 43.1).
30 days for orphanage to agree to place child for adoption and compile the documents that make-up the child dossier (Art 43.2).
30 days for Provincial Ministry of Justice to review the legality/accuracy of the child dossier (Art 45.1).
30 days for the police offices to verify any unconfirmed information within the child dossier (Art 45.2).
7 days for Department of International Adoptions to review the child dossier and the adoptive parents dossier (Art 46.1).
7 days for the Provincial Ministry of Justice to invite the adoptive parents to travel to Vietnam (Art 47.1).
This would mean that if all is going well, the orphanage is either waiting to find a child for us or is putting together a dossier for a child for us. Of course, there are no guarantees on timeline...
So, while we wait, our agency (as well as friends we know that have adopted) recommended looking at day cares, and getting on waiting lists. We visited our first one on Friday afternoon, and we are on a waiting list...they do not anticipate having any openings until September, so I guess it is good to be on a list...
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Celebrity Power
Well, it has been reported that Angelina Jolie is in Vietnam finalizing her adoption. I guess the estimate of three months was really more like...well...three weeks...see International Herald article.
The adoption list serves are buzzing, because there are many families (including families that have asked for toddlers) that have been waiting longer.
I have made a conscious decision not to get upset over the clear advantages associated with fame and money. I really think that Angelina is certainly doing great things in the international community...lots of people with fame and money do not do half as much. Also, it is great that she has chosen to grow her family through adoption. So, as long as all is ethical (and I do not think that there are any reasons to assume otherwise)...best wishes to her and her new child!
The adoption list serves are buzzing, because there are many families (including families that have asked for toddlers) that have been waiting longer.
I have made a conscious decision not to get upset over the clear advantages associated with fame and money. I really think that Angelina is certainly doing great things in the international community...lots of people with fame and money do not do half as much. Also, it is great that she has chosen to grow her family through adoption. So, as long as all is ethical (and I do not think that there are any reasons to assume otherwise)...best wishes to her and her new child!
Sunday, March 11, 2007
The Sneetches
My parents (future grandparents) came into town this weekend. We had a good time shopping, and we bought a couple of new items for the nursery. One is a white chest of drawers that seemed very inexpensive, but we found out that that was because it was more of a kit than a piece of furniture...all assembly required. It was a huge box of many many pieces that Nate and Dad put together for us. It turned out great! I added some drawer pulls in the shape of green stars. So, I think that we are finished buying nursery furniture!
In addition, my parents also bought us an original framed Dr. Seuss print for the nursery (it is 119/1500 of "Star Belly Friends"). We love it! You can see a picture of it at the Dr. Seuss art website.
In other news, we read that Angelina and Brad had identified a particular toddler to adopt on their trip to Vietnam, and so they are estimating that because a child is alreday identified in their case, that it will only take them about three months to get through the process. So, it will apparently not be comparable to our timeline even though our documents got their around the same time theirs did. (Actually, since they are not married, I read that the the application is in Angelina's name alone.)
In addition, my parents also bought us an original framed Dr. Seuss print for the nursery (it is 119/1500 of "Star Belly Friends"). We love it! You can see a picture of it at the Dr. Seuss art website.
In other news, we read that Angelina and Brad had identified a particular toddler to adopt on their trip to Vietnam, and so they are estimating that because a child is alreday identified in their case, that it will only take them about three months to get through the process. So, it will apparently not be comparable to our timeline even though our documents got their around the same time theirs did. (Actually, since they are not married, I read that the the application is in Angelina's name alone.)
Friday, March 02, 2007
Adoption in the News: Angelina and Brad on the Journey to Vietnam as well...
CNN just posted a story that states that Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt filed papers to adopt from Vietnam about the same time that we did. See CNN article. It appears that their application arrived in Hanoi this week. Guess we will see how their journey goes (and ...I am really curious about how quickly it goes).
All the celebrity attention has spurred news stories about international adoption. National Public Radio's "Justice Talking" has a radio broadcast on international adoption that you can download at: www.justicetalking.org (it is a pretty interesting overview).
All the celebrity attention has spurred news stories about international adoption. National Public Radio's "Justice Talking" has a radio broadcast on international adoption that you can download at: www.justicetalking.org (it is a pretty interesting overview).
Thursday, March 01, 2007
The Wait Has Officially Started...
Well, our dossier is in Vietnam as of 2/26. Our agency tells us that, unlike China, Vietnam does not have a log in date or such a mechanism for tracking the progress of the dossiers once they reach the DIA.
At this point, our agency is predicting the following time frames:
Wait 4 - 8 months for referral (picture and information on the child)...plus...
Wait 4 - 6 months after referral before the child is home.
That means we are looking at hopefully getting a referral sometime in the months between July 2007 and October 2007, and we hope the baby will be home with us between October 2007 and June 2008.
As you can see, time frames are pretty up in the air...hard to plan!
At this point, our agency is predicting the following time frames:
Wait 4 - 8 months for referral (picture and information on the child)...plus...
Wait 4 - 6 months after referral before the child is home.
That means we are looking at hopefully getting a referral sometime in the months between July 2007 and October 2007, and we hope the baby will be home with us between October 2007 and June 2008.
As you can see, time frames are pretty up in the air...hard to plan!
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