Next Momumental Step Acheived – LID Received!

Because we have never been able to experience the memorable moments that most couples experience with being pregnant, we are seeing every monumental step we take in this adoption process as part of our “pregnancy.”  On August 11th, our adoption agency told us they had received our dossier and that all of our paperwork was complete and ready to be prepared to be sent to China. This was like us seeing a “+” sign on the pregnancy test.

Then on August 14th, our agency told us that our papers had all been translated and our dossier was being mailed to China.  At that point, I was definitely nervous.  I know they take every precaution to make sure the papers don’t get lost on their way to China, but after all the work we put into that dossier, I was definitely praying and anxious to hear of its safe arrival to the China Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA).  After almost a week of being nervous, on August 19th, we received word that our dossier had been hand delivered to CCAA.  What a relief!  To me, that was like getting to hear the baby’s heartbeat for the first time at an ultrasound appointment.

At this point in the process, it is typical to have to wait up to 3 weeks before we receive what is referred to as our official log-in date (LID).  Even if we were adopting a waiting child (a child with special needs), they said it’d take up to 1 week.  However, today, after only 5 days, we were told that we have our LID.  So officially, our LID is August 21, 2009!  It only took CCAA 2 days to review our dossier!  Anytime things go faster than expected in this process, it’s definitely worth celebrating over.

The significance of this LID is that it’s basically our number in line.  China matches families with children according to their LID, which works very much like when you take a number at your grocery store deli counter.  You get “served” according to your LID.  For couples who are of Chinese descent, we are classified as expedited couples.  Currently, expedited couples with log-in dates from April 10, 2007 have just received their matches.  As you can see, it is taking over two years even for expedited couples to get their matches.

At this point, we wait and at a later point, we’ll have to update some of our paperwork since some of it will expire while we wait.  It’s not too disappointing, since we know that’s part of the process.  We’ll just continue to take it one day at a time.

What we are most excited about today is that there is a date to pray toward.  We have been told that it should be no longer than 24 months from our LID when we’ll receive our match.  Would you all please pray with us that the Lord would continue to move in this and bless us with a match in less than 24 months?  We trust that whatever length of time we have to wait is what will lead us to the child/children God has planned for us; however, to be honest, waiting is never easy, right?

Everyday I pray for our child/children, knowing that he/she may not even be conceived yet.  We are looking forward to the day when we’ll get our match and get to actually see a face to this child we are praying for.  In the meantime, our hearts are already filled with so much love for our future baby/babies.

What’s Happening to the Orphans?

There’s an interesting Time magazine article (April 2009) entitled Why Americans Are Adopting Fewer Kids from China.

We mentioned earlier that, currently, the average wait time for a match in China adoptions is pushing 4 years.  The short article touches upon some of the factors that impact the waiting period.  Here are a few highlights:

• China opened its international adoption program in 1992.
• In 2005, China approved 7,906 adoptions to U.S. citizens.  That’s nearly 8k orphans just to Americans alone, not to mention those adopted out to families in Europe, Australia, etc.
• By 2008, that number is down to 3,909.  In 3 years, the number of orphans adopted to U.S. families dropped by 50%.

So, my first reaction is to wonder what’s happening to the orphans?  Is China running low on orphans or something?  The answer is no. The fact is that many who might have adopted from China are now looking elsewhere.  According to the article, the dropping number of international adoptions in China is an intentional effect.  In the last 3 years, the CCAA has instituted new regulations aimed at more narrowly defining who is/isn’t eligible  to adopt.  Among these new regulations are:

• Educational requirements
• Financial requirements
• Must be married (presumably ruling out homosexual couples)
• Maximum age requirements (must be under 50)
• Not clinically obese
• No use of antidepressants in last 2 years
• No facial deformities

Before we proceed, I’d like to acknowledge what a difficult position China finds itself in.  The system is overburdened and can’t keep up with demand.  There is also the value of ensuring that orphans are adopted into “good” situations.  Plus, there does seem to be an increase in Chinese families adopting domestically.  I also personally speculate about whether or not China really wants to be known as the “Adoption Capital of the World”.  With a culture that values “saving face”, can China stomach the perception that it’s unable to take care of its orphans?  Does it want to be perceived as anti-female, given that 95% of orphans in China are girls?  I speculate that the answers are “no”.

Speculation aside, though, were there really 50% fewer orphans to adopt from China last year than 3 years ago?  We promised ourselves that we wouldn’t write “angry blog posts” and in this case, it’s true.  China is in a tough spot.  This isn’t like buying a car. It’s not about making foreigners happy with quick adoptions.  To simply say, “China needs to properly resource its system to keep with demand” is perhaps overly simplistic.  But as China moves to solve the problems, the main question is, again, what’s happening to the orphans?