While I am surprised that my blog is actually read by anyone outside of my handful of friends (most, if not all, of whom are the writers of the blogs listed in my adoption links section), some questions have arisen from people outside of of our little circle in regards to my previous post "Adoption Wait." I feel they are important questions, and so I will attemp to clarify what was shared in the "Adoption Wait " post for those that have concerns about the information shared.
R and I spent a lot of time researching agencies- and I do mean a lot. As I mentioned in a very early post in this blog, when we first began to seriously consider adoption, Vietnam was not open and we were leaning heavily towards Guatemala. For over a year, we focused on agencies with Guatemala programs and had narrowed down our options to three or four agencies. I joined a few Yahoo groups relating to Guatemala adoption and eagerly read each and every post to learn everything I could about Guatemala's adoption process. As the year progressed, it became apparent to R and I that there were some troubling aspects of Guatemala adoption that we were gravely concerned about - rather than get into all of that here, I ask that you go to the archives and read my initial post and/or email me at : angelsunday@msn.com. While we were debating wether or not to stay with Guatemala or look for another program, Vietnam opened up. We then spent quite a bit of time researching Vietnam and agencies with Vietnam programs.
After much thought, R and I decided to "go with" Vietnam. We narrowed down our agency choices to two and proceeded to talk with representatives from each agency. In January of 2006, we sent in our intitial application to CHI (Children's Hope International). At that time, the wait for an infant boy was quoted as 2-4 months.
Our application was returned to us about a week later, with the request that we reapply after we had been married one full year. At that time, we debated going with agency #2, as they did not have a marriage length requirement. In the end we decided that we were most comfortable (and confident) with CHI, so we settled in to wait until our one year anniversary: October 2006.
In September of 2006 we had our homestudy conducted, and resubmitted our application to CHI at the end of the month. At that time, the wait for an infant boy had increased to 6-8 months for a referral, with travel following 3 months after that. If we included the time spent on homestudy and the wait for INS approval, the total time line to complete the adoption would be around 12 months.
For a variety of frustrating reasons (none the fault of CHI, who was not our homestudy agency), we did not receive the final version of our homestudy until November 25, 2006. We sent in our I600-A application to the Detroit office, and waited for our fingerprint appointment, which we finally had on December 27, 2006. In the meantime, we began to receive updates on the Vietnam program from CHI. Given that we are not officially on the "wait list" for a referral until after we receive our INS approval, we are among the many people "waiting to wait" for a referral.
As my previous post mentions, the most recent update on the Vietnam program is quoting 12-15 months for a referral. While it has not been confirmed, I think it is a reasonable assumption that the increase in wait times from our initial application in January of 2006 and the most recent update is due in part to the popularity of Vietnam adoption, the popularity of CHI, and the recent changes in China's regulations for PAP's.
While we are most definitely frustrated and dissapointed in the increase in wait times, we are in no way disatisfied with CHI. We chose CHI for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is their ethics. Believe me when I say we took a lot of time to research all the agencies that were viable options for us and, once we had narrowed it down to two agencies, spent even more time researching each agency. I am a member of several yahoo groups pertaining to vietnam adoption and to adoption in general (plug here for the yahoo group AAR-Adoption Agency Research) and heard nothing but good things about CHI. In addition to researching CHI on yahoo groups, we had private email correspondence with former CHI clients, investigated their financial reports, and spoke with the adoption worker for LSS of Wisconsin and Upper Michigan (who I was employed with at the time in a seperate program dealing with at risk and homeless youth) about CHI. This is all in addition to several conversations R had with the director of CHI for our region (chicago office of CHI) in which he asked all the "right questions" suggested by those on APV and other yahoo groups, as well as questions unique to ourselves. All of these factors went into our decision to go with CHI, and we are satisfied with that decision.
I have had contact with PAP's who were with CHI's Vietnam program but switched agencies due to the long wait for a referral. The PAP's who have switched have been clear that the reason for the switch was the wait itself, and not due to any wrongdoing or negative experience with CHI.
The long and short of it is this: we are happy with our agency. We are not happy with the wait times. But then, what PAP likes to wait? At this time, we have no intentions of changing agencies. We do, of course, hope against hope that the wait times will magically decrease! We have asked for approval for two children - twins or a sibling group. Who knows, maybe that will move us up the list some...once we get on the wait list, that is!
I hope that this post has clarified the questions and concerns that some of you have had about my previous post.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
That is exactly how I feel! Even though the wait is long (and we are still in the middle of the paperchase), I am very happy with the agency we chose! It sounds like you picked the right agency for you, I hope that the time passes as quickly as possible until you receive your referral.
kelly - it's amazing how similar our stories and process has been - tried to apply in june, but had to wait until oct for our 1 year anniversary (with CHI). we're waiting for a girl, but we are super excited and hope time passes quickly for both of us. i'm looking forward to following your journey.
tina
Cool you are a newly wed too!I still want to hear about "Ben's foot and the dog drama that followed."
Good for you for sticking with your guns and not going with a "fast and furious" agency just to fulfill instant gratification. The temptation is a big one. But I know your adoption will be flawless and your decision will pay off big time when you can look your child in the face and know his adoption was ethical.
I thought you were with CHI. We got the same e-mail about the new wait times. We too really like CHI and that is what swayed us to go with themfor a China adoption. Wll after the December meeting, we were even more glad to be with CHI since they had a Vietnam program and the other agency we had planned to go with (before we decided on CHI) is still not approved, although they are approved for Taiwan, so that may have been an option for us. Even with the increased wait, we should all get our child(ren) before many of those logged in with China, get their child. So it will still be a win-win opportunity for us.
I kinda had a feeling you were with CHI. I am too, but never received the email from my regional office in Dallas. It's freaked me out a bit. But my husband and I had a similar conversation last night and have decided to stick with the agency regardless. It was so good to hear your thoughts on this.. I'm right there with you.
Post a Comment