Well, I just got off the phone with our adoption agency (CCAI) and we talked through the remaining steps of our paper chase. It's a bit disapointing but I'd rather deal with reality than to continue believing something that isn't true. So here's the deal...
- 2 to 3 weeks until we get our I-171H
- 1 week to get everything certified
- 2 to 3 weeks to get everything authenticated
- 2 to 4 weeks for CCAI to check everything over and to translate
If we take...
...the worse case scenarios (3 + 1 + 3 + 4 = 11) and we add in one more week just to account for any hiccups, that works out to 3 months. So that means we should expect to be DTC around the middle of May.
Then, taking a conservative view and expecting the wait time to be around 10 months (I'm being told that the wait is between 8 & 10 months), we'll be matched in the middle of March, 2005. Build in a month to plan for travel and we'll be going to China in April of 2005.
Wow, what a reality check. I guess I've been using the best case scenarios regarding the time line. Swithcing to a conservative view makes a huge difference. Perhaps we'll be surprised and we'll find that the process goes faster. We'll have to wait and see. For now, I'm going to plan on a travel date of April...
Posted by Mark at February 17, 2004 06:05 PMUggghhhh!!!:((((((
That's me deflating!
Joette
I know... It's a bit depressing. But this is the worst case scenario. And I'm somewhat hopeful that we'll see things move a little faster. Especially since there's a lot of talk right now about the wait time decreasing.
I guess I never should have came at this with a best case model. When we first started the paper chase I told Naomi that we were going to set an all-time record for completing the paper chase the fastest. I was hoping to do it in 3 months or less. We had such an aggressive and optimistic viewpoint of the entire process. But now we're looking at a total of at least 6 months for the paper chase. I guess I should have known better. There's just too much room for delays, issues, hiccups, and junk...
So for now I'll just keep a conservative view of the time line and hopefully we'll be surprised with an earlier travel date.
Posted by: Mark at February 18, 2004 09:27 AMI have been there! I'm sometimes glad I found my child before I started the chase, but at other times I think maybe it would be nicer waiting without knowing who she is and falling in love with her every day for so far 9 months! *sigh*
Posted by: ModernMother Tamra at February 18, 2004 05:47 PMMark-
I think I will send in all my other docs (but the I171H, since I don't have it) and have them certified at the state level. Then, when I do get the final golden document, we will drive it to the state (30 minutes away) and get it certified same day and then mail everything to the Consulate in San Fran......probably won't save much time...........but, it will give me something to do.....................
Joette