More thoughts, more rumors
Rumors first:
- A large agency has apparently told their people that April
referrals will include May 31 and POSSIBLY some of June.
- Spain has told some people they should withdraw their
dossier and go elsewhere, saying China could take well over 12 months.
And now some thoughts. The may be a bit disjointed, but here goes:
The CCAA will take a short vacation for the May Day celebrations. I'm guessing the next referrals will go out before they leave.
I haven't seen enough rumors that look legitimate about lesser health issues. The rumors I'm starting to see more and more of include problems if both parents have a health issue, longer wait times after cancer, closer scrutiny if a parent weighs more than 300 pounds - that kind of thing. Oh, and the wheelchair fiasco. There was a problem a while back where an agency turned someone down who had diabetes plus one other minor health issue, saying they couldn't have two health problems IIRC... but that seemed to be a rule for the agency and not CCAA.
I really hope ya'll don't try to start a religious war. It is not my intention to have a policy of deleting comments, and so far have only deleted a handful of spam comments... but if I see a religious war break out then I will change that policy. Think about it, if God picked out this child just for you, then that means that God created a situation where another family couldn't keep the child... how do you think your child is going to feel about that? You might want to tone down the "God has just the right child for me" stuff, as that's not going to play out so well to your child once they are older. I'm not asking for comments or arguments about this - it's just the way it is. Don't try to explain it.
The more I think about it, the more I have to wonder about what is going on politically in Beijing. All of the news stories with the focus on Hunan, they all stated how many children were adopted from China to the U.S. last year. Some of them estimated how many children had been adopted over the last ten years. China has always tried to downplay that number. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if someone in another branch of government in China hasn't given the CCAA orders to not let that number be as high this year. The coincidence of the teeny tiny 3 day month right after all of the press... it just seems like too much of a coincidence. Yes, I think the brunt of the slowdown is probably a combination of less paper ready babies and more parent dossiers... but I'm thinking that the lousy showing this month may have more to do with the Hunan thing than we think.
And, lastly, please remember that the anonymous comments that are posted here are just that: anonymous comments. Don't take them as gospel. Even when I post a rundown of the rumors I'm seeing, it just means I'm posting a rundown of the rumors - the fact that I've posted about it does not make it true. If there is something I believe, I'll tell you. It will be obvious. If I just post the rumor, then that's what it is... a rumor.
Let's not get too carried away with the rumors. Most people are posting what their agency has said, or what someone on their DTC board has said, and that is wonderful. But there are going to be people out there who either 1) have bad information or 2) are yanking our chain. It's okay - usually if you ignore the latter then they'll get bored and go away... so don't try to engage them.
19 Comments:
I think the Hunan scandal has definitely affected the number of referrals this month, whether because the CCAA had all hands-on-deck assuring that the babies who'd been adopted internationally from the implicated SWIs in the past were legitimately abandoned or orphaned, or because they''ve been told to cool off on the referrals for a while, while the story is so hot.
I am inclined to believe that the slowdown is an implication that the Chinese government is not happy with all the attention the large number of children adopted out of China is getting, and of their concerns about the broader implications of the Hunan scandal. The slowdown began just about a month before the trafficking stories first hit the Chinese papers. The government must have known about them before then.
However, if they're concerned about the number of babies being adopted internationally, I don't understand why they continue to log in dossiers without instituting a quota. Not that I want one, but in the past, the Chinese government made it very clear that they wanted to limit the number of international adoptions per year and so in 2001 instituted a quota for each agency based on their past 3 years of applicants. I know because I was one of them, and if I remember the age of her daughter correctly, i believe the Rumor Queen might have been too. Then, the following year, they lifted the quota, but informed agencies that the onus was on them to assure that the numbers did not grow exponentially each year.
Fast forward to 2005, and the CCAA had to have seen how many more dossiers were being logged in (if this indeed was the case, as they claim). If so, why did they not warn agencies that processing those dossiers would increase the wait time once again? I really feel that if this slowdown was truly about too many dossiers, they would simply give agencies a new quota as they've done in the past. Again, I'm not asking for this, but the fact that they're not doing it sends the message that they're not concerned about the influx of dossiers. But what they're telling agencies is that they are, no?
Bewildered in Brooklyn
Rumor Queen - What a breath of fresh air. Your God logic is absolutley spot-on. I'm sure it's comforting for some to believe in the "Chosen One" stuff, but c'mon, think about the implications of that logic to your kids. I think Cheri Register's "Beyond Good Intentions" is a book that every transracial/IA adoptive parent (to-be) should pick up. I stay clear off of APC for a reason.
Has anyone heard that referrals have been mailed out for this month? Another site said BLAS (not sure what they do) said they were mailed out yesterday.
3:12 - all very very good points, my thoughts exactly.
3:19 - BLAS is the translation service that shares a building with the CCAA, if they have indeed said it, then it is most likely true. I haven't seen enough people saying that they've said it though, to really 100% believe it yet.
When we first started this process back in July, I had posted on one of the larger boards to voice my concern about something. It was on the big board where everyone's either obsessive about religion or gets off on fighting each other. Usually it's the same crowd, ironically enough. Sadly enough.
I noticed the huge increase in families wanting to adopt from China. I casually mentioned my worry of China running out of "approved" babies who were available for adoption VS all the people who were in line to adopt. I also mentioned a worry that the CCAA would become too taxed by the extra volume and perhaps that might cause a slowdown.
People jumped all over me. How could you say such a misinformed thing? THe CCAA has been doing this for years, they know how to handle large volumes of dossiers without a slowdown. Or- How stupid are you? Don't you know anything about how many babies are in the orphanages? Oh, we will never see the day when CHina has run low on available babies. OR -I pay to God each night that CHina does run out of babies.
And now look at our situation today.
WHen I first heard the term, "Less paper-ready babies," I just laughed to myself.
I guess I wasn't so stupid after all.
RQ, you are so spot on correct that people might be coming here just to get the crowd stirred up with false rumors.
Your site is linked EVERYWHERE! People who aren't even adopting are coming here to read what the fuss is about. I'm sure your uniques are massive at this point.
That's bound to attract the freaks who like to stir up trouble. Anytime a blog gets popular, the blog trolls start causing problems.
Tangent- I sure hope that one day I will be able to high five you in the White Swan breakfast buffet dining room. That is, if you "come out" to your fellow Sept travelers.
On the Mayboard I find people that are pretty sure about referals being send. No stork alert because GCWA has no referals.
Our Agency notified us this morning that BLAS had translated our
> > referral and would be mailing it today. We should receive our
> > referral on Monday or Tuesday! We have a LID of 05/30. We have
a
> > small agency so that was the only LID we had for the month.
Will
> I am
> > thrilled to know our referral is on it's way I am also saddened
> for
> > those that are still waiting. Here's hoping for more posts
today
> with
> > good news that referrals past 05/30 will also be received.
> >
> > Tina
> > DH Johnny
> > DS Jonathon & Joseph
> > DD Addie (LID 05/30)
> >
Very well stated to the second 3:33!!
The wait for referral in the newly re-opened Vietnam program is 1-4 months from DTC, yes..1 to 4 months.
Our agency announced it will not get any referrals this time around. The next LID group for our agency is 6-7. So if referrals include any of June, they do not include 6-7 onward.
Please let's not argue about religion. The rumor queen specifically asked to keep religion out of the posts, still people feel the need to go against her wishes and beat this issue to death!!!!
To each their own. There is no right or wrong as everyone is different and has different views.
Whether religion is in a persons life day in and day out or not it does not make them any "less" of a good parent in any way, shape or form.
As far as rumors go: I finally contacted my agency and asked them about the wait. The director of the agency (very small) said "We are told that they will begin matching June next week but we do not know what the cutoff will be." She then advised me to get my fingerprints redone. They expire in July. I am LID late June.
I think the desire to keep religious discussion off this site is not a rejection of religion but a realization that such a discussion in this kind of arena is rarely productive. Most people here are looking for rumors and do not want to sift through a bunch of posts arguing about who is right about what they'll teach their child. I could go to APC for that, for crying out loud!
Speaking of rumors, GWCA has sent out 2 emails today that kind of tell people they understand the frustration and want to help, but there just isn't much they can do. They do assure us that CCAA has no plans to shut down int'l adoptions, which was nice to hear, and that while there are more domestic adoptions affecting things, CCAA is working to approve more orphanages for adoption, so that might help with the lack of paper-ready children at some point. I, for one, was glad to hear the reassurances.
Hi all,
It is hard to wait, no doubt about it! And I know everyone says when you have your child you know it was worth it..
And being a mother of a beautiful boy, I know it is true.
But still it sucks!!! Not for us but for the children who have to stay longer in a orphanehome.
I was thinking, if China is promoting local adoption that much why not change the one child policy.
The reason for the one child policy is the increase of people in China. But by adopting the babys they still stay in China.
My agency told me, that Chinese people prefer "older "children,like above 2 years..
Hopefully things will speed up, or atleast stay stable . And not increase every month..
sorry I know my English is not perfect.
452, that actually helps to answer a question that's been on my mind for some time now.
The files must sit in the matching room until it's time for that particular group to be matched. I'm thinking they must be matched up shortly after the previous batch of referrals have gone out. Then they are sent out.
I was under the impression that June and July had been matched and the babies would get older and older as this wait progresses. Probably no one is matched with any baby yet. The matching is done just before referrals are sent.
At least that is what I would like to believe.
From what I understand as one large agency explained.... dossiers hang out in review even when complete, and move into matching when it is time to refer. So even though July may have finished review, they won't go to matching until June referrals have been completed.
I figure that our dossier will hang out and party for 4-5 months in translation, then an additional 4-5 months in review, then hopefully it will mature and fly through matching in 1-2 months...which means a referral in 10-12 months. I hear spring-time in Beijing is much nicer than the dead of winter!
CAWLI waiting families got their monthly newsletter this afternoon, in which they expressed that they've seen these slowdowns before and assured us that "sooner or later" we would get our babies. It was nice to hear it from my "horse's mouth" today, after all the rumors yesterday of these slowdowns leading up to IA closures.
Oh... and they also said the wait was now about 11 months from LID and they expect it to get longer. What I want to know is how much longer? And I guess ya'll do too!
Here's the CAWLI link if anyone want to read it. It was also posted on their website this afternoon. It has info on homestudy updates but I believe that this is a MA thing so check with your agency. there is also a little blurb about fingerprints expiration which would apply to all of us.
http://www.chinaadoption.org/updates.shtml
For more on Hunan, see these posts
http://isorumors.blogspot.com/2006/03/more-on-hunan-baby-trafficking.html
http://isorumors.blogspot.com/2006/02/hunan-baby-trafficking.html
Post a Comment
<< Home