Slow, slower, slowest ... but still moving along

Well, the CCAA is still moving along at a snail's pace ... or maybe not quite that fast. They issued referrals yesterday for a smaller number of days than the international adoption community had anticipated.

To put our wait in context, five China travel Groups from our agency (Groups 44-48) have gone (48 will go in next few weeks) to China to get their daughters over the last 11 months. So it does keep moving, though sometimes it does not feel that way. That means we have only Groups 49, 50 and 51 ahead of us. If we can dispense with Group 49 by December/January, we can then start the new year with Group 50, which sounds (and is!) much closer to our Group 52. With the slowdown, parents are now waiting approximately 13 months for their referrals (up from 6-7 mo. a year ago).

However, as I keep reminding myself, over the 14 or so years that the China program has existed, 12-13 months has been about the average wait time. So that 6-7 month wait in 2004-05 was odd (though great for people who hit it!)

There is some hopeful speculation that, for various reasons, China will pick up the pace on or around October. Keep your fingers crossed!

Tyler met his preschool teacher Mrs. Bente today, and I fear he has inherited some of my (Sarah's) suck-up tendencies. He was practically raising his hand and shouting out answers to imaginary questions trying to get/keep her attention during her visit! He proudly showed off all his birthday toys as well as those Schmidt/Chodera language skills! We were very proud.

Nobody Move: I've Lost a Contact Lens!

This was the beachside scene yesterday in the northern Chinese resort of Quindao as an estimated 200,000 people flocked to the sea to escape scalding temperatures.

As they clamored to get near the water, almost every grain of sand was covered.

But summer in China is as unpredictable as in the U.S. - in southern China, a typhoon was causing havoc.

Top 5 Reasons for the China Adoption Slowdown

We get so many questions about why the China adoption process ebbs and flows in terms of speed that I thought I'd post the rumor mill's top possibilities:

1. The China Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA) moved this week into larger facilities across the street in Beijing after months of planning / disruption.
2. The Olympics are coming in '08!!! (Now, how this could possibly factor in is anybody's guess, but whatever ...)
3. China recently joined the Hague Treaty on Int'l Adoption, which prompted more paperwork and some new procedural guidelines.
4. There was an unusually high number of applicants in 2005 and a static number of children (this is the CCAA's only official statement on the topic). In June 2005, the CCAA received double the number of dossiers (applications) that they did in June 2004! (Just our luck ...)
5. The unfortunate trafficking scandal in Hunan in fall 2005 (which was limited to just 1 or 2 orphanages) caused the institutes in this province to stop sending referrals for a time). That has now been resolved and the individuals involved severely prosecuted.
Bonus Pick: The CCAA wants to make us all mental!

Personally, my picks are a combination of #4 and 5. But many days I also put stock in my Bonus Pick. Debating this issue is a huge and often entertaining way for the international adoption community to pass the time on the Internet ...