(Since so many people have been asking I thought that I would just post an email that we recieved from Elizabeth Rose, our adoption cordinator, since she does such a good job explaining what is going on with our Next Adoption. These are her words below.)

"Dear families,

This month the CCAA matched dossiers logged in from November 2–7, 2005. The families waited 19 months from their dossier log-in date to referral. In looking at the CCAA’s recent rate of matching, we believe that wait times will continue to lengthen for adoptions from China. Based on recent rates of matching, we believe new families and families who submitted dossiers in 2007 may wait three years for a referral. We estimate that families who submitted dossiers in 2006 will wait 24-36 months for a referral. Because international adoption will always be unpredictable, the actual wait time may be longer or shorter than this. As wait times are increasing each month, the wait will be longer the later your dossier was logged in. Please keep in mind that although adoption agencies publish different wait times, all families adopting children from China, regardless of agency, will experience the same wait.

We know this is very difficult news because many of you have waited so long already. We also understand that all of you, regardless of when you started your adoption journey, dream of having your child in your arms sooner than these projections. However, we also know from years of experience that it is very important for us to give you as accurate projections as possible to help you prepare for your future child.

Each month the CCAA matches the children whose referrals are available with families. They begin matching based on log-in dates, and work through log-in dates until they do not have any more child referrals. The number of available children varies month to month, and the number of families whose dossiers are logged in each day also varies, so unfortunately it is not possible for us to predict how far the CCAA will match each month, or how long it will take for them to reach your log-in date. In our discussions with the CCAA, they have cited fewer children available for international adoption, a very high volume of dossiers in China, and an increase in domestic adoption as reasons for the slowdown.

Lengthening wait times do not affect families adopting waiting children; that process remains expedited. WACAP will continue to receive information about waiting children in China two to three times a year, and we will continue to make these children’s profiles available to our families waiting to adopt from China first.

In most of the countries where WACAP works, the majority of children who need families are boys. Because of this, several WACAP programs require families to be open to adopting a child of either gender. If your family is open to adopting a boy, you may meet the requirements for a different country. If you are interested in considering other WACAP options, please visit our Web site at www.wacap.org for information, and speak with your adoption coordinator. WACAP staff is here to help you bring a child into your family whether the child is from China or another country where we work. If you are open to considering other countries or types of children, we are very happy to help you identify other options.

Again, we understand that news of a lengthening adoption process is disheartening. If the wait is insurmountable for your family, we hope you’ll keep in mind the needs of the countless numbers of orphaned children around the world and consider other options at WACAP. Please contact us with your questions and we’ll do our best to answer them.

Sincerely,

The China team

A note to Chinese-expedited families: The wait times for families who are expedited because of documented Chinese heritage will also continue to increase, although the wait will be slightly shorter. WACAP’s most recent Chinese-expedited family to receive a referral waited 13 months, as opposed to the 19 months that other families experienced. "