Yes, we are in process through Holt International to adopt a baby boy or girl (or sibling group) from Korea. Based on our age, we are only eligible for a child under the age of 2 years old, but most children upon arrival to the US are approximately 10 months old. We are not (and cannot) give preference to one gender over another, so you'll notice that we are decorating slowly with a gender-neutral theme of animals and puzzles (more later). Although we did state that we are open to a "sibling group" (which is most often twins since both children must be under 2 years old), we have been told that this is very rare. Even so, we'll be prepared in case we are bringing home 2 instead of 1. :-)
In addition, we are eligible for the Waiting Child Program (WCP), and due to this parallel program involvement, we may be receiving a child referral much earlier than we originally anticipated. The WCP is a separate program which finds families for children with any form of medical condition (from small birthmarks or prematurity to more significant needs, such as down syndrome). It is important to note two things: 1) Families indicate which needs and the level of severity they believe they can handle before any child is referred and 2) Holt's WCP staff choose the best family for the child with his/her needs. We thought originally that we were not eligible for this program, but after a small website mistake, we were considering the program once again after our social worker (SW) mentioned something during our first interview. Aaron and I sat down for nearly two hours researching the needs on our checklist and making decisions carefully as to what needs we thought we could meet as first time parents (with little experience in some of these medical conditions). Yes, we did say "No" to the more severe conditions, such as Down Syndrome, but said "Maybe" to generally minor conditions, such as birthmarks and prematurity.
I have included a timeline that will hopefully provide a general indicator of where we are in the process, but here is the summary:
1. Application
2. Homestudy (HS)
3. Wait for Referral (both in regular Korea program or WC Korea program)
4. Review Referral (includes consultation with International Adoption doctor if considering a WC)
5. Accept Referral
6. Wait for Legal Paperwork from Korea
7. Process Visa Applications & Other Paperwork
8. Wait for Travel Call (TC) For Approval to Travel to South Korea
9. Travel to South Korea (at least 3 business days)
10. Return Home with New Family Member
11. Post-Adoption Interviews by SW (6 months after returning home)
12. Finalization of Adoption (Celebrate US Citizenship!)
At this time, we have already completed our part of the Homestudy (HS) and have already received referrals from the WCP. I should probably explain that the WCP referrals begin arriving much earlier but require more research, thought, and MD consultation before we can make a decision. The standard Korea program will not begin sending referrals until approx. 10/2009, but these referrals are generally accepted more quickly as there are no known reasons to decline the referral. That being said, we did not apply with the WCP to adopt faster. The decisions are much more difficult, but we could not justify declining the entire program when there are such minor needs that we feel we can meet. We firmly believe that you do not have a choice of "acceptable needs" when you give birth to a child, but at the same time, we do not anticipate putting a child's future at risk if we are not a good match.
Thus far, we have reviewed some files and have made the difficult decision to decline some referrals due to medical needs we thought we could not handle after all. It is difficult to make a decision when a child's name and picture is disclosed, but we're both careful not to get too attached until we can make an objective decision. For this reason, we won't be disclosing detailed information of our decisions until we are formally placed with a child, either through the WCP or standard Korea program. (Then, you'll see pictures, details, and daily posts!)
In the meantime, we're having fun spending time with other people's children as our hands-on practice; reading some of the MANY useful resources we have on adoption, Korean culture, and parenting; and slowly getting our home ready for a new family member(s). We have most of the baby's room cleaned out, although we need to make a delivery at Good Will or schedule a pick-up. Also, after a remark Aaron made about not knowing where some of these Asian countries are we have been studying, I picked up a World Map puzzle that w
e've decided to frame and use to decorate in the baby's room. We spent the weekend (Sept. 20-21) putting together the puzzle and now know where these countries are! (Yes, we did know where South Korea was!) Aaron made me laugh when he turned down the puzzle display and said we would figure this out without the map. I must say, I had no idea where most of the countries in Africa were, and Aaron was suprised by the exact location of many islands. It's sitting on our dining room table now, so we need to quickly find a frame before the cats help us start all over again. :-)I hope this blog will answer many of the questions and keep our family and friends posted! I promise future posts will be much shorter!
Thank you all for your support and love!
Caption: Aaron & Lucy work on the puzzle while I break to take pictures.
Lucy is especially helpful!
Caption: Aaron installs the over-the-toilet cabinet for the baby's bathroom. I insert my 2 cents-worth by asking, "So how do we get the CD tower out from under the cabinet once it's bolted to the wall?" :-)
Oh and it looks like Kobe & Lucy will be quite involved in all of our projects!
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