Referral Process

The adoption world is filled with acronyms and lingo that are not part of the English language. So, here's a quick explanation of the referral process for those interested. After submitting applications to our adoption agency, we began the lengthy process of preparing a dossier. It took us about 5-6 months...and we thought that was long. Once dossiers are absolutely perfect, they are sent to China where they are logged in and given a Log-In Date (LID). Our LID is 12/14/05. Hundreds of dossiers arrive in China every day and we all wait for our dossier to arrive at the top of the pile. The China Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA) reviews our dossiers and all accepted dossiers go to another pile. Again, we wait to float to the top. When you reach the top, you get a referral. A referral is when you are matched with a child and sent information about her. When we started our adoption journey in May 2005, this process (from LID to referral) was taking 6 to 8 months. We've been waiting 24 months (now THAT is long) BUT we think we are getting close!!! The CCAA has matched dossiers with LIDs up to 12/8/05. That means they are only 6 LID days away from ours. They send out referrals once a month (lately in the beginning of the month). In the November batch, they sent out 8 days of LIDs (12/1 through 12/8). Many people are hopeful that our LID will be included in the December referrals. It is possible but some months, only 2 days of LIDs are included. We are hopeful for December but if not in December, January is quite likely. If you want even MORE information, there is a woman (known as Rumor Queen) who tracks all activity of the CCAA. She has statistics and charts that will make your head spin. A link to her website is in the Links section of this blog.