Timeline for International Adoption

Many people have asked the timeline of our adoption. Unfortunately, we do not know. The timing varies a lot based on what is going on in the country we are adoptiong from, as well as the agency we are working with. Our agency quoted a timeline, but that is always subject to change.

If I had to go out on a limb, I would say best case scenario is that we will have our child in 9 months. Worst case scenario I would say 2 years. Now saying that, the best case could be shorter and the worst case could be longer. Let's just say there are A LOT of variables in adoption.
Below is a high-level overview of all the steps that will be involved in our international adoption.

1. HOMESTUDY
(A homestudy can take anywhere from 2 months to 6 months. A homestudy does not just involve a social worker coming to our home. That is actually just one part of the entire homestudy process. Instead, a homestudy involves gathering of paperwork, social worker interviews, adoption classes, and things of that nature. And when I say paperwork, I mean PAPERWORK. The most I've ever seen or filled out. It is a thorough process.)

2. DOSSIER
(A dossier is required for all international adoptions. It is a bunch of paperwork that will be submitted to our country of choice and translated into their language. This will include certified copies of birth certificates, marriage certificates, fingerprints, and many many more things. This also takes a while to compile. Once the dossier is sent to our country, we are OFFICIALLY on a waiting list.)

3. REFERRAL
(Once we've been on the waiting list for a while, we will get our child's referral. We will be sent a picture of a child and the child's medical records. We will have a certain amount of time to accept or reject our referral.)

4. COURT
(After accepting our referral, we will then have to set a courtdate in the country we will be adopting from. Depending on how busy they are, it could be a month to three months after our referral. Once we pass court, our child will be legally ours!)

5. TRAVEL
(After the child is legally ours, we will then travel to the country and the orphanage to pick up our child and bring him or her home.)

Like I said, this is just a high-level picture of the steps in our process. Where are we at currently? We are somewhere in the middle of the homestudy and the dossier as we are working on both of them at the same time. As you can see, we have a ways to go in this process.

And because I love posts with pictures, here are a few pictures from our weekend. We had a wedding on the North Shore, and it is truly a beautiful area of the state. The weather was gorgeous, the views were beautiful, and we were surrounded by friends. A great weekend.