A Bit of (good) News
Timelines can change quite quickly! Our agency is telling us (as of April ‘06), that the wait time for a referral is now from 10-14 months. Based on what the CCAA has just posted on it’s website, matches made to which LID’s, the wait might be closer to 11 months. Yea! That’s good news to me. The CCAA matches available children in a “first-in-first-out” method, with a few exceptions. If you’re of Chinese ancestry, you’re assigned a child sooner, or if you choose a “special needs” kid.
Of course, the entire county is shutting down this week for “Golden Week” – a labor day celebration for the government. So, the estimated wait times can change from week to week. As far as planning goes, I’m going to use January as a cutoff for completing necessary baby stuff. Keep in mind we still have to wait 5-8 weeks after referral for permission to travel. It’s hard. Some days I remain quite positive, & others I’m virtually inconsolable.
Keep your fingers crossed that we get a referral before Feb/March of ‘07, so our I-171H doesn’t expire. (That’s the offical name of the document that BCSIS gives permission to bring a foreign-born orphan into the county).
If it expires before we travel, it’ll be a pain in the rear to re-file, re-pay all the fees, and get clearance & re-fingerprinted. We will definately have to get refingerprinted anyway. Those fingerprints (clearance through the FBI). I think those will only cost around $100 to re-do. Of course, it’ll all be worth it in the end.
