closed, for good

The journey to your adopted child is one filled with peaks and valleys, none as pronounced as when the adopton is a foreign adoption. We entered into the process of adopting from China knowing anything could happen but most likely it would be a smooth sail as their program was one of the highest regarded in the international adoption community and one of the longest standing. Their rules and regulations were set and the process was not marred by controversy.

Adoption number one was a long wait but it wasn't complicated and nothing out of the ordinary happened until the SARS outbreak, at that time everything came to a grinding halt and the uncertainity loomed like an extremely black cloud. We were in touch with other families from our agency during the travel ban inforced by the World Health Organization and that bought some relief. Things started to move again and quite quickly.  

With adoption number 2 we held off filing the papers as things were moving so quickly that from filing to travel was less than 3 months and we wanted more time to bond with child number 1. Once we filed things started slowing down. At the time we were LID the wait was 3 months and overnight it switched to 9 months and then it grew exponentially. By the time we were at the 2 year mark we switched to the waiting child/special needs list. Had we stayed on the original path we would have waited exactly 3 years. From that time onwards the matching became less and less and the time grew longer and longer. A few years ago I heard the wait was 9 years. 9 long years.

On August the 28th of this year the Chinese Government halted ALL adoptions effective immediately. No explanations beforehand, no warnings, they were done. We all knew this day would come, but not like this. Thirty families we already matched with their babies and waiting to travel but on that day it was over. A late stage miscarriage of justice. The powers that be are still fighting for them, I called my senators and begged them to get involved. Hoping that the children left behind find the love of parents, somehow. No child deserves to be an orphan.

Dawn ❤