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Post by waiting on Feb 8, 2010 19:31:26 GMT 10
Who knows Louise! You know in the end it doesn't matter. There is no line to say, there are 44 couples in front of you. YOu just wait and if you are chosen, you are chosen. It is quite simple. You sort of wait after you have been approved and at the same time you get on with your life. I am not waiting for a phone call. I am just moving on with daily stuff. I have no expectations. Whatever my life brings it will bring. Me holding onto this will not make it come any faster or come in that matter. I never thought trying to become a parent would bring with it such adversity at every turn. Maybe it is really telling me that I really am not meant to be one.
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Kay
Toddler
Mama through local adoption :)
Posts: 230
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Post by Kay on Feb 8, 2010 19:55:25 GMT 10
Hi Waiting... yeah I know there is no list persay that it is a matching process.
It sux that being a parent comes so easy to some and not to others. I hope you are matches soon
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Post by chinababe on Feb 13, 2010 7:56:45 GMT 10
mmm! 10 people is a fair increase since it's only been about 7mths.
I would envision this increasing even more in the coming months.
Due to the ICA program - Ethiopia appears to still be on hold at this point and ICAS won't accept anymore applications for Thailand at the moment - they have exceeded their quota numbers and it's going to take maybe 2 years or longer for the current files to leave Australia.
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Post by shudie on Feb 17, 2010 11:06:45 GMT 10
going back to the photo business.... we always take self-portraits . i think someone mentioned it earlier - it is close up, the camera is high and looking down and gets rid of any double chin evidence lol.
re waiting.... it think it also depends on what you 'tick' on your tick list. if you are willing to take sibs (and approved), different races, disabilities, wider age range etc, you will more than likely be matched sooner. we were told there are 10 people waiting in our pool but some have specified sex, white only etc so that we may well be placed before many of them. our tick list was funny - it had a box for 'not your own race'. i don't know why but i laughed at this :oops:
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Post by waiting on Feb 17, 2010 17:01:16 GMT 10
Well, just as of today when I found out, the number is now 50 couples for local adoption. What a joke! I am shocked at how quickly they have put them through, when it took us 2 years to complete the process.
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Post by simone on Feb 17, 2010 17:49:13 GMT 10
50 couples.I actually thought there would be more.I have been doing quite a bit of research into our child protection laws.I am hoping to be a voice for all those children who seem to slip through the system.I have been very busy writing to our heads of government. It would be interesting to find out how many couples are waiting to adopt Australia wide. I can give you a fact, as of 30 June 2008 there were 31,166 children in out of home care.(This includes foster care,relative/kinship care or residential care). I'm pretty sure with the state of child protection there would be a lot more today.
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Post by waiting on Feb 17, 2010 19:10:52 GMT 10
Hey Simone, you are back! 50 couples only for local adoption though. there is probably another number for permanent care. That is only DHS. Catholic system must be different?? YOu know, I know of a kid who has been in 19 foster homes. He seems like a nice kid. Doesn't seem fair, does it?
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Post by lilchookie on Feb 18, 2010 11:55:03 GMT 10
I hope to be saying that number is 51.......very very soon! I actually thought when I started this whole journey that the list would be much bigger. The process will have taken just under 12 months for us, I feel lucky as even that has felt like a long time. We were just asked for more photos, they said you can never have enough photos. Lucky for me I have lot's of us, was lard to pick which 5 to give to them
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Post by lilchookie on Feb 18, 2010 14:26:18 GMT 10
Googly - I don't think everyone is looking at the list that way, I certaintly am not. But in saying that, the more people on the list the more choice there is. For example a BM may want a couple in their early 30's, with a cat who like to go camping. Now at the moment we could very well be the only people who meet that criteria but if you add 20 more couples to the list, there may be 2 or 3 more that meet that same criteria.
So with what I said above, I can see why for those that have been on the list for awhile that when more people are added to the list it can be disheartning. More people, more choice.
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Post by chinababe on Feb 18, 2010 17:37:17 GMT 10
Goggly I have to agree with Lilcookie here. The more couples add to the list the wider the choice become for the birth families where as if the list is smaller the birth families may reassess their points on their listing.
Sorry to be negative but the list is going to get bigger and bigger with more and more people selecting LA over ICA. The ICA program as it stands now (In victoria) is likely to come to a stand still - Ethopia is not taking applications, Thailand have exceeded their quota for the next 2 years. The fact that it takes 2 years just to get to Education classes for the ICA process in victoria (this took us about 4 mths back in 2005 and we took longer than most because we mucked around a bit).
As a off side note do you know that there was half the amount of Expat adoptions as there was ICA adoptions in Australia
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Post by goggly on Feb 18, 2010 21:52:45 GMT 10
I do see your point ladies, but I honestly don't think that the more choice/more couples directly translates. 40 new families doesn't mean you are competing directly with 40 new families, it may only mean there are another five couples like you. When we were allocated there were 40 couples on the list, but only us and another fitted the criteria.
Chinababe, I don't think you are being negative in regards to the list getting bigger, it is the reality of the situation. It is easier to go and live in a foreign country and work through the foreign maze of adoption, often in a foreign language, than it is to do it in Oz.
I laugh at the US forums who are all complaining if the international adoption takes more than 12 months. Compared to the five or six year wait here, it would be a dream to most of us.
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Post by simone on Feb 18, 2010 22:24:46 GMT 10
Hi All. 50 couples like you and me. 100 people willing to love a child. 50 choices for our wonderful angels(Birth Parents) There is no competing. We are all striving for the same thing.
LILCHOOKIE:I also hope you will be 51 soon.Goodluck with it all.Sx
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Post by chinababe on Feb 19, 2010 6:10:52 GMT 10
more like 5 to 9 years - but I am only talking abut victoria here. For those starting the process in victoria it is taking over 6mths to go to the initial info night and then 2 years for education classes and then assessment - so I would say it would take currently about 4 years just to get to approval stage and then if you pick a country that has a quota system most likely your paperwork won't leave Australia for about a year or two.
Other states are much much faster - Tassie, SA and NSW.
50 couples - and consider this is only with DHS am I right?
There where only 18 placements in victoria (2008 - 2009) and that 50 couples is going to increase. I know it's great for birth families but it does suck for couples on the listing.
On the positive side there where 195 PC orders in victoria
This sort of proves what I am getting at though, if that other couple hadn't been on the listing it's likely that only you guys would have been put forward to the birth parents. Now in the same situation it might 3 or 4 couples with the characteristics the birth families are requesting.
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Kay
Toddler
Mama through local adoption :)
Posts: 230
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Post by Kay on Feb 19, 2010 15:50:59 GMT 10
Hi all, You all may not like this idea but I am trying to stay very positive about it all.. All DH and I can do is answer everything honestly and hope we are matched to a very special child who we will love. I am entering this process with the idea in my mind that there are no guarantees which I would have done with IVF. It is important to remember that it is a match and not a queue persay... You never know when the right child will be matched to you. L
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