Weekly Update

I receive an update from my placement agency each week. This week's edition had information about the two-trip policy -- and really only to say there was no real information about it yet. They have yet to send any families over to Africa under this new policy (any family with a referral before May 9 needs to only travel once). I am very interested to get news on this and will keep you updated.

Every family I know who has gone through the international adoption process has only had to travel once, has gotten to bring their child home the same week they met him/her. I'm not looking forward to boarding the plane on that first trip back to the US, leaving my baby behind.

Given the new two-trip policy, the placement agency has had to raise some fees. And additional increase of $500 each for in-country services and the humanitarian fee. At this point, what's another $1,000? The news barely registered with me. I updated my excel spread sheet and went along my day.

What does register with me and what I'm always curious to read about in these weekly updates are the wait times. And so far, even with the adjusted wait times, families in my bracket (children under 18 months old) are still "only" waiting 18 months. Fingers crossed that none of us meet the threshold of the 16 to 22 months that is now our estimate for a referral.