Another Step Ahead!

Well things have been very quiet on the Adoption front as its all just one big waiting game. Luckily we have been super busy preparing our Auckland home to sell. We had one of those typical Builder's house never finished. Finally I can actually say its 99% done! Yay

In preparation of our adoption journey we are seeking to buy a larger property, the house we own is perfectly fine but we decided it time for a change.

We had great news a couple of days ago. I had a suprise call from a lady at Child, Youth & Family saying they had a cancellation and our Information day had been moved forward to December from January. That's great so we head off to the meeting next Thursday 10th Dec.

Now I think its about time I introduce our family, we have a large one including many animals also :)

Lets start with my children: Kryshina 21, Nicholas 19, Olivia 14, Sophie-maree 12, Joshua 7, Emily 6 and Briana 4.



and then we have our dogs and cats: Bella, Cody, Kaiser, Lily, Lulu, Chikko & Chloe.

Kaiser


Bella & Cody



Lily & Lulu



Chikko & Chloe




I'll have to dig out a photo of Steve and I somewhere and post this next. I'll update again once we have been to our Adoption Information Day :)

Quick Update

This evening we attended an information evening with ICANZ. They introduced their agency, went through the adoption process and walked through all the countries they work with and the criteria for each country.

Was a really interesting evening. I have researched so much on the internet now that I was familiar with most of the info but learn't a few more interesting things too.

It seems that given our age and the age of our youngest child that Russia and China are probably still the only viable countries for us. I found out tonight that China has a waiting list of around 3.5 years now and could possibly be going up to more. I also found out that you cannot apply for siblings in China you more than likely would only ever receive one child per referral.

Russia seems to be the most favourable for us but unfortunately is still closed.

So, where does that leave us? In the meantime we have an information session coming up with Child Youth & Family. We are on the waiting list for December, otherwise it will be January 2010. We also found out we could skip doing the Education programme in Auckland and if we are prepared to travel, we could apply in another city which may make it quicker.

By the time we do our education programme and have to choose a country, we are hoping Russia may be open, otherwise we will probably have to go for China and be prepared to wait!!

Will be back soon to introduce our family! Going to this evening was great, we finally feel like we've made the first step!! This is so exciting :)

In The Mail...

A couple of days ago we received some information in the mail from 'Child Youth & Family' basically outlining the whole adoption process for either adopting within NZ or Internationally. It outlines the process and issues relating to parenting a child through adoption. This is what was enclosed:

• Current adoption practice in New Zealand
• Assessment of adoptive applicants
• Intercountry adoption
• The legal picture
• Flow chart of application process
• Statistics

If you click on the second picture if should be large enough to read. This outlines the whole process from start to finish.



As you can see there is a lot to do and prepare for. Child Youth & Family has advised the process until adoption could take anywhere between 2-3 years so we have loads of time to prepare!! Patience will be the issue, I don't like waiting for things....lol

Over the weekend I have read up numerous info on the internet, there is so much informative information especially reading real stories of families who have adopted or currently still going through the process, there are many blogs just like this one I've started. Most provide a great source of information and links. The majority I have found so far however are all American based so most of the useful links etc apply if you are adopting from the US. There seems as if there are loads of agencies to choose from over there which can be a big part of the process where in NZ I think there are only a handful and maybe only one options depending on the country you are choosing which will make our options a lot smaller. NZ also only has a handful of countries you can adopt from compared to other countries.

Russia & China are still our favorable options at this stage, in my mind I have flown back and fourth to both! This certainly will be a great adventure and one of the most exciting and rewarding ones too.

I promised I would introduce our family, this will definitely be in my next post, we have a large family including animals so it might take a while...lol

The beginning...

It all started on 14th September 2009 when hubby Steve and I were triggered by a documentary on television showing under privileged babies & children from Africa, the medical treatment they receive, the food and dirty water they drink the insanitary living conditions etc, watching the reality is enough to make you sit down and cry.

Steve and I have always talked about the possibility of an intercountry adoption but never really discussed it seriously as we were busy in our own lives creating a family of our own. We sat and talked about what a great gift it would be to help one of these babies/children and to be able to give them the quality of life.

After our discussion we brought the subject up with the children to get an over whelming response of how wonderful they all thought it would be. That was it! The decision was made all in one night, YES YES YES, lets pursue this!

I spend hours that evening, researching the internet for information in my excitement. I found a few things that disheartened me like:

• A lot of countries preferr a combined age of parents to be no more than 90 years! Gosh me being 43 and Steve 45 gives us only a window of 2 years!
• New Zealand law states we could not adopt a child any older than one year younger than our youngest. Our youngest Briana is almost 4. By the time an adoption could possibly take place she would be around 6, giving us a child to adopt of the age of 5 at the most.
• Most babies and younger children go to younger childless parents or parents with less dependants. Would we be able to get a child between the ages 0-5?
• Ethiopia, a country we first invisioned to adopt from, has no gateway to New Zealand, currently New Zealanders cannot adopt from Ethiopia. Our next favourable option is Russia, apparently they are the most relaxed with their restrictions but at this stage the paper trail is still being processed and not a possibility just yet, hopefully maybe in a year or so when we are closer to that next step.
• Another really good option for us is China. From what I have read we meet the required restrictions and they have a higher number of female orphans which if our preferrable gender. I also think the ages are younger between 18mths to 3yrs which is good.
  

So, I began to think 'Is this even possible for us?' Accepting a child that requires medical treatment is a possibility but not a road we would really want to go down if the illness was a serious one. Minor treatments or surgeries etc is fine but obviously one wants a child that is in good health if possible.

The following day I spoke to a very informative women from ICANZ who talked to me about the whole process, what was possible and what wasn't, which countries would be an option and which not, overall the conversation was positive and I was left with a feeling that the whole idea could very well one day become a reality.

I then phoned 'Child, Youth & Family' and organised an information pack to be sent to me. We have taken the first step! I'm looking forward to it arriving in the mail.

My next post will introduce my family which we are prepared to grow! Here are a few pics I found on the net.

First pic from Ethiopia, second pic from Russia and third from China. All Orphans!