Once legally free how long does it take?

with our first foster to adopt, we had placement june 2004, TPR March 2005, and then sw lost paperwork to file adoption and we went through shuffle after shuffle and finally finalized October 3rd. our next one was placed in June 2005, TPR and relinguishment happened September 30, it will be read into court next week and then we are told we will able to file adoption within 30 days. We are told adoption should be final by the end of the year. That will put us right at the 6 month mark and I'm told it will be okay. We're waiting!