Timeline?

Hi April - My wife and I are in the process now. From our experience, and what we've been told to expect the rest of the way, I'd say it's about 1.5 to 2 years from the time you get going until you travel to Korea. Step 1 is completing the requirements of your homestudy. Meetings, social work visits, paperwork. The speed of that is going to depend on your particular agency. We started attending meetings in February, and had our home visit at the end of April. The social worker finished up the paperwork towards the end of June. So for us this was a 5 month process. Others are doing this in a shorter time frame. Step2 is sending your paperwork to US immigration and waiting for approval of your homestudy. We were told this process takes about 10 weeks. So, another 2.5 months. Step3 is sending your homestudy off to Korea, and then waiting for a referral. We were given an estimate of 6 - 10 months, but told it's typically running on the longer end right now. It sounds like this step isn't necessarily a first in, first out, depending on which Korean adoption service you are working with. We're expecting 10 months on this one though. Step4 is waiting for the travel call. We were given an estimate of 4 months. Add all that up and I come up with 21 months for our estimated time line. Things could run shorter for others. Our homestudy took a little longer than expected. Other people on this forum who started theirs a couple weeks after I did ended up completing it weeks sooner. Also, apparently some agencies send your homestudy off to Korea at the same time they send the paperwork to immigration services, which might make things run faster. Good luck.

I think Kizzz's estimate is pretty accurate. I know a couple who will have a baby home in 1 year (actually I think just under a year), but I think they are the minority. Our homestudy and paperwork took 4 months. Getting to the point of approval took another couple months. Our wait for a referral is supposed to be 4-6 months (we were told to expect the longer). Pick up baby in 3-5 months. So we are expecting 15-17 months since we submitted our preapplication.

Thank you so much for the info! What agency are you using?

Kizz and LJR did a great job giving info. I'm not sure if they mentioned that a lot of the variation also depends on which Korean agency your US agency works with. SWS (which Kizz, LJR, and I are all working with) have about a 4 month wait from referral to TC. Eastern (or ESWS - same thing) has a current 11 month wait from referral to TC. Holt is somewhere in between (closer to SWS) and the other agency (KSS I believe) I've never heard of anyone actually working with so I couldn't tell you. Our current estimate for wait for referral is 6-8 months (just came up from 4-8 months so I guess things are taking a bit longer on the referral end than they were). We're using a local agency that services MD, DC, and VA. I like them. I don't think our paperwork/home study process was the fastest or the slowest. If you live in one of these areas I'd be happy to share more info. I would recommend really talking to any agency you're considering and getting info from them on their current wait times. Realize these aren't set in stone but they'll give you an idea. Good luck! ~Christy [url=http://www.threelittlemonkeysjumping.blogspot.com]3 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed[/url]

Hello I am new to this forum. After the passing of one of our sons to cancer over a year ago my husband and I are seriously considering expanding our family through adoption. Christy is there a place I might email you to share information about the agency you are using? We live in the VA area and would love to hear any insight you might have. Thank you so much!! Maria

Thanks for all your information ladies. It was quite helpful.