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It is February 16, 2011. I wanted to let anyone interested in adopting from Bulgaria to be informed of the present apparent wait time for a healthy child. I am not an expert, I am just in the process and these are my observations. I am certain some people (who sometimes are secretly affilated with an adoption agency) will disagree with me.
Because Bulgaria adoptions came to a near halt until recently, they have over a thousand dossiers waiting to be referred children. Every couple of weeks they come out with a general list of referrals given. This list is of about 15-20 children. A lot of those referrals have either special needs or are listed as "features in health status."
Currently for healthy children, they are only on the 2006 dossiers for children up to 3 years old, 2006 dossiers for children up to 4 years old, 2008 dossiers for children up to 5 years old, 2008 dossiers for children up to 6 years old, 2009 dossiers for children up to 7 years old and 2010 dossiers for children up to 8 years old. I personally haven't seen any referrals for healthy children under that 3 year mark, but I am not saying they do not exist.
Add in the six months to get your dossier prepared and sent to Bulgaria and then another 2 months to get your dossier registered with the Ministry of Justice in Bulgaria and you will have a rough time frame.
I keep hearing that Bulgaria is going to really get things moving soon, but after seeing only three healthy referrals given out this week in Bulgaria, I don't know when that is going to happen.
This could obviously all change and I certainly hope it does. I want people looking into adopting from Bulgaria to get the current adoption time frame, unlike I am seeing on some adoption agency websites or the untrue short time frame I was told.
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Thank you Stephanie! I am trying to decide if I should wait for Bulgaria or adopt from Russia so your response is helpful since you have experience with both. Your children sound amazing....if your son was a soccer star in Bulgaria he could be a super star here! Hope he keeps playing!!!Thanks again!!! Francine
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The timeline we've gotten from one agency for Bulgaria, healthy child, up to the age of 3 is as follows:
4 - 6 months to complete paperwork, homestudy, etc, and get the dossier sent to Bulgaria
12 - 24 months to wait for referral
5 - 7 months from referral to finalization
Based on that we're expecting ~3 years, but have spoken with another family that said it took them about 4. Does that timeline sound in line with what people are hearing or have experienced?
Hi tdcloer, my husband and I are looking for a child 3 and under from Bulgaria too. We have been told it could be about 3 years for a referral, but no one really knows the wait, it's really up to what children are available 3 and under and what special needs you are willing to accept.
We're at the stage of submitting our homestudy to our province for the Letter of Approval, which can take up to 6 weeks to come back. I would say it would take more like 6 months to get all your documents, PRIDE training and homestudy done (or if you've done that, about the same time for a homestudy update and renewing all your documents).
So 6 months, about 3 years and once you get a child match you travel to the country for 5 days, wait 3 months for the courts to finalize while you're back home and then go back to pick up your child and finalize documents about 7 days. This is if everything runs like clockwork. So I'm ball parking about 4-5 years total process.
Well worth it in the end though! If you think about how long some people have to wait to get a child match from China (about 7-9 years!) plus the extra admin time, this is much shorter.
Hope your journey is a good one to Bulgaria to meet your child!
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3 years is what most NGOs and US agencies are telling clients, for healthy or mild SN children under 3. This would be from the time registered with the MOJ.
The other thing to know that even though it should be 12-16 weeks between trips, that is not always the case. I went on my first trip the week prior to Christmas and still do not have my travel dates for the pick up trip. It will be at least 6 months between trips to bring my child home.
With IA expect that things will take longer than expected and that things will cost more than expected.
I was told today (June 13, 2012) by a friend who had their Bulgaria dossier submitted and then registered in July 2010 that they were told by their agency today that it will be another 3 years for a referral for a two year old child. Total of 5 years from dossier registration to referral. This does not include homestudy preparation, registration wait time, acceptance or either travel dates.
Thank you for the update....I have been having a very hard time deciding between Bulgaria and Armenia. I finally decided on Armenia so this makes me feel much better about my decision. My heart goes out to the families that have to wait another 2 yrs. Seems like all the wait times are getting longer.
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FYI - Hopscotch Adoptions has the updates for some of the most recent matching sessions available translated into English. You can find them on their blog or Bulgaria program info page. It looks like they are processing dossiers from 2008 and 2009 and it appears that most children referred to the US are noted as having a "health status" which I take to mean "special needs".
Another location to view the results are on the website for the MOJ somewhere but they were not translated.
pkthomas
I was told today (June 13, 2012) by a friend who had their Bulgaria dossier submitted and then registered in July 2010 that they were told by their agency today that it will be another 3 years for a referral for a two year old child. Total of 5 years from dossier registration to referral. This does not include homestudy preparation, registration wait time, acceptance or either travel dates.
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Since this thread is about adopting from Bulgaria, I was hoping maybe someone could have an answer for me. I am looking to adopt a little girl 5 years old from Europe. I am pretty sure she is from Bulgaria. I am presently living in Canada, but I have European citizenship as well. Is is easier for me to adopt from Europe, or from Canada? Thank you for your feedback