Why Does it Take So Long?

Here's the next big question I get asked all the time. When do you get to bring him home, and why does it take so long. As you can imagine, no country is going to just send their children off somewhere else without making sure that it's in the best interest of that child. Also, the US government doesn't want people bringing in a lot of children from other countries, if they can't afford to take care of them.

There are a lot of steps to any international adoption. I've become an expert on the "steps." (at least I think I am....and I'm going to just go on believing that!!) I am someone who wants to understand something very thoroughly if I'm going to be involved in it. I like to read everything I can get my hands on. (Just ask Jay - I think I drive him nuts!)

Below is a flow chart I created that shows the broad steps in the process and the order in which they need to be done. Any step that is in green we have finished. I plan on updating this chart on occasion so people know where we are in the process. I'll also have posts on the different steps to try to explain them in more detail. If you click on the picture, it will open up bigger in your browser. Then, hover your cursor over the picture and a little box will show up in the lower right hand corner. Click that box, and the picture will become bigger and easier to read.