One year later...

A year has passed since we officially accepted the referral. If you had asked me at that time how long I thought it would take to be reunited with our son, I certainly would not have said one year.

But today I have become far more realistic and used to the bureaucracy involved with adoption. That doesn’t mean I am passive about it but I tend to get less upset when yet another document is missing. It isn’t really anybody’s fault; it’s just the way things are.

It is certainly something to take into account when deciding on adoption, the time factor. For many parents the choice to adopt already comes after a long journey of trying to conceive. We started our procedure earlier then intended because we thought it would take a long time and adoption for us was a choice so we counted on 3 years which has now become 5 years. Almost every family encounters difficulties on the way and it is certainly not getting any easier. On the one hand there are positive reasons for this, most countries now try to place children in country, and this of course is the best choice in the interest of the children. Whereas adoption in my view (and I know this view is not shared by everyone) is a positive thing to do, it is at the same time very difficult for the children, especially in the early stages. Today most children from India that are adopted abroad have medical issues or special needs and are older children. Adopting a baby inter-country from India is almost impossible from what I have been told.

I realised that I have not said much about Raju. Maybe I just don’t want to jinx things J I will feel a lot better once the court procedure is behind us. But let me tell you a little bit. Raju is 4 years old and lives in Bangalore. He is a gorgeous boy with an incredible smile and amazing eyes. He has some delays when it comes to speech, something we will have to deal with once he is here. I haven’t posted any pictures yet (again don’t want to jinx things) but I have shown them to family and friends and everyone is very taken with him.

We have sent the last documents to India last week and I am now waiting to hear if the file has been filed in the court. Yes it took this long to get it all together but it seemed that every week another document was still missing. It should all be complete now, fingers crossed.

It feels unreal that one year has passed; it has without a doubt been the hardest year for me but thankfully everyone is very supportive not in the least my husband of course who is just as excited as I am J

Will keep you posted once I hear more about the court.