Our Dossier Is Complete and We're Waiting For Our Referral

Bob and I had been working on our Dossier throughout the Summer and we had submitted all of the paperwork.  We paid the final agency fee last week.

We have one piece of paper missing from our Dossier, which is Part 1 of Immigration from Canada Customs and Immigration.  We had applied on this in August and were told there was an 8 week turn around time.  I finally got through to Canada Customs and Immigration at the end of November to inquire on where our application was at and I was told that the wait time had increased to 16 weeks and that we should have it back by November 30 at the latest.

We've informed our agency of the status of our Part 1 application and they've moved us forward to the referral section without it, knowing that we will have it before they send us a referral.

After paying the final portion of our dossier fees, we then had to complete 3 online courses and receive the certificates to move forward in the referral process.  I managed to complete all the courses and receive the certificates on Tuesday.  Most of the information in the courses is redundant information, since we also attend the classes offered at our local agency.  The course information includes: Dealing with Grief, Loss, and Separation; Transracial Adoption; and Attachment.

A few weeks ago, we were presented with a potential match (even though we hadn't paid the final portion of the dossier fees).  This potential match was for a sibling group with 3 children (boy 4- years, girl 6-years, girl 8-years).  We were considering this groups and had several serious discussions with family and friends.  We attended a course on transracial adoptions at our Canadian Agency in Calgary and spoke with the Director of our agency after the course.  In our meeting (and in the meeting with our social worker), we were advised that both the provincial government and the federal government would have an issue with us attempting to adopt this sibling group and we would likely not be approved.  In the Province of Alberta, the majority of adoptions of "older" children (children between 6 and 10) have been unsuccessful, where the parents had a 50% divorce rate and people have requested to "return" the children, so the provincial government typically only approves adoptions of older children if these children are related in some way to the parents, or if the parents have other children or experience being foster parents.  The federal government would have a different issue with this match, and it is based on adopting 3 children at once.
We trust our Social Worker and the Director of our Agency and have taken their advice to wait for the referral we had originally applied for.  We hope these children find a loving home.


We're now waiting for our match.  We have requested a boy between 0 & 4-years, but will accept a girl and will accept a sibling pair.  It may take anywhere between 2 and 12 months to receive our match.  Once we're matched and we accept the referral, we have our child and then have to wait for about 9 months to bring our child home.  I understand that the waiting, once you know who your child (or children) is, is the hardest part, because this is the point when you become emotionally attached to your child and you develop a great longing to have your child at home with you.

We're getting close, but know we have to be patient.