Making Progress: DTC awaiting LOA

Adoption often has its own language, full of  acronyms.  If you visit an adoption blog you will likely see a family's timeline filled with dates for PA, DTC, LID, LOA, and TA among others.  For many of us, this is how we track our progress.  Unlike a pregnancy, weeks alone do not bring us predictably closer to our child. 

For those of you not familiar with adoption lingo (or that specific to China) my blog title means nothing to you.  I have, in fact, recently had many questions about how we got to this point.  If you're an adoption pro, feel free to skip ahead.  Any adoption begins with a home study--oodles of paperwork and meetings with a social worker to convince her that you are fit parents emotionally, physically and financially.  Typically once your homestudy is approved you apply to a specific country program and wait for them to match you with your child.  Those of you who know me well understand that I'm not that type to just sit around and wait for something this important to just happen.  So I joined Yahoo groups and websites that advocated for children waiting for a home.  One of these sites posts China's monthly "shared list."  This table shows children by gender, date of birth and special need that are available for families from any adoption agency.  The info is bare-bones, but in May I asked our agency to find out more about a handful of girls who fit our general age and needs.

The only one I was interested in seeing the entire file for was Tong En, then just weeks shy of her 4th birthday.  As is often the case in Chinese adoption, the information was over 2 years old.  Imagine my surprise when I posted a general question about her need, nevi, on a yahoo group and was rewarded with updated pictures and information about her!  Another adoptive parent had been trying to find this child a home for years and even had a short video of her. After getting medical opinions and lots of talking, we submitted our letter of intent to adopt her, which is when the paperwork really began!  Our dossier is a file containing large amounts of info about our lives: physical exams, financial summary, background checks, employment info, letters of reference, immigration clearance and more.  China logged this into their system on September 16.  From this log in date (LID) our agency estimates that we should have a letter of acceptance from China, granting us formal permission to adopt.  From there we still have some more paperwork on both sides of the world but would likely travel about 2 months later.  Hard to believe that in 4 months we could actually be meeting Teagen!

Help us bring Teagen home: Donate to Brittany's Hope

International adoption costs about $30,000.  We are fortunate to be awarded a grant from Brittany’s Hope Foundation.  This grant matches donations up to $3,500, which is where we need your help!  Brittany’s Hope is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization and all donations are tax deductible.  Any donation you make in our name will be matched doubling your contribution to Teagen’s adoption.  Any amount raised over $3,500 will be used by Brittany’s Hope to help unite other children with their families. 

Please donate at www.brittanyshope.org/seedling/breeden

Checks can also be mailed to: Brittany's Hope Foundation; 1160 North Market Street

Elizabethtown, PA 17022.  Our name must appear on your check’s memo line.

Meet Teagen!

We are proud to introduce our daugther, Teagen Wu.  Teagen was born on May 26, 2009.  She currently lives  in Wuhan China.