Commonly Asked Questions

I have compiled a short list of some commonly asked questions regarding our adoption process. I am sorry if I have and continue to do a poor job of communicating the adoption process. It is quite complex.

1) Do you already know the little boy you will adopt?
No. We do not know anything about him except that he will be a male child, from Ethiopia, between the age of 0-24 months old. Our agency doesn't know him yet either. Once we send our dossier to Ethiopia, we will be placed on a "waiting list." We will tick down the waiting list (moving spots as other families ahead of us are matched with their children). Once we are first in line to receive a referral (being matched with our son), and a child enters the orphanage that matches our criteria - male between 0-24 mos, our agency will call us! More on referral later. Again, answer to this question is that as of right now - the only person who knows where Malachi is is the Lord.

2) If you don't know him, then how did he get the name Malachi?
The name Malachi is not his birth name. It is the name that we have chosen to give him. We have decided to keep his birth name as his middle name (although we don't know what that name is yet). The legal name change will take place sometime during the adoption process.

3) What is this Dossier you keep talking about?
First of all, don't you hate reading a word that you aren't even sure you can pronounce? I read the word dossier on others adoption blogs for a long time before I learned how to correctly say it. So here is a link to here it properly pronounced :) just click the little megaphone and it will say it.

http://m.dictionary.com/d/?q=dossier&o=0&l=dir

Back to the question. By definition, a Dossier is a file that contains detailed information about a person. So ALL of the paperwork, including our home study, that we have been gathering for the past 6 months will be compiled into a file - our dossier. Our entire lives and everything the Ethiopian government wants to know about us will be jam packed into one little file.

4) What's the rush to get the Dossier over to Ethiopia?
Because like I said earlier, once our dossier is sent to Ethiopia, we are OFFICIALLY on a waiting list for a baby!

5) Once you send your Dossier to Ethiopia, how long until you receive a referral?
Right now, the wait time is 18-24 months, meaning that this is the time frame that couples who have recently received referrals have waited. The time frames are always subject to change - either direction :-/ We are praying that the wait times will decrease.

6) What exactly is a "referral?"
A referral happens when our agency matches us with a child. Again, for this to happen we have to be near the top of the waiting list. Once we are next in line, or near next in line, to receive a referral and a little boy who meets our criteria is in the orphanage - they will match us.
They will give us a call! We will get in front of a computer while on the phone with them and we will see our first picture of him!! They will go through as much social and medical history of the child as they have, which can sometimes be limited. Then they will give us the option (over the span of several days I think) to accept or deny the referral. If we accept the referral, our files are matched and we will be scheduled a court date in Ethiopia for adoption! That will be when we take our first trip!! If we deny the referral, we will be placed back on the waiting list. Not at the end of the line, but I'm not real sure where :)

I know there are tons more questions and I hope I can get to them soon! But I figured this was enough for now! So please keep praying we can get our Dossier to Ethiopia ASAP so we can officially get on the waiting list!






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