RUMOURS

China does not give us much information about their adoption process.  Basically you submit your file, you are approved a short time after that, then you wait in a queue until it is your turn to be matched with a child.    In the meantime, you get little or no information.  For us, this blind waiting has been going on for 3+ years.

Therefore, we've joined groups of other adoptive families on the internet who share information that they may have received from their adoption agencies, or anything they may have heard from friends in China.  For 3 years, I have been following the blog of an anonymous woman known as the "Rumour Queen,"  who posts the latest news in Chinese adoption.  Literally thousands of families around the world consult her site every day. 

Every month, China sends out the referrals (the dossier for a family's assigned baby with a photo, name, and details) and families post this information on the site for others to see.  This helps us keep track of how fast people are moving through the queue. 

However, we are on a bit of a rollercoaster because no families received referrals this last month AND WE SHOULD HAVE BEEN IN THAT GROUP!  The rumours collected and reported by the Rumour Queen have been all over the map.  Was Swine Flu prohibiting parents from picking up their new babies in China?  Why did China stop sending out the dossiers to the waiting families?  Are there new visa requirements for people travelling to China due to pandemic fears?   The explanations provided by the different adoption agencies conflict with each other.

THE LATEST RUMOUR:  As of today,  we finally have a consensus.  Agencies around the globe uniformly report that the Chinese authorities have mailed the referrals, and that we should be included in this group.... Let's see if we get that important phone call in the next couple of days!  Fingers crossed!