Adoptions are often characterized by waiting. You wait for people to get paperwork to you, you wait for a referral, you wait to travel, you wait for your child to adjust.
For most international programs, the majority of wait time is wrapped up in getting a referral. In our area, there’s actually a decent wait to be matched with a foster placement. Sometimes these long wait times lead people to believe that there are a shortage of orphans in the world. This could not be farther from the truth. By all estimations there are well over 100 million orphans worldwide and over 100,000 in the U.S. So why the wait?
- Most families are requesting young children (under the age of 4).
- Countries (such as Ethiopia) are doing their best to make sure that they are placing legitimate orphans. This process takes time and limits the amount of children who can be placed every year.
Our family has been called to adopt children who would otherwise have a hard time finding a family. Rather than waiting for a referral, we seek children out who are waiting (and have been waiting for families). Often these children are paper-ready and already deemed adoptable by a governing entity which greatly shortens a family’s adoption timeline. Dozens of waiting child lists exist to advocate for these children.
For international adoption, contact your agency to see if they have a waiting list or check out Rainbow Kids.
For domestic adoption, contact your state or local DSS or check out Adopt Us Kids.