The Adoption Process - Page 2
Dossier
to China (DTC): August 2, 2002
This is the magical date that all adoptive parents look forward to. It's
the date when all your hard work during the paperchase phase is completed
and your agency finally translates and sends off that mountain of paperwork
to China and your officially "a waiting parent". Now you're
a Fed Ex package sitting somewhere in Guangdong province in China.
This was the time that we joined the local Waiting Families group. It was a great support group who met once a month to discuss all the different phases of adoption with others. The members of the group were all at different stages of the process. So it was great to hear others questions, get answers and it was especially uplifting when someone had just received their referral information and could share that precious photo with the rest of the group. The best part was of course seeing a couple who had just returned from their travels from China with their new daughter or son.
We also joined several Yahoo Groups on adoption. It helped us feel like we were never alone during this process and became an invaluable source of information on what to expect during the adoption waiting process.
Of course we hit the library and started reading, and reading and reading. Learning about child rearing is one thing, but we also wanted to learn about the Chinese culture, trans-racial adoption, separation anxiety and many other topics that your typical parent doesn't need to worry about. For us, we're not only making a commitment to our future child, but also to his/her culture.