No, this is NOT the year.

This past January, I was absolutely elated by the thought that 2021, THIS YEAR, would be the year we would not only meet our son or daughter, but that we may even be able to bring them home! ...I even wrote a blog about it here. Boy, was I mistaken.

International adoption processes vary from country to country, from agency to agency; but one thing has been consistent: COVID-19 has really wrecked a lot of timelines and plans.

Our home study was finalized and approved by both our agencies in January. It was sent to Korea at the very end of February. With many changes in adoption policies within the country AND government/courts being backed up from shutdowns, things are taking a little longer than usual, however, we are still considered to be within a "normal" timeframe for waiting. I'm told that most families are now receiving their referral ("match") about 6 months after their home study is received by Korea. That's a little slower than under normal (pre-COVID-world) standards...BUT, it means at this point that we are possibly within about 2 weeks from getting our referral! We could be notified tomorrow...we could be notified in a month...but we are closing in on that "new average" time frame - and THAT is exciting!

Even if we got the referral call today, we would most likely not receive our court date that would fall within 2021. We need an official court date to make travel arrangements. Going by current trends (I'm in a FB group with other waiting families from our agency), January would be the EARLIEST possible court date (this would be the first of two trips to Korea - to meet our child and appear in court). This feels disappointing, BUT current trends also indicate the time between court dates (the second trip, to take custody and return to the U.S. WITH our child) is quite a bit shorter than usual. This is good news, in light of COVID-19 quarantine restrictions still in place for in-coming travelers to Korea. This means that if we are required to do a 14 day quarantine upon arrival, we could theoretically stay through the time period between court dates, saving us from having to quarantine twice. Does that make sense? So maybe a 5 week stay in Korea, but just one trip...rather than two separate 3-4 weeks trips with mandatory quarantine. Once we get that first court date assigned, we will be able to make some travel decisions. While the embassy site has been updated to include information about who might be eligible for quarantine exemptions, it does not appear that adoption-related travel will be included at this time. With the COVID-19 situation in the U.S. right now, I don't foresee that we would be included with the exemption, even 6 months from now. So, that's a bummer.

Thanks for reading our update - and thank you for the continued prayers and interest. Several people have asked me how things are coming along lately and that means a lot to us. Our next update SHOULD be our MATCH! Ahhhh! I really can't wait to share that news with you all one day VERY SOON! Thank you again!! - B