NOT THE NEWS WE WERE HOPING FOR

This past Monday we received the unbelievably bad news that our adoption agency was closing it's doors!! When I first read the news I really thought I was going to throw up. It was pretty much the same feeling I had after each failed in vitro...total devastation. Times are tough enough in the International Adoption community and it didn't help that our agency didn't receive Hague accredidation. They eventually went bankrupt after spending money to appeal the decision, with no luck getting it overturned. SO, what does this mean for us? Well, right now we're being told that we are being transferred to a new agency, Gladney Center for Adoption, in Fort Worth Texas. The agreement is that we will not incur any further costs and that our fee schedule will remain the same, as well as the fact that we will all retain our spots "in line", all of which are good news. Now, the bad news: none of this has been finalized and it will not be finalized until the end of the month at the earliest! Our current Program Director/caseworker (Ray) and the Gladney President are traveling to Taiwan the week of August 20th to finalize the transition with the partner agency (TWCA). Until we have heard that TWCA has approved Gladney we're all pretty much in limbo, but we've been told by our agency that they see no reason that Gladney won't be approved. The only thing I know about Gladney is that they've been around for 100 years, something I see as VERY positive. It makes sense to me that TWCA would be more than willing to work with a US agency that's been around for 100 years, so I have high hopes that this will all go through. This is going to be a long, hard month for us, but thank goodness I've got my Blogettes from my Yahoo Group, a group I have found to be a truly invaluable resource/support group!! In the meantime we're going to continue working on our homestudy and doing whatever we can do without naming an agency. (Some forms/applications require you to name the agency you are working with, so I'm guessing we'll have to wait for approval to file those). And last, but certainly not least, we have a very cute distraction to keep us busy!!! That being said, I'm greatful that we aren't in the process of chasing baby #1, because this setback would be even more heartbreaking if that were the case.

They say that change is the nature of International Adoption and this is certainly proof of that! I think we're trying to see this as a bump in the road that in the long run will just put us a month behind schedule, so in the big scheme of things that's not too bad. We're trying to stay positive and hope that by this time next month we will be moving forward with a new agency. So, check back early next month for the final update!!