The Korean adoption world got a bit of good news this past week. After several months of everything being on hold, things are finally moving again! Those families that I mentioned earlier who have been waiting for over a year and thought they'd have their little ones home by Christmas, are finally getting good news that their children's EP's (Emigration Permission) have been approved! They just have a couple more steps (Family Court review and then travel clearance), then they'll be able to go get their babies! It was very encouraging this week to see the Korean government moving forward with these cases so early in the new year!
For those interested, I do want to take a little bit of time to explain in detail what has to happen now before we can go get Lennox. I get tons of questions about why it takes so long. And while I certainly don't have all of the answers, I hope this will help some.
When we mailed in our acceptance papers for Lennox, our agency then forwarded them on to Eastern (the agency in Korea that our US agency works with), and that put us in the final waiting period. While we did receive our referral in November, our papers didn't get to Korea until December, so we will actually be considered a December ATK (Acceptance To Korea) family. Meaning we weren't actually "placed in line" for travel clearance until December.
Now we begin the wait for Lennox to receive his EP (Emigration Permission). Because of the fact that the Korean government only allows a limited number of these to be approved every year, there is a MAJOR backlog of children waiting. This is where the holdup is. Remember those children I mentioned above who are just receiving EP approval? They are November and December 2011 ATKs. That tells you how far backed up they are.
The timeframe we were given in our paperwork says we could expect to wait 9-13+ months for this to happen. However, this is just an average based on past cases. It could possibly take even longer. Say they use all of their allotted EPs before they get to December ATK cases (which we are) then we'd have to wait until 2014 to receive EP for Lennox. Hope I'm making sense.
Anyway, when this does happen for us, whether it be sometime this year or next, our agency will notify us when Lennox has been submitted for his EP, and then again when it has been approved. Submission to approval usually takes anywhere from 4-6 weeks. Following the approval of EP, Lennox's case will go to Family Court for review. This is the newest step in the process, and the families currently receiving EP approval will be the first families to go through this process. We have no idea how long Family Court review will take, but hope to get a better idea as these first few cases are processed. Once Family Court approves Lennox's case, Eastern will begin the process of obtaining him a passport. This usually takes a couple weeks. They will also work to obtain Lennox Visa approval during this time. Once the passport has been issued and visa approval is at the US Embassy in Seoul, they'll call us within a couple weeks to let us know we can book our flights to go get our sweet boy!
So, as you can see, once things get moving, they move pretty quickly. It's just a matter of PRAYING PRAYING PRAYING that we are able to be included in these 2013 EPs. We certainly don't want to have to wait until 2014 to get him!
So, I hope I cleared things up a little at least. Lennox will go in on the 14th for a monthly check-up, and we hope we get an update and new pictures of him then!
I've included the picture of me and Beckett sending him care package #2!
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