The Final Word on 2012 Submissions

This morning our agency provided those of us adopting from Korea the following update. Before reading the below update, it might be helpful to know this:

• Group 7 for 2012 will not include all of the families who accepted referrals in 2011. It will likely only include those who accepted referrals through early or mid December, 2011.
• Tony and I will not know our specific Group until our paperwork is submitted to the Ministry. The date of our referral acceptance is February 17, 2012. Based on how the groups fell in 2013, we will likely be in Group 3 but we could fall in Group 2 or 4. 
• The groupings are 100% arbitrary. It is literally a matter of how many files the ESWS folks grab to bring to the Ministry at once. They do go in order of date accepted, but beyond that we simply will not know until we know!
• It is important to note that the Anticipations for 2013 Submissions says they will begin in January, but this past year they did not begin until mid-March. So please do not expect an update on timing right away in 2013!

Status of Next Emigration Permission Request Submission for 2012:  The next group of emigration permission requests  (Group 7 for 2012) has not yet been submitted to the Ministry. This is expected to happen in the next few weeks. Group 7 will be the last group submitted in 2012.  This group will be the FIRST to proceed through the new added step of Court Review that is being implemented as part of the New Special Adoption Law that went into effect on August 5, 2012.  As was indicated in the August 20 update from the Korea Program, it is unknown, at this point, how long this added step will take. The step takes place between the issuance of the emigration permission and the visa interview at the Embassy.  ESWS and Children's Home are working proactively to prepare all documents that the court might request ahead of time to ensure that this part of the process proceeds as smoothly and quickly as possible. We will continue to keep you updated.    

Anticipations for 2013 Submissions:  ESWS anticipates that the Group 1 for 2013 will be submitted to the Ministry in January of next year unless the Ministry indicates otherwise.  We will continue to keep you updated.

We know everyone is anxious to have Oliver home. We are too! 

It's really difficult for us to focus on that, though. We need to remain positive but also prepared for a long wait so we can keep our expectations reasonable and our emotions happy. We aren't keeping information from anyone; we honestly don't know more beyond what is shared above.

We hope to have an update on travel sometime in early 2013, but as noted above we won't have any more travel updates this year. We should, however, continue to receive photos of Oliver and will share those as soon as they come in (those also come in intermittently, so we don't know when the next set will arrive).

We appreciate the prayers and encouragement we receive -- keep it coming!