Another great letter from an agency
Another agency has issued a letter to their clients that gives a good bit of information. This is another great, heartfelt, letter. Again, in bullet form, here is the informational part of the letter:
- As of last month, the CCAA has approximately 30,000 dossiers waiting to be matched.
- New dossiers coming in now are significantly less than were coming in before the new rules took effect. They receive closer to 500 to 600 new dossiers a month now, compared to 1,600 to 2,000 per month before the new rules kicked in.
- The CCAA receives approximately 80 to 120 requests per month from families asking that their file be closed.
- The percentage of SN placements (both older children and children with specific special needs) is rising.
- The percentage of NSN families that switch to SN is also rising.
- From the NSN and SN programs combined, the CCAA has matched on average about 600 children per month so far this year. The total for 2007 will likely be between 7,000 and 7,500 matches.
- The CCAA anticipates roughly the same annual number of children being available in the next two to three years, with possibly some decrease (stated because of the decline in abandonments and the speculated increase in domestic adoption).
- They note that with the uncertainties of how many people will drop out, it is probably not terribly accurate to just divide 30,000 by 7,000. (RQ note: They also give the uncertainty of how many will switch to SN, but I don’t see that as changing numbers any, just changing where in line those particular people are standing. By the same token, anyone who gets started in the SN program right now will also get a LOA and TA before most of the rest of the 30,000, so we aren’t just looking at the 30,000)
- They do not believe that the longest wait time will reach 4 years. They believe that the peak in wait times will be when the April 2007 families receive their matches.
- The CCAA does care about the wait, and about the future of the program. They are working to “ensure that their services to abandoned children and adoptive families will continue for many years to come”.
- The CCAA stresses that while they don’t know how long the wait will get, they do give assurance that those families who are qualified and who are willing to wait will receive a match for their child.
I’ve left a lot of personal stuff out and only included the informational stuff. I will say that this was another heartfelt letter. I hope it helped give some answers, and some peace, to those who are clients of this agency. It would have made me feel better.
November 21st, 2007 at 10:52 am
I can’t say that there’s really all that much ‘new’ information in there. Personally I don’t think that the wait is going to top out at four years, but that just might be my pessimistic side. Also, how can they say that they don’t believe it will grow to four years, and then say that they don’t know how long the wait will get?!
Is it just me or does it seem to be too ambiguous?
November 21st, 2007 at 11:00 am
I have to say that, even though this is not my agency, this letter has made me feel a bit better.
Spicygirl04
November 21st, 2007 at 11:05 am
Is definitely nice to hear all this stuff confirmed. Is really quite amazing how close RQ had gotten to all these numbers already on her own.
November 21st, 2007 at 11:07 am
so from the numbers, it all comes down to referrals of more or less per month for 2008? (am i interpreting this correctly?) so to most accurately predict when a referral might be made, if this is correct, we would need a fairly good count of numbers of LID PAPs for each LID date…which we have been extrapolating from the votes in the polls on RQ–right?–assuming we have a good handle on the variance between the polls and real-world numbers–has that percentage changed, RQ??
November 21st, 2007 at 11:09 am
sorry, in the note above, it should say “referrals of 580 children, more or less, per month for 2008?”
MY BAD! brain is faster than fingers…
November 21st, 2007 at 11:17 am
This is my agency and they are great. The letter did make me feel better… and also made me feel a lot better that we are working on an interim adoption and that our agency has been so supportive of it… with a May 2007 log-in date, and given the above information, we’ll fully expecting a 4 year wait…
November 21st, 2007 at 11:25 am
I am surprised at how many files are being closed per month. That number did surprise me.
Adomom
November 21st, 2007 at 11:25 am
I’ve been planning on a 4.5 year wait (4/07 LID), so it’s encouraging to hear another agency report it won’t reach 4 years. Don’t know if I believe it, but very nice to hear. I didn’t realize the attrition rate was that significant. I feel HORRIBLY selfish for thinking - “Wow, that’s going to cut down on my wait!” - which was my first thought. I truly hope the families withdrawing their petitions have found what they feel to be a better way to build their family. It’s sad to put in the effort, make the emotional investment, only later to withdraw the dossier.
November 21st, 2007 at 11:47 am
I wish my agency (non US) could give us the same amount of info.
From non official source, I know that they are going in China to visit the CCAA next month. Hope we’ll receive some feedback and another piece of info.
November 21st, 2007 at 12:10 pm
As much as there may not have been a lot of ‘new’ information here, the last 2 points gave me peace. Willing to wait as long as it takes…
November 21st, 2007 at 12:10 pm
Forgive my ignorance, is a message or just a Cover Your A– comment… it seems like 99.9% of the people qualify, no?
“they do give assurance that those families who are qualified”
November 21st, 2007 at 12:18 pm
Thanks RQ. First it is nice to know that some agencies are communicating honestly and with some facts to their constituents. Second, the numbers are nice for us math types. One statement is interesting to me:
“They do not believe that the longest wait time will reach 4 years. They believe that the peak in wait times will be when the April 2007 families receive their matches.”
After all, with 600 referrals per month, it can still take about 3 months to get thru each month of LIDs, which means that it would take 47 or 48 months to get to 4/07. The dropoff in dossiers did not start until after that.
(1600 to 2000 dossiers per month, less 100 dropouts = 1800 dossiers per month on average = 3 months to get thru each month of LIDs.)
Any thoughts?
Mezzo
November 21st, 2007 at 12:28 pm
This is my agency. We’ve been very happy with them.
Reading this letter they sent out comforted my husband and I - just a little. It was at least nice to ‘hear’ something from them. They’re not the type of agency to randomly post rumors and such. When they do send out letters and other communication efforts it’s usually for good reason.
RQ, it was indeed a very heartfelt letter. That in itself was comforting enough that someone at least cares about families who are enduring the long wait.
With a May 2007 LID, we will be one of those families who will wait in line for our turn. We believe if we wait, we will receive our referral. We just have to be patient. Originally we thought we could be expedited due to Chinese heritage, but the rules didn’t go back one more generation to my grandfather. That didn’t change our minds. We’re here to stay.
On another note, I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. I know I’m thankful for more than a few things: my health, family and sanity at this point in the wait!
November 21st, 2007 at 12:28 pm
Interesting…had not heard the files closed request number.
Just a question, when is the next “More Babies” post going to be? I don’t want to miss it as I can actually join in this time!!! :)
November 21st, 2007 at 12:51 pm
I am sept 06 lid, it now seems i will be waiting 2.2years.
more. We do not have a SN programme in Ireland.
We just have no choice but to stay in line, but our adoption board are putting an age limit in place so anyone over 45 years old MAY not get their declaration renewed, so people may have to drop out in IReland with this issue.
Any word on Sept 06 being out of review soon
November 21st, 2007 at 12:51 pm
I certainly feel better from reading your post, RQ. Even though I try to stay very optimistic, sometimes it is hard not to wonder if I have gotten into something I would later regret and lose the possibility of having a child, a lot of wasted time and wasted money. Thanks for the info!
November 21st, 2007 at 12:55 pm
RQ, what are the prediction charts based on? Would 600 referrals a month be a bad case scenario?
November 21st, 2007 at 12:59 pm
There are not 600 referrals a month. There are likely around 300 NSN matches made per month and 300 SN LOA’s a month. Give or take about 50 either way. (educated guesstimate)
Our polls are a percentage of that 300ish number, not the total.
Also, remember that the 300 number is an average. Perhaps one month it is 200 and the next it is 400.
November 21st, 2007 at 12:59 pm
Umm – The reason you’re seeing agencies starting to issue statements like this is because the State Department and the Council on Accreditation and more than a few state reps are getting so many complaints about the whole China IA debacle. Agencies wanting to operate under Hague have been more or less forced into a corner on this one — in order to satisfy concerns or questions that have come up during their accreditation process about how they represented/misrepresented wait times to clients. It’s no coincidence that we are starting to see these kinds of communications just as Hague is about to go into effect — as Hague accreditation technically requires more transparency on the part of agencies. We’re going to see a lot more “heartfelt†letters in the run up to implementation of Hague. Too bad this oversight came way too late for so many people who could have made other choices if agencies had been honest about the reality of the situation.
November 21st, 2007 at 1:04 pm
dropouts are going to be an increasingly significant factor in the wait times. the letter, which is from my agency, said dropouts are expected to go up, up as the wait lenghtens. how much so? we’ll see.
November 21st, 2007 at 1:25 pm
I was really pleasd to see the letter, we have so little info fron the UK … surprised about the drop outs though…..
November 21st, 2007 at 2:01 pm
So true, Chinasyndrome. This isn’t about the agencies “all of a sudden” wanting to soothe their clients and (finally!) offer facts/figures but rather they are (or should be) covering their _sses as per their impending Hague Convention accreditations. All the American agencies all currently in the midst of their required accreditations, BTW.
Is it a coincidence that we’re NOW seeing solid communication from agencies when last Friday (Nov. 16) President Bush signed the final instrument of ratification for the Hague
Convention? Not a coincidence at all, I’m sure.
Here’s the Sate Dept. link:
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2007/nov/95469.htm
November 21st, 2007 at 2:05 pm
I would love to know historically what the dropout rate was. It’s nice to know what it is now, but I wonder how much it has increased as the wait has grown. I’m sure even during a 6 month wait there are a certain number of families who need to drop out for one reason or another. 80-120 per month doesn’t really seem like that much to me in the scheme of 30000 dossiers.
November 21st, 2007 at 2:10 pm
I do believe that as the wait times continue to increase that so will the attrition rate. People (such a myself) who started this process in their early 40’s may not feel equipped to be a “new” parent in their late 40’s (thankfully we completed our adoption for our 1st child in 2005). For those who started the process at a later age or who are adopting either domestically or from another country in the interim - they may feel differently 4 years from now too.
I was an eternal optimist and thought for sure that there would be a turnaround and the wait could never possibly reach 4 years. Now I am beginning to see past my rosed colored glasses. Since we are LID 3/19/07 the decline in the wait times won’t come fast enough for us. For the first time ever I am not so certain now that our DD will have a sibling. I guess it better to be realistic
anti spam word is xie xie - I will be thankful for what I have.
November 21st, 2007 at 2:15 pm
3xwait — I’m with this agency. the dropout rate basically doubled. So it wasn’t nonexistent before. i think that’s an important consideration — it’s not as if it went from 0 dropouts to 120. there were always a fair number of dropouts per month — and i was surprised by how many. there are just MORE now than there used to be.
November 21st, 2007 at 2:20 pm
The note said drops outs last year were about 30 - 50 per month. So they’ve gone up over 100%.
November 21st, 2007 at 2:35 pm
I WANT TO CLARIFY AND DISPUTE COMMENTS ABOUT HOW WE ARE JUST NOW GETTING INFORMATION FROM OUR AGENCIES!!!!
This agency is my agency and I want to clarify some of the comments above by anonymouswait and chinasyndrome regarding people just starting to receive information due to the Hague.
This agency sends monthly emails with updates and semi monthly news letters with updates. They have published on their private website over three additional informational letters this year to their clients.
This agency has been calling its clients every two months to help us out with the wait time for over the past year. This agency has period informational packages sent to their clients to help prepare for adoption and travel to China in about 7-10 packages.
This agency answers our questions via email or phone within 24 business hours (unless they are in the middle of making Match Day calls where it could reach 48 hrs). This agency all came in to work on their own time off several years ago on the 4th of July because they had received referrals to make calls to families. (This happened just after our match group for our first adoption).
90% of the things this agency does now are the same practices they did for our first adoption in 2004! They have been honest and upfront with their clients from day 1. They don’t have a crystal ball and they are very conservative when making “guesses” to make sure they don’t over promise what they don’t know for a fact.
I feel very sorry for families that don’t receive regular communications from their agency. I think that those agencies that provide less than exception support (emotional and informational) should worry. But this agency has been stellar from before the start!!
I just wanted to clarify this information.
November 21st, 2007 at 2:38 pm
I WANT TO CLARIFY AND DISPUTE COMMENTS ABOUT HOW WE ARE JUST NOW GETTING INFORMATION FROM OUR AGENCIES!!!!
This agency is my agency and I want to clarify some of the comments above by anonymouswait and chinasyndrome regarding this letter.
This agency sends monthly emails with updates and semi monthly news letters with updates. They have published on their private website over three additional informational letters this year to their clients.
This agency has been calling on its clients on every two months to help us out with the wait time for over the past year. This agency has period informational packages sent to their clients to help prepare for adoption and travel to China in about 7-10 packages.
This agency answers our questions via email or phone within 24 business hours (unless they are in the middle of making Match Day calls where it could reach 48 hrs). This agency all came in to work on their own time off several years ago on the 4th of July because they had received referrals to make calls to families. (This happened just after our match group for our first adoption).
90% of the things this agency does now are the same practices they did for our first adoption in 2004! They have been honest and upfront with their clients from day 1. They don’t have a crystal ball and they are very conservative when making “guesses” to make sure they don’t over promise what they don’t know for a fact.
I feel very sorry for families that don’t receive regular communications from their agency. I think that those agencies that provide less than exception support (emotional and informational) should worry. But this agency has been stellar from before the start!!
I just wanted to clarify this information.
November 21st, 2007 at 2:38 pm
One thing that doesn’t make sense is that “wait times will not go to four years” before they get to the April 2007 people. They stated that they do not think there will be an increase in nsn matches. Are they assuming that attrition will keep the wait times down?
November 21st, 2007 at 2:54 pm
This is my agency as well. They are great and are not just now sending a heartfelt letter because the Hague Treaty was just signed. They send something out every two months and are there for their clients.
All this did was, once again, reaffirm why I chose this agency and why they were the best choice for our family.
November 21st, 2007 at 3:03 pm
I am with the “other” agency that recently posted a letter and I echo pixiepam and dasiydoodle that it was in no way a CYA move. This agency has always been straightforward, communicates regularly with clients and does not sugarcoat anything.
November 21st, 2007 at 3:51 pm
This letter is extremely encouraging to us as we wait for our I-171H! I know most of you think we are crazy to choose this wait, but it is the only thing that feels right to us. Now, could someone please PM me the name of this wonderful agency so that we can make sure we are with the right one before we are DTC! Thanks!
November 21st, 2007 at 3:57 pm
Pixiepam: I could have not said it better myself! This is my agency and I never had any doubts going with them.
November 21st, 2007 at 4:04 pm
What I am wondering is this…..From how I read the information, it appears that the numbers of dossiers going into the CCAA essentially equals the number of referrals coming out of the CCAA…….wouldn’t that mean that there would be no substantial reduction in the backlog except for the attrition level? I guess perhaps if the dossiers coming in are reduced by an additional percentage, that would help, but I am thinking that the wait will continue to increase and then stay at that level once they get to the May 07 dossiers.
Someone please tell me I a reading the numbers wrong.
Shanggirls
November 21st, 2007 at 5:11 pm
I have a question about this point in the letter:
They do not believe that the longest wait time will reach 4 years. They believe that the peak in wait times will be when the April 2007 families receive their matches.
I know I’m tired from a long day at work, but I’ve read this over and over, and still don’t get it. Do they think it will not go over 4 years, or are they saying that they don’t think that the longest wait time will be 4 years, but that the peak when April ‘07 is matched will actually be longer? I know it’s kind of nit-picky to ask, especially since I’m really just wishing I was with an agency that communicated with their waiting parents. But maybe those of you who are lucky enough to be with this agency might know. THANKS! :)
November 21st, 2007 at 6:26 pm
wow! I never realized that many people were leaving the
China adoption scene…perhaps that in combination of
families changeing from NSN to SN , new orphanages being
encougraged to have paper ready babies, maybe the
waiting times will get a turnaround after the olympics in 2008???? Hope is what keeps me going!!!!!
November 21st, 2007 at 7:38 pm
I don’t know this agency please those with it send along my thanks as my agency has not sent anything like this to us waiting. Thanks RQ for keeping us out to the dark!!!
November 21st, 2007 at 7:39 pm
I thought this agency posted that in a password protected rea. If such information keeps winding up on public forums they will not longer give their clients such information. If was intended for public display they would not have put it in the password protected area of their website. I sure hope they do not find out you lifted this. If so I feel sorry for their clients.
November 21st, 2007 at 7:43 pm
Maranara,
I’m with this agency and I interpret their wording to mean that they think the wait will continue to lengthen until they get through the April 2007 LIDs, but they do NOT think the wait will exceed 4 years for anyone, not even the April ‘07 people.
November 21st, 2007 at 9:00 pm
autumnp, RQ is very careful about things like that and if she posted it it’s because she deemed that it was safe to post.
November 21st, 2007 at 9:56 pm
i am with this agency too, and i like them very much, but before we attack chinasyndrome and put this agency on a pedesal ( though i like very much) i want to say that they are NOT perfect. this is an agency who gave us projected timelines over the past 12 months that basically changed — lliterally - each month as the showdown continued. at one point my projected waittime was 12 more months, then 13 more months, then 15, then, 18, then 22.. etc…now they no longer guess. a bit late in my view.
so they are not blameless in misleading their clients. with their advertised connections to china and the ccaa, they should have known more than they indicated, or they should have seen the signs. they did not. so i am left feeling very unsure of whether i respect them wholly or not. maybe i respect their social skills but not their forward-thinking skills, i don’t know…
as heartfelt as this letter seems, i just want to make the point that, as their client, i am not convinced that they were ( or should have been) as blindsided by the showdown as they were. if i ever get my baby, i will not forget the wait, and i will blame my agency for not being proactive about a ‘crisis’ that hit me from behind but did not have to…and i will blame the ccaa for elongating my waittime for what i believe are purely political reasons. my point being that i blame both. the ccaa ( or MoCA, whatever you deem the genesis for the slowdown) more, but my agency too, however much i like them. and i do
November 21st, 2007 at 10:08 pm
Could someone with this agency inquire about why they believe the wait will not exceed 4 years? Will they also tell their rationale for this?
November 22nd, 2007 at 12:23 am
This letter was from my agency and I have a very different perspective than some of the other people who have responded. When we selected this agency, we did so because we were told that they had a special relationship with the CCAA, China only, blah, blah, blah…Right!
If I only knew then what I know now!
During orientation, we were told that the wait was 6-9 months and I still have the paperwork noting that. Never once did they tell us about the wait increasing or decreasing-it was never brought up. We are first time parents and never even knew that was a possibility. Yes, it is our responsibility to check into the agencies but when you are new at this and on fertility drugs-you miss a few things. Anyway, they also verbally “promised”-as we wrote out our check to them that the wait was 6-9 months. In fact, one woman said to me “You will have your baby faster than if you were pregnant today”. Well, most of my friends are on their SECOND baby since I started this adoption so that did not work out did it?
Then, no-one was ever available to help with our dossier-they acted like I was stupid for calling so we did it alone and it took much longer than it should have. Our SW was a complete joke and never turned in our paperwork (but told us she had) so our LID was off by about 2 months of what it should have been-which at the time was OK b/c we were still thinking 6-9 months. Then, at one of our parenting classes, a new employee who was also adopting rudely announced that “none of us would be getting our babies in 2007″-I was in absolute shock! Of course, she gave no reason for her comment to a room full of parents who were just railroaded. Oh, but we were told to “stay off the RQ website”.
Now what? We have NEVER been called to see how we were doing. Never called to say hi, how are you? We are so sorry that the wait has increased so much. Not until I called them crying a year ago wanting to know what was going on. Then, they promised to call us every month-guess what? We have had TWO calls in 6-8 months and nothing until this letter! The newsletters offer nothing except for the stats from previous months and now they never mention their special relationship with the CCAA.
The truth is is that they are too scared to rock the boat and stand up to China which I see as wrong. We are their customers and they have forgotten that. I will never use this agency again! You can list 1,000 reasons why the wait has increased and yet the fact remains that there are more children waiting for families than there are families waiting for children. If anyone thinks that they could not match 30,000 kids tomorrow-you have been brainwashed.
However, a part of me that believes things will speed up and that China will do what is right for those children. It is Thanksgiving and I am thankful that I can adopt and I will love my child and I will never let her know how disappointing this was when it should have been so fun and so wonderful. China has not a clue what they have done to so many families. All they have to do is say, yes, it is going to be 3 years or whatever but to continue to deny things is just so wrong. They know exactly what is going on and they do have the power to change things today. Lets continue hoping for the best…..
November 22nd, 2007 at 12:31 am
autumnp is correct…this was for the agency’s clients only. I wonder about sharing info that is specifically stated for clients only….will they share info in the future if it is posted on other forums? (and RQ did a great job of just listing the most important points)
November 22nd, 2007 at 9:17 am
Eli, I agree with you. I don’t believe they didn’t see it coming. It’s simple math and when a pattern continues for 6 solid months, it’s time to assume.
Unfortunately it took 15 months for the assumption to be made.
Comparisons to past circumstances are not valid here. Sars isn’t even close to a country no longer promoting IA.
I don’t think they are evil by any means, but they are a business and they kept signing people on under the claim that the wait “currently” was short. It’s all a matter of what “current” means to the person doing research.
Deception is a huge topic , we’ve brought it out in the open and held agencies accountable for what they are quoting.
It doesn’t surprise me that now…..many are being more forthright.
This agency is quite professional, they do everything they say they will do
I don’t dislike them at all,
but had I known what I learned from this site,
had I known that when I asked if the wait was “still 6-8 months” that I was inquiring about people other than myself
we’d have definitely chosen a different route.
People are divided, many who adopted from China before knew which questions to ask. How would first timers know to ask what current means? I have a problem with the lack of disclosure here.
November 22nd, 2007 at 10:07 am
Some of you don’t appear to have read the FAQ.
http://chinaadopttalk.com/faq/
Number 17 especially might be of interest for you.
November 22nd, 2007 at 10:39 am
RQ, THANK YOU FOR GETTING AS MUCH ACCURATE INFORMATION TO US AS YOU CAN. YOU ARE MUCH APPRECIATED!
LID 01/07
November 22nd, 2007 at 11:54 am
This letter is from my agency. I don’t blame them for the slowdown. We adopted our daughter with them in 2005 and had such an amazing experience that we chose to use them again.
I have and will continue to recommend this agency to anyone looking into adopting from China.
November 22nd, 2007 at 7:46 pm
Can I just say that I totally agree with cachinadoll, we search for answers that we will never get, we hope for things that never seem to come true etc…
Our Canadian agency has dissapointed me ALOT - I went with them becasue they seemed to be so up front and so informative etc.. we get updates but never with these kind of details or facts, I would love to get a letter like this. Ever since the major slow down we barely hear from them, we VERY RARELY hear any info about China, it seems like they are too busy with all their other programs now so people in the China program are just getting pushed off to the side. In fact when I called to ask about stuff they acted like they didn’t know what I was talking about and one lady pretended she didin’t know what I was talking about when I mentioned being on the RQ site?? Meanwhile a week later on a non informative monthly update they tell people to go to the RQ site for any questions/answers and information!! Are you kidding me - I feel like I should have given my thousands of dollars to RQ since she is my only source of info.
Can I just say THANK GOD for you RQ, I seriously don’t know how I would survive this without you and all of your info!!!!
Oh yeah Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends!!!
November 23rd, 2007 at 12:25 am
cachinadoll I am deeply sorry that you feel that you were given false or misleading information from your agency in the beginning. However, I think many people think that adoption is a “sure thing.” From your post regarding fertility issues….clearly no form of adding a child to your family is EVER a “sure thing.” There are many fertility clinics out there telling people “you’ll be pregnant in no time.” Do people blame the physicians personally when they biologically cannot have a child? I firmly believe that most adoption agencies have the best interest of orphaned children around the world in mind as they do their jobs. The time line kept getting quicker and quicker there for awhile… I honestly believe that everyone hoped it would just continue that way. I think if we all had to be honest with ourselves we’d have to admit that NOTHING in life is a “sure thing” and we are not in control of this process. Would it have been more comforting if you had been told “International Adoption is complex and fluid. Things can change at any time. If you embark on this journey you will have moments of heart ache, stress and possible financial hardship. We hope that everyone that begins this process will end up with a child, but there are no guarantees.” I believe that there is a reason that we are all given hope by our agencies in the beginning, otherwise many wouldn’t even begin the journey. All of us involved in this wait have a choice…we all have free will…we can either stick it out or jump ship…
One this Thanksgiving Day, I am thankful for a woman-whom I will never meet-that carried my daughter in her womb and made sure she was safe until I could come for her:)
November 23rd, 2007 at 12:34 pm
I don’t think this is my agency… I’m with a large China-only agency, but I’ve received nothing like that. I, too, chose my agency for an apparent “special relationship” with the CCAA. I’m happy for all of you who do have an agency that is so up-front that they’d let you in on new developments; I’m also very happy that Rumor Queen has shared this info.
For those folks who are bothered by the information sharing, I am not trying to be flippant, but I do wonder why you visit RQ if not for such info.
Cachinadoll, I have to say that we, too, really did think that CHINA adoption was a sure thing. Heck, the China program used be practically be “advertised” as such. It’s been a rude awakening for many of us, and I do commiserate with you.