The ugly rumor mill....

Like most people on the China adoption roller coaster (and I am sure all countries are the same), I find myself addicted to the yahoo groups and other people's blogs to see the "Rumor of the Day". I don't know why we do this to myself. I am already, as you know, a big fat ball of anxiety as it is. If I believed in taking meds for it I would, but a bowl of ice cream, a glass of wine or a good cry seems to work just fine. On the yahoo groups and blogs, you can find pretty much anything for your mood when it comes to the China referral rumors. If you are in a misery loves company mood, we have a rumor for you. If you need to be cheered up, someone else has some gossip that will lift your spirits. Now, we are not even DTC yet, so imagine what I will be like a year from now(no, I doubt we'll be traveling by then, then again, according to some rumors...)-I imagine I will go from a ball of anxiety to ball of goo by then. I keep telling myself I will just keep busy and try not to think about it. Riiigggghhhhttt. Anyhow, here are some of the huge quantity and range of rumors I have read lately.

Here's a sampling for my non-adoptive friends and families:

The adoption program in China is shutting down "soon".

The wait time till referral will speed up to 6 months again, just as it did a little over a year ago.

The lengthening in delay to referrals is due to the Hunan Baby Smuggling Scandal.

The CCAA is taking longer with American families due to the two recent families who killed their adopted Chinese babies(both shaken baby syndrome, makes me ill to think about).

The time we wait till referral will go to 12 months.

The time we wait till referral will go to 24 months.

The lengthening in delay to referrals is due to no babies available.

The time we wait till referral will go to 18 months.

The lengthening in delay to referrals is due to a surge in domestic adoptions(read that, as in adoptions within China).

The signing of The Hague Convention in the US, with China, will slow down the program

The signing of The Hague Convention in the US, with China, will speed up the program.

Adoptive Parents will not be allowed to specify Special Needs or Non Special Needs children.

International Adoption will only be allowed for special needs children.

Adoptive parents will not be allowed to specify any age range, like <12 months, 2-4 years, etc.

The increasing delay in referrals is a sort of natural selection in the eyes of the Chinese government... that the longer the referral gets, the fewer applications they get and thus the smaller the program is.

So when you ask us what we know, please specify...

1. you want to hear about the rumors

OR

2. You want to know facts

Answers to #1 will be easy and plentiful, answers to #2, not so easy, not so plentiful!

All I know is... we're on this road and we're sticking with it, life holds no guarantees.