The Journey of a Eight Thousand Miles

The calling of adoption is truly a journey – a long, difficult, uphill both ways kind of journey.  It begins when God places a seed of desire (and hope) into a person’s heart.  It continues when a couple (or individual) answers the call of God to care for the orphan through adoption.  YET, THE ACCEPTANCE OF THE CALL OR EVEN THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE CALL IN NO WAY MARKS THE END OF THE ADOPTION PROCESS BUT ONLY ITS BEGINNING.  We have had many conversations lately with people who innocently assumed that because we had announced that we were adopting, then the child must certainly be on the way.  In the words of the Esurance commercial: “That’s not how it works!  That’s not how any of this works!”  Therefore, I wanted to give everyone a glimpse of where we are in this journey and what the timeline typically looks like for Indian adoption.  It’s also important to understand that the adoption timeline is subject to change for many reasons and at any time.

Earlier this summer, we began the process of choosing an adoption agency that had successful experiences with Indian adoptions.  The sad reality is that only 1,866 Indian children have been adopted by families living outside of India since 2010 (with only 660 of those being adopted in America).  In fact, there were only 119 children adopted to the U.S. from India in 2013.  Although these numbers are enough to make anyone second guess God’s calling, we held firm believing that God was indeed leading us to adopt from India.  In August, we decided to go with Dillon International, an adoption agency in Tulsa, OK.  They have been adopting children to the U.S. from India since 1980. The more we researched them and learned of their heart for God and for the orphan, the more at peace we were with entrusting the steps of journey to them.

 Not long after contacting Dillon, we received more information and more paperwork than we could ever have imagined.  We got through the initial application fairly quickly and were approved the same day that our paperwork arrived.  Then came the daunting task of our Home Study Application (which normally takes a few months to complete).  By the grace of God, we got through it in exactly one month and we have been approved to begin our Home Study.  Yeah!!!  Unfortunately, we are not able to move forward at this time because of the finances.  We are required to pay around $7,000 upfront to get our Home Study going.  Although this is a daunting number which truly exceeds what’s in our bank account at this moment, we are believing God to do that which is impossible for us. 

Once we are able to begin the Home Study, the process should take up to three months.  Once we are approved, then comes the most difficult part of waiting for a child to be referred to us.  As in many countries, the only children that are available for US citizens are children with minimal to severe special needs.  When we started with Dillon, we were asked to fill out a lengthy questionnaire which required us to list what type of needs we would be willing to consider.  And just let that statement sink in for a second!  Although this was by far the most overwhelming thing we have done up to this point, Misti and I were in perfect agreement that we are willing to accept a child with minor to correctible special needs.  The hard part is going to be waiting for a child that matches our questionnaire.  This process could take up to a year (and even longer). 

Once we do finally receive a referral, we will have a few weeks to take all the information and meet with our pediatrician as well as spend a lot of time in concentrated prayer with our family and our Faith Family.  Once we approve the referral, then we wait up to 18 months to be able to bring our son home.  The whole adoption process could last as long as 24-36 months.  Although we are praying that somehow this process will go quicker, we are also preparing ourselves for the longest wait of our lives. 

We ask that you continue to pray with us and for us as we wait upon the Lord.  We will be making an announcement soon concerning a Fund Raiser that will help with our adoption costs.  Again, we do not want our adoption to be a burden to any of you, but to be a blessing to anyone that is willing to walk alongside of us in this journey.  We have started this journey and we will not stop until we are at home with our son!  #stricklandfamilyadoption #adoptionisredemption