International Day 2007

We went to International Day on Sunday. International Day is hosted by IAFQ and is an annual celebration of our state's adopted childrens' birth cultures. I think it would be safe to say that it's the biggest event each year on the calendar for international adoption in Qld.

We saw the beautiful children parade in their country groups wearing traditional costumes. Supreme gorgeousness. We could take our pick from all the different cuisines for lunch (Aaron chose Korean, I was a little unwell so just had a drink and a nibble of Aaron's rice - otherwise I probably would have sampled some Ethiopian sold by Leisa!) We got to catch up with some great friends we've made through adoption, and also had the pleasure of meeting Blondie.

The minister for Child Safety did a bit of a spiel and announced that the Qld adoption register will reopen in October for two years! I believe this positive outcome is a result of the lobbying of IAFQ and other support group members.

There were a couple of seminars on offer during the day hosted by teen and adult adoptees through ICASN. I love listening to and learning from people who have experienced what our children will be able to relate to - we can learn some things about what to do and what not to do.

There was an article in yesterday's paper about one of the families at International Day. One of these years I'll be blogging about how our beautiful baby enjoyed International Day... until then we'll just enjoy all the other children!

Whoops, long post and lots of links!

Psst... did you hear?

I just had a phone call from a good friend, ringing to find out the goss. She goes, 'So... you're pregnant!'. She had been talking to someone else who said, 'Next time you talk to Emma, congratulate her for me on her pregnancy!'. What the?

It's a Chinese baby, people... not Chinese whispers!

It's a bit odd because everyone we know is aware we are adopting. Maybe they thought we had given up or changed our minds, or were trying to squeeze a bio child in before the adoption.

I do need to admit that when the wait began skyrocketing and the Dept. announced at a recent event that there would be a 30 month wait, we did enquire about whether we were able to stay in the process and have a bio child while waiting. The Dept. made it very clear that this was not an option and we needed to be 100% committed to the adoption. They didn't seem to understand that having a child wouldn't alter our adoption plans, and that we are 100% committed to having a blended family. All we were wondering is whether we could change the order our children came to us so I don't end up being reallly old by the time I give birth, if things work out that way.

Anyway, it was an interesting conversation, followed by an email the next day saying they were putting our file on hold until we had decided what we were going to do. I wrote back and said not to put our file on hold, we never requested that, and that we wouldn't do anything that would jeopardise the adoption process. And then life went back to normal.

Maybe my phone is bugged and someone heard the conversation and thought we must be trying for a baby, and spread the news. Sorry, folks... it's China or bust for the meantime.

OCDF

A couple of months ago I requested to be sent some language cards for travel and adoption by Our Chinese Daughters Foundation. In the pack was this gorgeous handmade charm of a baby in swaddling. It's so sweet and little, and I can't get a close enough photo to show the detail:
Jane, the founder of OCDF has one of the very best yahoo! e-groups around, called Ask Jane in China. I'm always learning new things from her.

Adoption register

Queenslanders can't just apply to adopt whenever we choose. We need to wait until the state adoption register is open. The register closed again on Monday, with no word on when it will re-open.

Last time it stayed open for 8 weeks, then closed for 18 months. I stalked the Dept during that time asking when it would reopen, and they could never say. This time it was a bit better - it stayed open for a whole year. We got in real early with our expression of interest (last August), because we had been watching and waiting for it to open.

It's very sad for people who make the decision to pursue adoption while the register is closed, with no indication of when it will reopen. There are no other options available, either, as all adoptions in Queensland are managed by the government (ie. no private agencies).

Our local support groups had been lobbying for the register to close overnight only, opening immediately the following day. That didn't happen.