Hello,

I am going to post an update from our agency.

"Russia Program Update 10/11/2005Are you ready for snow? The cold winter begins in Russia, so put on your boots.We had 10 families complete the adoption of 11 children in September. We also had 26 families travel for their first trip to meet their referral! And all of them are anxiously awaiting their court dates to be set and hope to be back by the end of the year. The letters from the Moscow Federal Database which are required for court are taking longer to be issued to the regions, so be prepared that the time frame between first and second trips to be at least 2 months at this time. Also, families waiting specifically for girls under 18-months-old are having to endure a much longer waiting time, usually at least 12 months or more. There just are not as many girls available for adoption as there are boys and many more Russian families are adopting domestically at this time. The wait time for boy under 18-months-old is beginning to shorten with a wait time around 10-to-12 months. Families open to children up to 3-years-old and/or not specifically Caucasian can process their adoption much quicker. We expect the next several months to be very busy as we try to process as many families as possible before the end of the year. "

So it looks like there is going to be an increase in time inbetween the first and second trip.

Till next time.