April was a wonderful month here at Spence-Chapin, and we hope May is just as bountiful. We received four travel visas last month, enabling four children to join their forever families! Congratulations to all of the families, we share your happiness and wish you the best. Currently, the wait for a referral is 15 months. This April, we received one referral for a 14-month-old child.
As mentioned in the April update, due to the slowdown of referrals and travel, the age requirement for Korea program has changed. Families need to submit their registration packet to Spence-Chapin before they are 40 ½ years of age, and must submit their full dossier to Korea, including the I-600 approval, before their 41st birthday. This new requirement went into effect February 14, 2012. For families applying to Spence-Chapin after this date, are subject to this new age requirement. Families who are currently in process, or who applied to Spence-Chapin before February 14, 2012 must submit their dossiers before they are 43 years of age.
Korea is working towards finalizing the adoption process in-country and hopes to have this transition in place by August of this year. It is yet to be determined how this will affect the timeline and paperwork for adoptive parents. As soon as we are notified by the ministry, we will prepare our families to finalize.
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