Though not all adoptive parents are in a hurry to complete the adoption process, most would like to have it completed sooner rather than later. An experienced adoptive parent offers helpful suggestions for decreasing the amount of time it takes to bring an adopted child home.

"Get an understanding for which parts of the process you have control over and which parts you do not. For example, how long it takes to prepare the dossier is very much in the hands of the adoptive parents. Some take weeks. Some even take months. We accomplished ours in a matter of hours (less than a weekend). That is a part of the process we could control. Other things, such as court closures and other nuances of the legal systems in our country and others, are completely out of our hands. Figure out which parts you have some control over and get them done as fast as possible."

Other suggestions include reading directions thoroughly and following them completely, sending paperwork via FedEx or UPS so the package can be tracked, and keeping color copies of everything so that if an original gets lost it can be easily replaced.

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Labels: adoption_process, experience, support