Wednesday, May 5, 2010

#150

Wow - today, #150 on Imagine's list of waiting families received a referral for a three-year-old boy!  Talk about jumping the queue.

The way it works is this.  Imagine Adoption has approximately 250 families waiting for a referral from Ethiopia.  These families are broken down into two lists: those waiting for sibling referrals (of which we are one); and those waiting for singleton referrals.  The families are listed in order of date, the critical date being the date that the family's file arrived in Ethiopia.  Typically, families receive referrals in the order that their date arrived in Ethiopia.  But, every family has a specific child request: perhaps for a particular gender; always with a defined age range.  Thus, if a three-year-old boy is brought into one of the orphanages that Imagine works with, that child would be referred to the first family on the list that is open to a three-year-old boy.  This is how families often 'jump the queue' and receive a referral of a child before others on the list ahead of them.

Without looking at all of the stats too carefully, I'd estimate that about half of the referrals since Imagine re-opened on December 16th have been for children who are age two and older.  Thus, family #150 received a referral today, even though there are over 100 people on the list ahead of them. Amazing.

* Thanks for the comments!  Shannon, I must say that you write the most encouraging things on my blog...every time.  You are filled with cheer and optimism, and I so appreciate that!!

3 comments:

  1. I agree
    What a story , I had to read the post twice to make sure I had seen the number right.
    I love how much of a surprise this must have been.
    I love our "list " even if the numbers jump all over the place.
    I was also happy to read your post today on yahoo that the board got back to you.
    This is just my feeling but it keeps getting stronger and stronger of a feeling. I feel the ban is lifting .... slowly but I feel it will end soon with that I cannot wait to see more movement all around.
    And come on lets see some siblings for Ruth !

    I am so excited to see and hear news of your 2 wonderful super special kids.

    Glad to be waiting with you
    Even more excited to celebrate with you.

    Shannon

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  2. I know, it's totally bizarre and unexpected! But you know, I really love seeing this. It really illustrates (to me) that Imagine matches the children that come to them, rather than specifically accepting kids of a certain age/gender, for specific requests.

    Those lucky #150s must be soooo elated!!! I'm very happy for them! :)

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  3. Ok I must have fallen asleep with number on my brain as I dreamed that I found out through your and Sarah's blog that we had 38 referrals in April ! Yep woke up said ok that is a dream , fell back asleep and dreamed it again.
    Just wanted to share I am now dreaming of blogs and numbers.
    Shannon

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