Some NOT so great news from Korea

Well, that didn't take long, did it?  For 6 days we got to enjoy the news that Grant's file was moving along and likely going to be submitted to the government for an emigration permit shortly.  Unfortunately last evening everyone in the Korea program got a bit of a "bomb" dropped on us that came out of left field.

In short the unfortunate news is:

1) The government agency (Ministry of Health and Welfare) that processes they emigration permits (permission to leave the country) is apparently scheduled to move their office from Seoul to a new city called Sejong City, which is two hours south of Seoul.  The move is expected to take place in November.

2) There are going to be some changes in staff at the Ministry.  The director has been rotated out and others in management positions will be rotated out as well.  Whatever that means.  I mean, rotating staff to me means that nobody can ever get proficient and efficient at their job but apparently this is a regularly occurring thing in Korea within the government and judicial system.

3)  Right after the agency moves to Sejong City, they will be undergoing an "audit." Apparently this happens every year and it takes the workers time away from processing adoptions.

Once again, welcome to the world of international adoption.  Two steps forward, one step back.  While the agencies do not know to what extent this news is going to have on the process they can only predict that we are going to once again see a slowing down of processing adoptions while all this takes place.

So, we had hoped that we would be submitted to the Ministry by the end of next month but now all this could mean that they are not going to accept anymore submissions until after the move or until after the audit, who knows.  So, a March travel date seems a little bit like a pipe dream right now after last night's news.  But as my die hard half glass full husband said, "well, if we travel later than March that just means more time to save up more money and leave time for our trip and warmer weather for the month we are in Korea."

Only time will tell what the effect of all of the above is going to be.  In the meantime, I do my best to remember that Grant is safe, healthy and happy with his foster family right now.  That's all we can ask for when we he can't be with us, his forever family, yet.