Waiting Pool Stats - October Edition

During September, the waiting pool hit the highest total we've ever seen.  At one point, there were at least 95 families in the pool!  Of course, it might have expanded before some adoptive families that had been chosen were removed from the website list.  One day the pool jumped from 95 down to 86 which is where it's at as of right now.

State of the Waiting Pool for Adoptive Families

Total Number of Families: 86

Families Remaining in the Pool from May: 66*

Families Leaving the Pool: 11 (-12.4%)
New Families: 8 (+9.0%)*

Net Change Since May 1st:  +4, (+4.9%)

Net Change Since September 1st: -3 (-3.4%)

Couples: 83 (97%) (+1)
Single: 3 (3%) (-1)

Heterosexual: 50 (58%) (-4)

Gay: 23 (27%) (--)

Lesbian: 10 (12%) (+1)

Single: 3 (3%) (--)

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With our tracking of the waiting pool, we've seen ups and downs in the numbers and types of waiting families.  It's been fun to see who has joined us over the past couple of months.  However, a few of the stats were marked with a "*" above.  This month was a bit of a reminder for us that families can leave the pool and come back into the pool if they have a disruption.  One of the families left the pool a couple of months ago and recently reentered the pool which could only happen if they took a break or had a disruption during their placement.

In any case, a disruption is certainly possible.  When we're chosen and move into adoption planning, there will always be a chance for a disruption until court documents are filed a minimum of 48 hrs after our future baby is born.  Like many adoptive families, we know that giving up a child is not an easy thing to do.  That final moment in the hospital has to be heart wrenching for everyone involved no matter how much counseling or mental preparation has taken place beforehand.  Andy and I will certainly have our fingers crossed when our time comes, but this is one topic that will probably be explored further in a future post.