The long, long, long homestudy process

I'm sure that there are large differences in the process between various homestudy agencies. BUT, I never thought it would take THIS long! Today I e-mailed to check the progress of the writing of the homestudy and I was told it was being reviewed . I mentioned that I would like to send it to be apstilled before the holidays. The response was: "Remember the home study draft will first go to St. Mary's, then we have to send it to the State of Illinois/DCFS intercountry for approval before the state will allow us to release it to you or immigration."

There are so many steps that they don't tell you about when you start. Is "state of Illinois/DCFS intercountry for approval" different than apstilling? I assume so. How long does that take????? We had our first interview on October 5th, our 2nd interview on Nov. 2nd...now it's December 15th and it is in review and then state of Illinois/DCFS intercountry for approval ... Are homestudys usually 3 to 4 months?

Something to keep in mind if you are starting this process....ask about the average time for each stage and compare agencies. We didn't really have a choice though, since we had an infant in the house, several homestudy agencies would not do one with us until the baby is over 1 year and we didn't want to wait that long.