Comparing the Years

A few months back I started charting out the number of days that the CCAA was referring each month and comparing with the number of days referred each month last year. I noticed a trend that a similar number of days were being referred for the same month last year. Below is a chart of the number of days referred per month back to May 2005. The downward trend that we are have been experiencing can easily be seen. I can't find the numbers anywhere for the months prior to May 2005 but from what I remember they were referring full months back then which is why the wait time was as low as 6 months. If anyone knows where to find the number of days referred per month prior to May 2005 let me know.


If we break out the years and overlay them we can see where the trend was similar and where it diverted. The number of days referred per month was eerily close for Oct 2006 through May of this year. After May we started to see some separation but comparing this year to last year we still seem to see the same upward and downward trend. I am not really sure what it all means but there is definitely something to it. It could be all a coincidence or we could be seeing the results of some unknown factors in China that affect how many babies are allowed to be adopted at certain times of the year.