Don't think my experience means anything now, it was so long ago! But it took 15 months to be approved first time around - this was in 1994/5, and then a further year to bring DD1 home in August 1996. So from the very first call it was almost 2 years till I heard about DD and another 4 months while the linking process took place
It took a similar length of time to be approved second time around, that was 2002 to 2003. But it didn't take nearly as long to get matched, I heard about DD that same year a few months later, then it was also well over 3 months till intros started.
I think that's really a bit too long for approval - unless there were special circumstances and/or the family need to slow things up, I don't think it needs to take any more than say 9/10 months max (although the new guidelines are 6 months). But the finding your child stage, well it can't be helped how long that takes, but if you persevere, you will find one!! And the 3/4 months linking stage was right for us, the girls were older with emotional needs and needed more time to be prepared for adoption, and I needed time at the start to consider the match and meet people.
DS was a sibling placement so no full process, had a quicker shortened process they did for sibling placements so it was only a few months from when I said I definitely would like to adopt him to when I was starting intros
Have you noticed a change in approval speed with your youngest and this second time process? I'm interested to see how many people are getting through within the 6 month limit now.