Adoption update

So, through this whole process there isn't much to update you on, but I will do my best. People have been wondering just what we are doing so, I will explain what has happened so far.

As of today out home study is complete! We had to fill out about 20+ pages of paperwork with all sorts of information. Things like our financial history, previous employment, previous residences, reference letters (thanks to those of you who did those!), and we had to answer TONS of questions about our childhood and our marriage. Then we were asked things about our parenting style and how our child would be raised, and we had to get physicals. Then a social worker came and asked us to "clarify" our answers. We collectively spent about 4 hours speaking to her, telling her about our families, our relationships with every one, how much contact we have with family and friends...it was nuts! She then wrote up an 8 page Home Study to be submitted. Truth is, I'm not sure who it is submitted to. It may be someone in the US or it may be someone in China...or maybe both. It is basically a referral for us to be able to adopt. This same process is used for domestic adoption (from my understanding). So, that was completed today (11/20/06) and should be submitted tomorrow (11/21/06)...yippee! That is the first, the hardest and the quickest step.

The next steps are easy, but they are long! We will submit our USCIS I-600A form tomorrow. This has something to do with getting pre-approved (sounds like a loan) to adopt an child from another country. This is filed with the immigration department. That form can take a while to get approved, from 4-8 weeks, but our placement coordinator told us they were running slow, so it could be longer. :( Our next step is getting state clearance to adopt. We have to make an appointment to be fingerprinted and that can take a few weeks just to get an appointment. After you are fingerprinted it is filed and it is about a week before we get state clearance. Are you still with me? This gets so confusing!

Next week I will also meet with our placement coordinator - her name is Dawn, so from now on I will just say Dawn! Dawn will go over the remaining documents that we need to submit to China.

That's it, that's all I got.