Many of you already know that Kent and I are in the middle of adopting an infant girl from China, but some of you do not, so this is to officially let you all know and to share our journey with you. After we finish our “paper pregnancy” or “paper chase” as it is often called, we will wait approximately 14 months for a referral from Chinese officials and then fly to China, sometime in early 2008, to get our daughter!
We’ve experienced fear and frustration along the way, but have learned that if we keep our eyes and hearts on the goal, it helps our focus tremendously. The “paper chase” part of this journey takes some serious perseverance, patience, and commitment, but anything worth doing in life takes that, right? We sum up the “paper chase” with this phrase, “hurry up and wait”!
The following are the details of our journey so far, but it is not for the faint of heart nor those in a hurry, as I am extremely detail oriented and I can get pretty “wordy”, so it may take you awhile to read; consider yourself warned.
In January we made the decision to adopt rather than continue the expensive fertility treatments that we’d tried for a year with no results, and boy, were we ever ready to get off that roller coaster! We started our adoption journey by picking a local Christian agency as our Home Study provider and began to gather documents (i.e. birth certificates; marriage certificate; physical exam forms; employment letters; income tax forms; W2’s; reference letters from friends and pastor; verifications of auto, home, and health insurance; police background checks; photographs of ourselves, etc.) and to answer questions via e-mail, phone, and face-to-face visits. A Home Study is basically a many-paged document about us that details our lifestyle, our work history, our family heritage, our parenting philosophy, and our overall suitability for parenthood.
During our search of international agencies, we watched a video that showed Steven Curtis Chapman and his wife, getting their first little girl from China and we sat on our couch and cried together. Right then, we had the realization that we could actually have one of those moments ourselves…we could actually do this…we could actually have a daughter!! As we researched, we realized that we were drawn to the Asian babies we’d see in photos and found that the China program was expensive but, with a great deal of stretching (meaning a home equity loan), affordable. Our next step was to choose an international agency to work with and find out if we could take out a home equity loan to pay for the expenses. Thankfully, the loan was approved just a week later.
In late April, we attended an adoption conference down in the twin cities by America World Adoption Association (AWAA) and asked the staff there if we could use our current Home Study with their agency. They began checking into it for us and originally thought they’d have to do an addendum for an additional cost, but eventually it was decided that our current agent could handle the whole Home Study without the additional cost. We were relieved. That began the process of switching our current Home Study from a domestic adoption focus to an international adoption with the specific requirements of the China program in mind. In the midst of that, there were frustrations and delays and much editing, but we finally signed and notarized our completed Home Study on June 28, 2006.
While we were editing our Home Study for China readiness, we officially “applied” and were accepted by AWAA on May 11, 2006, and began to gather documents, pick guardians, and write a letter of request to China. As it turned out, our annual income was just below the “allowed” amount by China to adopt just one child, Kent’s employer was thankfully flexible and his salary was adjusted to slightly exceed the Chinese minimum. Whew, another hurdle scaled.
In the document gathering process, we learned that our “original” birth and marriage certificates (which we had in our home files and used in our Home Study) would not be acceptable by China because they weren’t issued within the past year, so we began to send letters of request and paying fees to our states of birth and marriage (CA, OR, CO) for recent copies. After receiving them, we had to mail them back to the same states with more fees for them to be “certified” as legal documents by their states of origin. Somewhere in this whole process, Kent made the comment, “Why didn’t we think to be born and married all in the same state; it would have made this process simpler and cheaper?”
Back on June 8, after obtaining 8 new professional passport photos, we mailed off our old passports to be renewed; they were returned on July 22, more than a month later. We wish we had started that process sooner, as we found out that copies of our current passports had to be mailed to the Chinese Consulates in CA with our birth certificates (with more fees and cover letters) to be “authenticated”, so we had to wait for the return of our passports before we could mail them off for the third time. Thankfully, we received both “current” birth certificates duly “certified by their states of origin” and “authenticated by the Chinese Consulates” by August 7, 2006. Yeah! More steps to check off.
As we’ve gathered the documents that need to be signed by us or by others (Home Study, physical exams, letters of employment and non-employment, application letter to China, police background checks, and financial statement), each one has to be notarized. One of Kent’s co-workers, who is a notary and has also been through the adoption process, has decided to notarize our documents free of charge…what a blessing; we are SOOOOO grateful!
On July 1, we sent off our application to USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) with a notarized copy of our home study, our original birth certificates, another cover letter, and more fees to request citizenship approval for our adopted daughter. They set up an appointment for us on July 19, in Fargo, ND, to get biometric hand scans by the FBI to go along with our USCIS application. Currently, we are waiting for that approval in the form of another form called the I-171 H, which will allow us to bring our daughter home to the US. We’re praying for quick and smooth processing as we have to wait for that document to return to us before we can do the final steps. Bet you understand why we call it an exercise in, “hurry up and wait”.
After we get our USCIS approval form (I-171 H), a notarized copy of it will be sent along with another fee and cover letter, and all our other notarized documents (Home Study, physical exams, letters of employment and non-employment, application letter to China, police background checks, and financial statement) to the Secretary of State of MN (since they all originated in the state of MN) to verify the
validity of the notaries and to be certified as “legal” documents, as our birth and marriage certificates were, in their states of origin.
When we receive that whole package back from the Secretary of State of MN, the same documents, plus our newly “certified” marriage certificate, more copies of our passports, and an 8 page photo album will be sent to the Chinese Consulate in Chicago to be “authenticated”. After we get that whole package back, we’ll be sending the entire package of documents as our completed “Dossier” to AWAA in McLean, VA, for their approval and to be sent to China. It is at this point that we’ll be done with our “paper chase”…until some of the documents expire, but we’ll deal with that later.
As we’ve waded through this “paper” pregnancy, we’ve been so thankful to the many who have gone before us and set down the steps and guidelines that have helped us along the way and for our assigned “family coordinator” at AWAA who answers our 100’s of questions with promptness, patience, and clarity via e-mail. We also couldn’t have done it nearly as quickly without e-mail and the Internet; they’ve been invaluable tools and resources, not to mention, a huge cost savings in phone calls! In addition, we’ve been encouraged to “learn” from others in MN who have been on the same journey through their blogs and through books we’ve read. There have been times of tears and discouragement for me along the way, but Kent has encouraged me to keep my eye on our goal…a daughter of our very own in our arms…and what an unspeakable joy that will be!
After our Dossier (the big package of documents) is received in China, they give us a “log in” date and it is from that date that we will wait 12 months for a referral of a child from China. When we get that referral, we’ll get a photo and a brief medical history on the child. If we accept that referral, we’ll fly to China within two weeks of the referral date, to get our daughter, who will be 6-11 months old! Thankfully, all of our travel will be organized by AWAA and we’ll be flying with many other families from across the US, who were “logged in” at the same time as we were.
To help with our adoption expenses, we will be applying for grants and possibly allowing some of our trees to be harvested for lumber this fall. There is also an income tax credit for those who adopt, but we likely won’t make enough money over the few years that it will be available to take full advantage of it.
We’ve been told by MANY who have gone before us that the 14 month wait is the hardest, so I’ll busy myself with praying for our daughter’s health and safety and applying for those grants and trying to finish things that I’ve put off for many years.
Wow, am I long winded! If you made it this far, we’re truly impressed. Thanks for reading and for caring. Pray with us as you think of it!
