On 2/22, I received word from CCAI that they had received our authenticated documents from the Chinese Consulate. All they need is the remaining family life photos and three 2×2 passport photographs of the both of us. After that, we move to critical review of the dossier and our DTC (dossier to China) date, marking [...]
OK, maybe I’m over-reacting a bit. But if there’s one thing certain about this process, it is that nothing is certain. About a week ago, we sent off a packet of papers to the adoption agency’s dossier service. This packet included a copy of the I-797C (A.K.A the I-171H), a few photos, and a few fees. [...]
It has been a while since our last blog entry. Mostly, we have been getting our medical clearance filled out. This was insanely boring and not really blog-worthy. We have also been cleaning in preparation for the home study. As it turns out, we really didn’t need to do that. However, these cleaning projects were [...]
Last week we received a receipt and notification from USCIS that we were to have our fingerprints done at their Application Support Center in Dover, DE between 7/12 and 7/21. The paper did list Saturday hours from 8AM to 4PM, so that was a winner. Yesterday, we drove down to Dover in the early AM [...]
We were greeted by a barely intelligible answering machine message on Thursday evening upon arrival home from work. It was from the Division of Family Services. They are working on our state background checks, and had a question. Of course, it was past the close of the business day by the time that we received the [...]
We had our first meeting with the home study agency on Friday. It was a five hour meeting with two other couples. This might sound boring and tedious, but it wasn’t. The social workers were fountains of great information about raising an adopted child. Five hours was not enough. I look forward to getting a [...]
“What’s that?,” you ask. Well, allow me to explain. I received word from CCAI on 6/20 that our Full-Dossier Compilation Service Agreement, payment, and a few dossier documents had been received. There was, however, a problem… Ben was born in Manhattan. This means that his birth certificate falls under a “special requirements” clause. He needs [...]
Things are starting to come together, finally. Last weekend, we went to the local UPS Store to attempt to mail off our request to the Bahamas for a certified copy of our marriage certificate. This requires an international money order for the fee, as well as international air mail via courier service with a pre-paid [...]
How appropriate that we officially start Paperchasing on Dover race weekend? We received our phone call approval from Child and Home Study Associates on Thursday, May 31. They are mailing a packet of information and forms to us. They have also given us our first assigned meeting date – June 22 for an all-day educational seminar. [...]
Over the past week, Ben and I have been busy composing our autobiographies. This is a requirement for the home study agency’s application: summarize your life in 3 pages, and please include a family photo. We finished our homework assignment over Memorial Day weekend. With application now completed and in the mail, we await word from [...]