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THE PAPERCHASE
March
2005
We officially decided to pursue adoption on March 20,
2005. That day we attended an informational meeting at
Children’s Hope International in St. Louis. Our
application was mailed on March 29.
April 2005
It took almost a month for us to be approved for adoption,
and for the paperwork to begin: ordering official copies
of our birth certificates and marriage license, selecting
a social worker for our home study, answering a 20-page
questionnaire, writing our autobiographies, and selecting
references. What a busy month!
May 2005
More paperwork: employment verification letters (both had
to be redone due to errors), financial forms, fingerprints
(required a trip to Jefferson City, Missouri), passports,
and records of criminal history (our records were clean!).
June 2005
Completed 3 home study visits with our social worker (boy,
was Angie nervous about cleaning the house and Maggie
misbehaving!), physicals (both of our forms had to be
redone due to notary problems…everything has to be
perfect!).
July 2005
Took notarized documents to Secretary of State for
certification, and then sent to Chicago Chinese Consulate
for authentication. Went to Department of Homeland
Security in Kansas City, Missouri to be fingerprinted and
to turn in I600A form. The infamous I171H Form arrived on
July 30.
August 2005
All notarized, certified, and authenticated paperwork
FedExed to CHI on August 11, sent to China on August 12,
and officially logged in on August 30.
August 2006
Returned to Homeland Security in Kansas City to be
re-fingerprinted, as the first ones have almost expired.
If things don’t speed up, we’ll have to redo our I171H
form soon.
October 2006
We had a home study update and had to redo several forms
so that we could file our I600A (again).
November 2006
Applied for a new I-171H Form. |
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