Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Kaz Update - or lack therof
Our dossier will have been at the NY Consulate for 60 days on Thursday. I am a little worried after reading comments from people with other agencies whose dossiers were rejected for having the request for a healthy child in their home study. I cannot remember what the exact language is in our home study, but I think it requests a child "with potential for overall good health" (i.e., it is ok if they are sick now as long as we can get them better through treatment).
Our agency guidelines state that it takes an average of 60 days to get through the Consulate review, so we are still within this time frame. Earlier in the year, however, it was taking closer to 20 days to get through, so we are a bit discouraged. I heard from our coordinator today that she expects it to take at least another couple of weeks and she will provide us a new update then. She said "the Consulate is trying to get caught up" presumably following the holidays in March. Which hopefully can be read as our coordinator not being worried about the wording in our home study, right?.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Bus 758 to Scranton
We often joke that we are more ready to parent teenagers than a little baby. Well, at least the awesome teenagers at church. The youth involved in the drama program just performed “Bus 758 to Scranton,” a play Chris wrote. It was a retelling of the parable of the sower and the seed set in a bus stop. It was really good. I loved how expressive all of the cast were. They worked really hard and I had to share some pictures!
Monday, April 7, 2008
China Update
The early rumors this month suggested a decent sized batch of referrals – possibly reaching 1/13/06. My own prediction was through 1/10/06 this month and 1/13/06 next month, so getting to the 13th in one month was a pretty positive prediction.
Referrals came out Friday – the cut-off is 1/9/06. This makes this one of the smallest batches in a while, which is saying something. It is not totally unexpected as April referrals have been very small batches for the past several years. The theory is that orphanage workers who prepare babies’ dossiers were on vacation for the New Year celebration. This in one of the few holidays during which many people are able to travel home, especially people who work in the city but have families in the country. So two months later when CCAA goes to assign babies whose dossiers were received the month before, there are fewer baby dossiers available. I am sure the huge snow storm, which left several orphanages without power for weeks, may have affected things as well.
It brings tears to my eyes reading the reactions of everyone who missed the cut-off by one day, especially after thinking most of the month that they were definitely “in”. Don’t give up! You will see your babies faces next month! I am also saddened to read that so many people with 06 and 07 LIDs have decided this month to drop out. I hope those people will find other options for expanding their families.
For us, I think we are now definitely looking at 2010 for China referral. At least we can breathe a little easier about ensuring a year between our adoptions. Really, this may help us ensure at least a year in age between the kids as well.
We have no update on the Kazakh adoption and are still waiting to get through the first round of reviews, which is at the Consulate in NY. Apparently the Consul should be back from vacation this week and hopefully we will hear something in the next couple weeks.
Referrals came out Friday – the cut-off is 1/9/06. This makes this one of the smallest batches in a while, which is saying something. It is not totally unexpected as April referrals have been very small batches for the past several years. The theory is that orphanage workers who prepare babies’ dossiers were on vacation for the New Year celebration. This in one of the few holidays during which many people are able to travel home, especially people who work in the city but have families in the country. So two months later when CCAA goes to assign babies whose dossiers were received the month before, there are fewer baby dossiers available. I am sure the huge snow storm, which left several orphanages without power for weeks, may have affected things as well.
It brings tears to my eyes reading the reactions of everyone who missed the cut-off by one day, especially after thinking most of the month that they were definitely “in”. Don’t give up! You will see your babies faces next month! I am also saddened to read that so many people with 06 and 07 LIDs have decided this month to drop out. I hope those people will find other options for expanding their families.
For us, I think we are now definitely looking at 2010 for China referral. At least we can breathe a little easier about ensuring a year between our adoptions. Really, this may help us ensure at least a year in age between the kids as well.
We have no update on the Kazakh adoption and are still waiting to get through the first round of reviews, which is at the Consulate in NY. Apparently the Consul should be back from vacation this week and hopefully we will hear something in the next couple weeks.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Why China and Kazakhstan?
Heather near Beijing in 1993
Chris in St. Petersburg in 1990 “Oh who would have guessed, who could have seen, who could have possibly known, All the roads we have traveled, the places we've been, would have finally taken us home…” John McCutean, Happy Adoption Day
Why China?
We are often asked why we chose to adopt from China. The short answer – that is where our daughter is! Also, I studied Mandarin Chinese throughout college, and spent three months studying in Beijing. I loved being in Beijing (despite the occasional “bad China days”) and fell in love with the language, culture, and people. I always hoped to go back. After deciding to adopt internationally we researched a variety of countries. At that time, the China adoption program was the most stable and predictable and it generally lacked corruption (or corruption was dealt with quickly). Plus, everyone is in line strictly by the date their dossier arrives, there is a low incidence of fetal alcohol syndrome, the wait was short, the program was affordable, and we were told that there were few incidences of significant attachment or post institutionalized issues among the children (don’t worry I’ve done plenty of real research over the past two years). Many of the reasons we chose China still exist, despite the slow down.
We are often asked why we chose to adopt from China. The short answer – that is where our daughter is! Also, I studied Mandarin Chinese throughout college, and spent three months studying in Beijing. I loved being in Beijing (despite the occasional “bad China days”) and fell in love with the language, culture, and people. I always hoped to go back. After deciding to adopt internationally we researched a variety of countries. At that time, the China adoption program was the most stable and predictable and it generally lacked corruption (or corruption was dealt with quickly). Plus, everyone is in line strictly by the date their dossier arrives, there is a low incidence of fetal alcohol syndrome, the wait was short, the program was affordable, and we were told that there were few incidences of significant attachment or post institutionalized issues among the children (don’t worry I’ve done plenty of real research over the past two years). Many of the reasons we chose China still exist, despite the slow down.
Why Kazakhstan?
The short answer, of course, is – that is where our son is! Like China, we have an affinity to the culture and language of the region as Chris studied Russian in high school and college, and focused on the former Soviet Union for his undergraduate and graduate degrees. The Kazakhstan adoption program appealed to us more than Russia and the other former Soviet republics. The care that babies get in the orphanages, or “baby houses,” is supposed to be among the best as far as institutionalized care goes. The adoption program has a long history and is relatively stable. We like the idea of bonding with our child on their turf for two weeks before we take them away from everything they know; hopefully this will help ease the transition. We are likely to adopt an ethnically Kazakh (Asian) child, and therefore our children will have similar experiences growing up. Finally, the wait is short enough for us to complete this adoption and still have at least a year before we go to China.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Fun Day at Work
I found something whole!
What a great field crew!As anyone who knows me knows, I hate being cold. Working in the winter can be miserable. There is nothing worse than excavating perfectly good dirt only to have it freeze solid before it can be screened. This year, however, we had a client provide us with tents - fully equiped with lights and a heater run on a generator! Plus the site yieleded a lot of great artifacts, including toy tea sets, doll parts, and lots of buttons and beads. We also found a Lincoln campaign button - especially cool because the people who owned the house were former slaves freed after the Civil War.
Monday, March 24, 2008
All About USCIS
This (really long) post is really for others adopting. Our experience is specific to northern VA and DC, but perhaps it can give others some guidance as well. Since we have two adoptions pending, including one that is taking much longer than 18 months and is now suddenly subject to Hague, we have had a variety of experiences with the immigration process.
First 171H
Getting our first I-171H was relatively straight forward. We filled out the I600A form, submitted the required back-up documents (copies of our passports, marriage license, and birth certificates as far as I recall) and the fee for the I600A processing and fingerprints. Once our home study was complete, our social worker submitted the home study to USCIS to be added to our file. We got a letter about a week later telling us where and when to report to be fingerprinted. And we received our 171H about 6 weeks after the fingerprint appointment.
Fingerprint and Home Study Renewal
In VA, the home study is only good for 12 months. It was clear a year later that our China adoption was not going to be completed any time soon. So we stalled the social worker in completing our home study update as long as we could and got it done in June of 2007.
Fingerprints are good for 15 months, and the 171H is good for 18 months. So in spring of 2007 we sent a letter before our fingerprints expired along with the required fee (just before the free renewal) requesting a new fingerprint appointment. We got a new appointment about a month later, which stated that if we missed our appointment our application would be terminated! In the past, VA allowed you to show up any Wednesday if you could not make your assigned appointment. Luckily we were both in town and got fingerprinted again. Not surprisingly, our fingerprints had not changed in the past 15 months and we got a new 171H showing a new fingerprint expiration date of December 2008 and the same 171H expiration date of December 2007. We planned to submit our home study update in October to USCIS to file for an extension to the 171H since that way the new expiration date would be later.
Change of Country and 171H Renewal
In October we decided to begin the Kazakhstan adoption. We once again had a home study update done – this time indicating approval for the new country. A lot had changed at USCIS since we first applied. For example: VA/DC now states that fingerprint appointments are given about 1 month after receipt of the I600A and home study; 171H approvals come 3 months after fingerprints clear (note 4 months total for new approval!); the home study must accompany the I600A and can only be sent by the social worker, etc. Because of the length of time to get a new 171H, we decided to change our existing one from China to Kaz and reapply for China later.
After e-mailing the orphan petition officer at USCIS several times with questions, we submitted a letter requesting a one time free renewal, a one time free change of country, and a change from one or two girls to one boy. Since the change in gender was considered a material change we also submitted I290B (petition to reopen case) and the associated fee. We attached our existing 171H, which had our new fingerprint expiration date. Our social worker attached our home study update and sent everything to USCIS. We got our new 171H for Kazakhstan about a month later, and they sent us a refund for the I290B!!! The orphan petition officer told us she had made an error on our original approval and it had included a boy or girl. Hopefully we will complete the Kazakh adoption prior to either our fingerprints or 171H expiring again.
Final 171H Approval
Currently, we do not have immigration approval for China. This is not a big deal at the moment as we have so long to wait. Our social worker will complete a new home study update a few months after we are home with our Kazakh child. This way she can make sure everyone is adjusting well. We will then submit a new application for immigration approval. Although our dossier will have been in China for about 3 years by that time, as far as USCIS is concerned it will be treated as a new application. Since the US has just ratified the Hague treaty on inter-country adoption and China is a Hague country, our China adoption will be subject to Hague. Therefore, we will submit the new 16-page I800A instead of the 2-page I600A form. Also, we are required to have 10 hours of training and our agency must be Hague accredited (which they are – thank goodness). IF YOUR PLACING AGENCY IS NOT HAGUE ACCREDITED, DO NOT LET YOUR I7IH EXPIRE if you are adopting from a Hague country such as China.
Our Current Problems
Our new 171H is fine, but when we tried to confirm with the US Embassy in Almaty that they had received the cable from USCIS acknowledging our approval, we found they had not received anything. So they have not received the cable nor the required paper file. In talking with others on Rumor Queen who are working on interim adoptions, this seems to be a common problem whether the change was to Korea, Vietnam, Kazakhstan, etc. Unbeknown to us, our state USCIS asks the National Visa center to send the cable, who sends it to the Embassy in Guangzhou, who is then supposed to forward the cable and file to the new country. Apparently this forwarding is not a high priority for them. We are continuing to follow up, but if we get closer and still have no progress, we may get help from our congressional representative as others have had a lot of success that way.
First 171H
Getting our first I-171H was relatively straight forward. We filled out the I600A form, submitted the required back-up documents (copies of our passports, marriage license, and birth certificates as far as I recall) and the fee for the I600A processing and fingerprints. Once our home study was complete, our social worker submitted the home study to USCIS to be added to our file. We got a letter about a week later telling us where and when to report to be fingerprinted. And we received our 171H about 6 weeks after the fingerprint appointment.
Fingerprint and Home Study Renewal
In VA, the home study is only good for 12 months. It was clear a year later that our China adoption was not going to be completed any time soon. So we stalled the social worker in completing our home study update as long as we could and got it done in June of 2007.
Fingerprints are good for 15 months, and the 171H is good for 18 months. So in spring of 2007 we sent a letter before our fingerprints expired along with the required fee (just before the free renewal) requesting a new fingerprint appointment. We got a new appointment about a month later, which stated that if we missed our appointment our application would be terminated! In the past, VA allowed you to show up any Wednesday if you could not make your assigned appointment. Luckily we were both in town and got fingerprinted again. Not surprisingly, our fingerprints had not changed in the past 15 months and we got a new 171H showing a new fingerprint expiration date of December 2008 and the same 171H expiration date of December 2007. We planned to submit our home study update in October to USCIS to file for an extension to the 171H since that way the new expiration date would be later.
Change of Country and 171H Renewal
In October we decided to begin the Kazakhstan adoption. We once again had a home study update done – this time indicating approval for the new country. A lot had changed at USCIS since we first applied. For example: VA/DC now states that fingerprint appointments are given about 1 month after receipt of the I600A and home study; 171H approvals come 3 months after fingerprints clear (note 4 months total for new approval!); the home study must accompany the I600A and can only be sent by the social worker, etc. Because of the length of time to get a new 171H, we decided to change our existing one from China to Kaz and reapply for China later.
After e-mailing the orphan petition officer at USCIS several times with questions, we submitted a letter requesting a one time free renewal, a one time free change of country, and a change from one or two girls to one boy. Since the change in gender was considered a material change we also submitted I290B (petition to reopen case) and the associated fee. We attached our existing 171H, which had our new fingerprint expiration date. Our social worker attached our home study update and sent everything to USCIS. We got our new 171H for Kazakhstan about a month later, and they sent us a refund for the I290B!!! The orphan petition officer told us she had made an error on our original approval and it had included a boy or girl. Hopefully we will complete the Kazakh adoption prior to either our fingerprints or 171H expiring again.
Final 171H Approval
Currently, we do not have immigration approval for China. This is not a big deal at the moment as we have so long to wait. Our social worker will complete a new home study update a few months after we are home with our Kazakh child. This way she can make sure everyone is adjusting well. We will then submit a new application for immigration approval. Although our dossier will have been in China for about 3 years by that time, as far as USCIS is concerned it will be treated as a new application. Since the US has just ratified the Hague treaty on inter-country adoption and China is a Hague country, our China adoption will be subject to Hague. Therefore, we will submit the new 16-page I800A instead of the 2-page I600A form. Also, we are required to have 10 hours of training and our agency must be Hague accredited (which they are – thank goodness). IF YOUR PLACING AGENCY IS NOT HAGUE ACCREDITED, DO NOT LET YOUR I7IH EXPIRE if you are adopting from a Hague country such as China.
Our Current Problems
Our new 171H is fine, but when we tried to confirm with the US Embassy in Almaty that they had received the cable from USCIS acknowledging our approval, we found they had not received anything. So they have not received the cable nor the required paper file. In talking with others on Rumor Queen who are working on interim adoptions, this seems to be a common problem whether the change was to Korea, Vietnam, Kazakhstan, etc. Unbeknown to us, our state USCIS asks the National Visa center to send the cable, who sends it to the Embassy in Guangzhou, who is then supposed to forward the cable and file to the new country. Apparently this forwarding is not a high priority for them. We are continuing to follow up, but if we get closer and still have no progress, we may get help from our congressional representative as others have had a lot of success that way.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Happy Easter
It is a beautiful spring day here today, and the flowers are starting to come out. I still wore a wool sweater to church, though. I cannot remember Easter ever being this early. Due to schedules we are not having Easter dinner with either of our parents or family; it is just the two of us. We went to our favorite Peking duck restaurant, which was wonderful. The restaurant owners are really friendly and the food is great. I suppose I should learn how to cook eventually, though.
Will we be celebrating Easter with a little one next year? I assume so! I hate to fall into a trap with this kind of thinking, though. I have seen how sad other waiting parents have been to celebrate their second "last" Christmas/ Easter/ etc. without their kids home.
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