December update

I don't have to much of an update except that my home study update was complete and sent in to USCIS. I sent the application for immigration in with the updated homestudy.  I waited a couple weeks and got an appointment (1 week notice) for my fingerprints. I go tomorrow morning at 0800 for my prints. If my prints read the first time, which they have the last 2 times, then I hope to have results in a few weeks. My results will trigger immigration to give me an approval letter to bring an orphan into the country as an immediate citizen. This letter needs to be in bulgaria in 5 weeks. My deadline is fast approaching. Anyway that is all I knew for know. I hope that I can post good news next month about my letter getting to bulgaria on time. My new letter has more special needs listed in it so that could change my wait. By the time my letter gets to bulgaria I will have waited 1 year since being registered. The wait time is still approx 3 years for children under 3. My age range is 3-8 so I am not sure what my timeline actually is.  All I can do is wait!!!!

More later
Jessica

paperwork expired

Well I have had my first set of paperwork expire.  My USCIS expires this December so it needs to be updated now.  USCIS is approval from US immigration to bring an orphan into the states to become a citizen.  So this process is pretty easy but still frustrating.  I can't get USCIS extension without an updated homestudy.

I updated my homestudy today.  I had to get physical, new financial forms, copy of tax forms, new background checks and employment letter.  The social worker for homestudy came out to see kids and update my original paperwork with new ages and adoption progress of foster kids. 

Once she gets my homestudy done, it will go to interstate compact in Illinois for approval.  I will get a copy of homestudy after this approval to sent with extension application.  USCIS will then send me a new appointment for biometric fingerprints.  After my fingerprints are run, I should get new approval letter a month or so later.  This approval from USCIS will then go to Bulgaria. 

I will then have another 18 months before this paperwork expires. I have my fingers crossed that I will have my new daughter home long before the next paperwork expires.  I still have NO idea on how long it will take before I am matched with her.  Generally children under the age of 5 are taking 3 years to match.  My age limit goes up to age 8.  There is no real timeline for children over the age of 5 except "usually less then 3 years".  So the long long wait to be united with my daughter continues. I say a prayer for her every night because she is out there somewhere just waiting.

more later
jessica

Is no news good news?

I have no idea!!!!  I have officially been registered with Bulgaria for months now and I have heard nothing.  It could be tomorrow because my age range is "high" (age 7) compared to what people normally like.  Or I could wait 3 years because I have the same "special needs" as the other thousands of people adopting from Bulgaria.  I did look at a file of a child this week and talk to the agency but I can't explain the feeling or lack of feeling I had when reading this child file.  I was unsure about her medical needs on paper so I requested to see videos of her.  Once I saw the videos I knew that she was not my daughter.  I know that people that don't understand adoption will not understand how I knew she was not my daughter.  I was glad that I looked at a child file to see how detailed (lack of details) it was.  It will be a leap of faith adopting from Bulgaria if every file if lacking the basics. 

I have been told for the 100th time that Kadin's adoption should be done within the next couple month.  We shall see!!!

Short post

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jessica

waiting child guilt

I told myself that I was not going to look at any waiting child list. First it seems like shopping for a child which is super weird to me; Second the guilt of knowing you can provide a better life for them all and not "picking" them; Third it makes me think "Why can't I be a better person?" "Why can't I make a difference in the world?" "Why do I complain about my life when they have nothing?".  Well I ignored all the above reasons and looked at several waiting list.  I was an absolute mess for weeks after looking at the list.  Thank God I have friends who have adopted who understand my the feeling.  I am going to try to not look at anymore list.

I am however going to change my "special needs" list to be open to more health concerns than I originally thought.  Some special needs are chronic health problems but can be easily managed by medication and create life long healthy lives for children if treated in the United States.  With my medical background experience and knowledge I have made some major changes/request in the child I wish to adopt. 

I am waiting to hear from my agency to see how I go about placing these new special needs on my paperwork to allow the Bulgarian government to know that they can match me with a broader range of children.  I guess it would be possible for my agency to find a child for me with my new criteria and then change my paperwork.  This seems like it would add weeks of waiting that I don't want to wait.  I am hoping I can change my USCIS(immigration approval for generic child) before I even get matched.

Anyway that is all I have for now.  I hope to hear from my agency soon about the next step in changing paperwork.  I do hope that the friends and family in my life will be accepting of the new changes in my adoption plan.  I believe a little education will make everyone comfortable with my decision. 

In my domestic plans....Kadin's paperwork will be sent to state for approval by DCFS this upcoming week.  Adrian and Arbieona go to court in March so we shall see what happens in both their cases.

I also found out wonderful new last night that my sister Casey is expecting her second child this October!!!! YAY!!!!

more later
jessica

The unpredictable waiting game

Well I know I said that I would post every month but December was busy and I didn't have much to report.  I was so frustrated with the adoption process this time around and I am not sure why.  I sent my Dossier off to adoption agency at the beginning of November, they wanted 2 of my forms re-notarized, I did this and then they sent them off to Illinois to authenticate the notary stamps (or whatever they do).  Well the adoption agency didn't catch that 2 of my forms where completely wrong so Illinois kicked them back to adoption agency to be redone AGAIN.  I mailed those 2 forms back to agency who will then send them back to Illinois for approval.  They are suppose to be translating the papers that were correct.  I know that international adoption is unpredictable and one must trust in the US government and foreign agency.  It is very HARD to do.  I guess I didn't have any problem when going through Lennox adoption that I got frustrated quickly when I hit such a bump in the road so early in the adoption process. 

I did decided to stay with Bulgaria because that is the country that I was drawn to adopt my daughter from and I have to stick with the original plan and not give up.  I will be united with my daughter(s) one of these days.  To be honest, my life is pretty crazy with the 4 kids I have that I can't imagine being matching right now anyway.  I am on the same paper timeline that I was with Lennox adoption and I got my referral for him in June (6 months of waiting). 

I have joined a group on facebook of all individuals who are adopting from Bulgaria.  These individuals are AMAZING.  The individuals in this group of from various stages of adoption from Bulgaria.  Some are just starting paperwork, some are meeting their children for the first time, others are getting ready to pick their kids up and others adopted years ago. 

I know my last post talked about my agency stating that their is a 3 years wait for healthy children.  There is an individual who requested 1 child healthy and under age 2.  She waited almost 3 years without getting a referral. She changed her paperwork to state healthy up to age 4 this past spring.  Well she just got a match for a healthy girl age 4.  So after increasing her age limit it would seem that she was matched within 8 months.  I guess the 3 years stuck out in my head to the point that I couldn't think of anything else.  Well in all reality I am open to special needs, 2 children at one time, and children up to age 7.   I do hope that I get matched this year with my child(ren).  The process after getting matched seems quite a bit longer than Ethiopia's process.  It takes about 6 months until your child is home with you.  There is also the pain of having to update paperwork the longer you wait.  All I can do is WAIT the UNPREDICTABLE WAIT!!!!


Pictures of Lennox on his 3rd Birthday!!! December 10

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jessica

100% unpredictable, 100% unbelievable

So as anyone could tell by reading my last post I was over the moon excited about finally getting USCIS approval and sending in ALL my paperwork which took me months to gather.  Well I got the dreaded email that makes every person adopting internationally hold their breathe. 

"The most significant factor is the increased wait time compared to the wait times from prior years.  Referrals for healthy children age 5-6 were given to families whose dossiers were registered between January- August 2010.  This means they have been waiting about 3.5 years. This also means that families requesting children younger than age 5 will most likely experience a wait time of over 3.5 years.  I have confirmed that there are children available under age 5, but each year there are fewer and fewer. Currently, there are no children younger than age 2.5"

WAIT WHAT!!!!! 

So I immediately emailed the agency to ask them to clarify this drastic increase in wait times.  I also email my home study social worker to ask her if she has heard anything like this.  My home study lady emailed me back stating that this information is not correct.  I emailed a lady who is also adopting from Bulgaria and she asked her agency (different from mine) and she states that this information is not correct. 

WAIT WHAT!!!!!

Okay so can I breath, is this a mistake.  I am not going to have to wait 3.5 years to meet my daughter.  Then I get a clarification email from my agency.

"I understand that this wait time is a definite change to what we expected several months ago. Bulgaria is now putting a hold on waiting child adoptions and will be focusing the majority of their attention on healthy child adoptions. This may speed the process back up, but for now we are telling families to expect a 3 1/2 year wait. I understand if this is not a timeline that will work for your family. "

WAIT WHAT!!!!

So what does this mean??  It means that I have my paperwork registered with Bulgaria and wait the given amount of time (3.5 years) to be matched.  During this 3.5 years my paperwork will expire which means having to submit new doctor appointment, financial records, new home study, and new immigration paperwork every 18 months (so twice).  This wait will not only cost me my sanity but also thousands of dollars. 

The second option is trying to transfer to another country.  Children of all nations will tell me what countries they will allow my current funds to be transferred to.  Every country has different requirement in the paperwork department, so I will have to inevitably have more paperwork filled.  and I will have to go through the immigration process again which will take another 3 months.  There is not an easy solution.  I have asked the agency to tell me which countries they will allow me to transfer to so that I can research them this weekend. 

more later
jessica
 

Finally USCIS approval

Well when I had my Biometric appointment September 24th I notified my adoption agency and they stated that I should get approval in 2-3 weeks.  Well it has been 6 weeks and I had heard nothing.  I got on the USCIS website and they stated that it was taking 2.5 months to process I800A applications.  I filled out my application August 24th. I was still within the time frame of 2.5 months, but I was slowly getting impatient.  I called USCIS today and they stated that I was approved to adopt on November 5th and therefore should be getting my letter in the mail today!!!! 

I got my letter today in the mail and everything looks perfect.  I called my sister to come over after work so that we could go through everything on my Dossier list.  I seem to have everything that is listed.  I started to copy everything before she came over just so that I would have a copy and then I guess I just got so excited to have everything I sealed the envelope before finishing copying everything.  WHOOPS!!!  I hope I don't need copies of it down the road. 

So the next step is.... I sent my (already sealed) FedEx package to Children of All Nations (CAN).  They review all paperwork and have to double check all my notaries.  I did notice that a couple of my notaries have now expired commission dates.  I hope that is okay since the paperwork was notarized before the expiration date.  If CAN decided it is not okay, it should be a quick fix.  One was a form from my work and the other from my doctor.  Once all my paperwork is approved, CAN will send it off to Bulgaria.  I will then wait for a referral (match with child).  This matching process can take anywhere from 8-18 months. 

more later
jessica