 | |  | |  | |  |
It was nice growing up with someone like you - someone to lean
on, someone to count on... someone to tell on!
-Anonymous
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
Here's where we are in the process.
| July 2008 We start gathering lots of documents and accumulating piles of paper, it doesn't matter to ANYONE that we have been through this multiple times (resulting in four binders, three agencies, two lawyers, and one fantastic child) we have to start all over, brand new, everything is a do-over, we even have to rewrite our personal narratives just in case our early childhood and life before Sam has changed. The application and the first round of paperwork (not a small pile) was sent in to The Barker Foundation. The three us had to get physicals and all passed with flying colors. We went to get fingerprinted at the Police Station and sent them on to the FBI as part of the background check. |
| August 2008 We sent in the Advance Petition to Adopt to USCIS. It will sit there until our Home Study is done, approved, sent and matched with it. We send in some MORE paperwork and bug our friends to write references for us...again. |
| September 2008 We send the last of the paperwork from THE CHECKLIST (the first of several) to Barker and they tell us they will go through the file and get back in touch with the name of the social worker who will be assigned to us to do the Home Study...it feels like we are moving along at a good pace, but there is still so far to go! |
| October 2008 We are assigned a social worker to do our home study - she sounds nice but to say she has an inflexible schedule would be a gross understatement. If anyone has ever seen the movie "The Jerk" it became a silly version of the scene when he works at the carnival...'I can meet with you between now and then, but not here or there, after this but before that'...and that was just the first phone call, we were not off to a good start! So we called the agency and asked for someone else, about which they were not pleased, but really we are on our 4th social worker and they could be involved in your life for years, so we better try and find someone who...works? |
| November 2008 We are assigned a new social worker and manage to not only schedule, but also complete all four meetings before Thanksgiving! She is very nice and very thorough, we are asked questions we have never been asked before - here we were thinking we had answered it all! She meets and speaks with all our references and we promptly pay them their hush money - just kidding:). The only surprise that comes of the meetings is her encouragement to not request a specific gender (we didn't even have the option the first time) so we decide not to. The ratio of boys vs girls coming out of Korea is so skewed, we will likely be referred a boy, but there is a chance that Sam could end up with a little sister. The practical part of us thinks "yes, a boy would be great"...Sam is certainly 'all boy' and could use a partner in crime plus we have all this boy 'stuff'; but we have grown to really like the idea of not having to 'pick', it just didn't feel right and it adds some excitement to such an administrative process. |
| December 2008 We get word that our Homestudy is formally approved and on its way to USCIS to get matched with our Advance Petition to Adopt...now we wait for an invitation to get fingerprinted. Last we heard there is ONE person whose job it is to process and approve these requests so we aren't expecting that until at least January given the holiday season and the fact that nothing has ever moved fast through USCIS (Sam's citizenship application took almost a year). So now we wait. |
| January 2009 On the 2nd we received our "invitation" to get fingerprinted...it is set for a specific time on a specific day a few weeks from now and if we don't appear with the proper documentation, etc they will consider our application "abandoned and close the file". Really? Really! There is no phone number on the letter so regardless of either of our work schedules and finding coverage for Sam (he's not invited to come, "only the person to whom the letter is addressed will be permitted in the facility") so it looks like we have some juggling to do...but we'll be there! UPDATE: We're fingerprinted!!! But don't get too excited...we have been told it could be months (close to 3) before we are approved by USCIS. Once we are, then there is MORE paperwork for both the agency here and in Korea, THEN the dossier goes to Korea for approval and eventually a referral. Although we are ready NOW, the wait is a little more bearable with a the constant distraction a two and a half year old provides:) |
| February 2009 Whoa - In a completely un-Angel-like fashion, what we had been told would take 3 months took 3 weeks...we received the USCIS approval quickly & without any requests for additional information - SERIOUSLY! And...after two days worth of phone calls and emails convincing the agency we had indeed submitted our medical documents months ago...(they were finally found "in another part of the file") we wrote our "Dear Birthmother" letter, got copies of family and house pictures along with a copy of our approval from USCIS and we were done with paperwork (this part at least). We sent it all off to the agency and the very next day we were officially DTK...Dossier to Korea! We are officially, as of February 17th, waiting for a referral. Now, for those of you who are thinking the obvious question...here is the answer... "Unfortunately, we are unable to give you a sense of the time frame that it may take before you receive a referral". This was the third sentence of the four sentence email notification they sent to tell us the good news, of course, me, being, well...me....I emailed back asking for any kind of "no pressure guesstimate" they could give, a couple months, a year, anything? We'll see what they say, but I am expecting they cut the above statement from their original email and paste into a new email and resend it to me. Nona was thrilled - sickly, but thrilled "Wow another unangel happening!!! This is good ... omg Great!!" And on a unrelated front - Sam's Social Security Card appeared today...maybe we should have played the lottery this month? UPDATE: The agency's response to my pleas for more info - "Right now it is taking approximately 6-8 months to get a referral. From the time you get your referral to placement takes approximately 4 months depending on CIS response time. I do wish I could be more specific but I think that is the best I can do!!" So, we'll see you back here in the Fall!!! |
| June 22, 2009 It's only been 4 months and 10 More Toes are on the way to the Angel house! Details and Pictures are here! |
| July 2009 On July 1st, Barker forwarded our acceptance documents to SWS by FedEx and now we wait for the legal documents to be received from SWS...this can take anywhere from 2-9 weeks. When they are received, Barker will submit them to USCIS along with our I-600 application. Exactly two weeks later we found out that Barker received our legal documents (which transfer guardianship of our child to Barker) and sent them to CIS today along with our I-600 application. We are told that for Virginia families the approval takes approximately 2-3 months. After we receive our I-600 approval we will be approximately 4 weeks from placement. So as soon as we receive our approval (CIS does not send Barker a copy) we can send it by fax, e-mail or regular mail to them and then they'll outline the next few steps in the process before placement. One step closer!!! |
| August 2009 August 3rd - travel meeting On the 11th we got word that USCIS is missing docs...WTF!!! On the 18th, we got an email from Barker that says they "have received a lovely progress report for Eloise/Sulha which I have attached to this e-mail. She is adorable!! I will forward the original to you by FedEx". The details are here! Then on August 29th - We were on our way to the local Farmers Market when Roger, our mailman, pulled up and handed me the mail...We got the I-171 approval in the mail today...Roger is the BEST mailman ever!!! I emailed Barker as soon as we walked in the door! While we are super excited this is moving so quickly, the Murphy's/Angel's Law part of the story is that of course Lauren starts back to work on Monday and just told them yesterday that we still hadn't heard anything and could still be a month or two from traveling - we always get news 24 hours after she talks to her principal, clearly those conversations are some kind of weird but lucky jinx...for us, for him, not so much! :-) Then on Sunday Barker sent us an email back that said..."Thanks Lauren, that's great news! SWS sent us a fax on Friday inquiring about the status of your case. I informed them by email this evening that we anticipate that the approval will reach the Embassy within the next two weeks. You should be prepared to leave within the next two to four weeks. Please fax or scan and email your approval to our office on Monday or Tuesday so that we have it for your case record. Congratulations!" |
| September 2009 Two days later on September 2nd we got this email... "I know that you must feel busy as ever. I don't want you to panic, K. is going to send you an email regarding next steps in the process but I really want you to be prepared for the possibility that we may get travel clearance within a week from now. We received word from Korea last Thursday that everything was ready on the Korea side, which leads me to predict that it will be sooner rather than later. Congratulations!!!" --- YIKES!!! Then a couple hours later this one arrived in my inbox... "Congratulations on receiving your I600 approval. On the day that your I-600 was issued and sent to you, CIS also sent notice of the approval to the National Visa Center (NVC) in New Hampshire. The NVC is operated by the State Department and is responsible for issuing approval for all immigrant visas. YADA, YADA, YADA...It takes approximately ten business days for the I-600 approval to get from CIS to the NVC. The NVC will then review the file within three days of receiving it and will provide its approval for the US Embassy in South Korea to issue the US Visa (total turn around time from date of approval of your I-600 to approval of the visa is approximately 13 business days). Once the initial ten days have passed, you can check on the status of their approval by calling NVC to verify the status of the case. YADA, YADA, YADA...When NVC gives its Visa approval they will forward it to the Embassy in Korea who will issue a passport for your baby, which gives permission for the child to enter the United States. Typically, when NVC forwards its approval to Korea, you are within 2 weeks to travel. I believe that S. mentioned to you that we have been receiving travel clearance much sooner than anticipated recently. I would be prepared to travel within the next two weeks!! Can you believe it??? Please feel free to call with any questions or concerns." --- questions? concerns? DOUBLE YIKES!!! We're in Korea!!!! |