Saturday, January 26, 2013
Friday, January 25, 2013
Homestudy Paperwork
This week has been a busy one. We completed our home study packet which involved many, many questions about our marriage, relatioship, finances, our parents, upbringing, children and on and on. Part of the paperwork was an autobiograpy each for Kristie and me. Also, the kids had questions to answer. We mailed most of it back to our agency, plus the home study fee. We spent each evening working on the questions. I completed my physical which included bloodwork. We also completed the septic inspection. Kristie scheduled her physical for Monday. The kids appointments have been scheduled.
We received W's mailing address from New Horizons, and we confirmed through our agency that it is ok to mail him and send him cards and gifts. Due to his age, and the fact that he is 'hold' for us, we are allowed to tell him that we are trying to bring him home to our family.
We are considering opening this blog up publicly. We'd like to rally as much support as possible through this entire journey. I hope to have much more information here about our adoption financials, fundraising and our progress.
We received W's mailing address from New Horizons, and we confirmed through our agency that it is ok to mail him and send him cards and gifts. Due to his age, and the fact that he is 'hold' for us, we are allowed to tell him that we are trying to bring him home to our family.
We are considering opening this blog up publicly. We'd like to rally as much support as possible through this entire journey. I hope to have much more information here about our adoption financials, fundraising and our progress.
Saturday, January 19, 2013
The Process
In this post, I'll share a little bit about the process. An international adoption from the country of Lat^ia starts with an application to a Hague certified adoption agency. The Hague Adoption Convention is an international agreement that sets the boundaries to ensure ethical international adoptions. Our agency is a Hague accredited adoption agency.
The process starts with an application (Round 1 of paperwork) followed by a contract (Round 2 of paperwork). Once the contract and a bunch of money is in, then we will go through an exhaustive home-study. The home-study consists of full medical physicals, two rounds of fingerprints, a septic letter, tons of really invasive questions like "what do you think 'love' means?" and "describe how you fight with your spouse", two visits from our super-nice social worker, auto-biographies, and Round 3 of paperwork.
Once the home-study is complete, we will then apply to United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. Then we'll wait for a couple of months for approval. Once approved by the USCIS, then we'll go for Round 3 of fingerprinting. Once that's done, the agency will send what's called a dossier to Lat^ia. The dossier will be translated into Lat^ian and sent to the Lat^ian Ministry. Once the dossier is approved by the Ministry, we will get a 'referral' email with detailed information about W. We'll be asked to accept the 'referral'.
Once we accept the referral, we'll get an invitation to a court appointment in Riga. We'll only be given two weeks notice to travel. Kristie and I (and possibly a few kids) will travel to Lat^ia where we will stay for at least three weeks (Trip 1). We will visit the orphanage on the first day there. On the second day, we'll appear in court with W and hopefully be granted temporary custody of him. We'll stay together with W in an apartment for three weeks and have several visits from a social worker. At the end of the three weeks, we'll hopefully be given approval by the court for him to travel back to the US with us.
Two months after we're back in the US with W, I will go back for a second visit for another court appointment (Trip 2). This trip will only be about two days in country.
Two months after that, I will go for a final trip for one week (Trip 3). I'll be required to bring W with me. In Lat^ia, W will do final medical exams, get his visa and we'll do some final paperwork. Once this is done, the international adoption will be complete. We will still be required to have two more years of observation by our social worker once he's back. This is a requirement of Lat^ia. We'll also have to go through the process of readopting him domestically.
We expect this process to cost us approximately $30,000, which includes the cost of our travel. We plan on applying for grants and holding fundraisers to offset some of this. Please pray for us and W during this year - specifically that it will go quick. We hope to be done with Trip 1 and have W back in the United States by June or July.
The process starts with an application (Round 1 of paperwork) followed by a contract (Round 2 of paperwork). Once the contract and a bunch of money is in, then we will go through an exhaustive home-study. The home-study consists of full medical physicals, two rounds of fingerprints, a septic letter, tons of really invasive questions like "what do you think 'love' means?" and "describe how you fight with your spouse", two visits from our super-nice social worker, auto-biographies, and Round 3 of paperwork.
Once the home-study is complete, we will then apply to United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. Then we'll wait for a couple of months for approval. Once approved by the USCIS, then we'll go for Round 3 of fingerprinting. Once that's done, the agency will send what's called a dossier to Lat^ia. The dossier will be translated into Lat^ian and sent to the Lat^ian Ministry. Once the dossier is approved by the Ministry, we will get a 'referral' email with detailed information about W. We'll be asked to accept the 'referral'.
Once we accept the referral, we'll get an invitation to a court appointment in Riga. We'll only be given two weeks notice to travel. Kristie and I (and possibly a few kids) will travel to Lat^ia where we will stay for at least three weeks (Trip 1). We will visit the orphanage on the first day there. On the second day, we'll appear in court with W and hopefully be granted temporary custody of him. We'll stay together with W in an apartment for three weeks and have several visits from a social worker. At the end of the three weeks, we'll hopefully be given approval by the court for him to travel back to the US with us.
Two months after we're back in the US with W, I will go back for a second visit for another court appointment (Trip 2). This trip will only be about two days in country.
Two months after that, I will go for a final trip for one week (Trip 3). I'll be required to bring W with me. In Lat^ia, W will do final medical exams, get his visa and we'll do some final paperwork. Once this is done, the international adoption will be complete. We will still be required to have two more years of observation by our social worker once he's back. This is a requirement of Lat^ia. We'll also have to go through the process of readopting him domestically.
We expect this process to cost us approximately $30,000, which includes the cost of our travel. We plan on applying for grants and holding fundraisers to offset some of this. Please pray for us and W during this year - specifically that it will go quick. We hope to be done with Trip 1 and have W back in the United States by June or July.
Friday, January 18, 2013
Introduction
Our family had the privilege of hosting an orphan child from the Eastern European country of Lat^ia over the 2012 Christmas holiday season through the non-profit, Christian organization New Horizons for Children. For the purpose of this blog, I will not be able to use his name or location. So, I will refer to him simply as W for "Warrior", a nickname that we feel is appropriate after having spent four weeks with him. Also, I won't be able to post any pictures of W. This is for his own protection.
After much prayer and consideration, we have been led to go forward with the full adoption process. GOD has let us know this in many different ways. We believe that W is truly a gift from GOD. From everything that we have read and been told, the full process of international adoption for Lat^ia could take anywhere from 9 to 12 months to complete.
This blog will detail the entire experience from start to finish, including costs and travel, ups and downs, successes and roadblocks. This blog will be kept private - only open to family and close friends. A invitation will be needed to access the blog. You can email me at malachi310@gmx.com to ask me questions about access.
After much prayer and consideration, we have been led to go forward with the full adoption process. GOD has let us know this in many different ways. We believe that W is truly a gift from GOD. From everything that we have read and been told, the full process of international adoption for Lat^ia could take anywhere from 9 to 12 months to complete.
This blog will detail the entire experience from start to finish, including costs and travel, ups and downs, successes and roadblocks. This blog will be kept private - only open to family and close friends. A invitation will be needed to access the blog. You can email me at malachi310@gmx.com to ask me questions about access.
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