| PHASE 1: THE PAPERCHASE |
| The first step in adoption is gathering documents in order to compile a dossier which will be sent to the China Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA) and then translated and used to match us with our child. The dossier is made up of our birth certificates, marriage license, employment verification, a homestudy written by a licensed social worker, a listing of finances (assets and debts), medical evaluation form, local police clearance, a letter to the CCAA stating reasons we want to adopt from China, a I-171H (clearance from the U.S. government to adopt internationally) and photos of our family, home & hobbies.All in all, it usually takes about 3-4 months to gather together the papers needed to complete the dossier, hence the name "the paperchase". |
| THE PAPERCHASE JOURNEY: We filed our application with GWCA on January 29, 2004. Once we got our dossier preparation guide, we were off. Here's the record and the latest on this phase of our adoption.... January 2004 The beginning of our journey. We submitted our application to GWCA on the 13th and filed our application with the agency on the 29th. We could then begin gathering all our necessary documents for our dossier (what is sent to China and used to match you with your child). February 2004 Began gathering all of the documents we needed to complete our dossier. On the 17th, I sent off for Matt's birth certificates from the U.K. and my birth certificates. I didn't read carefully and sent off for my birth certificates from the county of Dallas. I was supposed to request them from the state of Texas. I also requested our marriage license from the county. We met our social worker for the first time too. Her names is Beverley Lewin. We also attended another adoption seminar held by our agency, GWCA. March 2004 Met with Beverley a second time. Started answering the questions to our biographies. Our birth certificates arrived as well as our marriage license. Both of us had our physicals and Shannon got letters from her physicians attesting to her ability to parent. They wrote very nice letters and went above and beyond what a normal physicians should. Both of us requested and received our verification of employment. We also went and got the letter from the city police department attesting that we have no criminal record in our city. We closed out the month with our final visit with Beverley. It was the long four hour homestudy!! All went well and it's a relief to have it completed. We are now waiting on the homestudy report to be written. Oh yea, we also managed to squeeze a vacation to the U.S. Virgin Islands in this month and celebrate Matt's 35th birthday. April 2004 We recieved our notarized copy of our homestudy and are now waiting on the BCIS to schedule our fingerprinting appointment. We mailed the 12 documents we have had notarized thus far and mailed them to the Texas Secretary of State on the 28th for certification. When we get our I-171H, our dossier will be complete. May 2004 We were fingerprinted on May 7 and we are now waiting for our I-171H from the U.S. government. We have had our documents certified by the Texas Secretary of State and authenticated by the Chinese Consulate. All we lack is our I-171H. Our dossier is copied and all together. We did some baby shopping, making a list of all the supplies we need to get and using some gift cards at Neiman Marcus to buy some clothes for Chloe. She will be well-dressed for the first three months we have her, after that, its off to Target! June 2004 We sent our dossier (without our I-171H) to our agency on June 1. We must wait for the BCIS to send us our I-171H before we can send our dossier to China. July 2004 We're still waiting on the I-171H. Hopefully, it should be here any day now. BCIS contacted us on July 20 to say that they needed evidence that Matt was a legal resident in the U.S. Shannon mailed them a copy of his resident alien card that day. On July 30, the BCIS called to say they hadn't received it (either lost in the mail or hadn't made it to the adoption officer). They allowed me to fax a copy of Matt's resident alien card. After waiting 13 weeks, I hope it gets here soon! While we have been waiting for the I-171H, we completed Mandarin I class and finished the nursery. August 2004 August 5, 2004--We received our I-171H in the mail!!! We have waited 13 weeks and 6 days since being fingerprinted. We were approved by BCIS to adopt 2 babies (that means twins maybe!!!). On August 19, we got our I-171H back from the Chinese Consulate and immediately mailed it off to our agency. Great Wall contacted us on Friday, August 20 and told us that our dossier is off to China! We are now paper pregnant! |
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