The Paper Chase, also known as the Paper Pregnancy, is
the most frustrating part of the entire process. We had
to obtain official documents, which had to be notarized,
then apostilled, which is a gold seal from the Secretary
of State's office, which basically tells officials that
the notary is really a notary. Documents needed are:
Birth Certificates for everyone in the family,
Marriage Certificate, Divorce Decrees, Physical exam
forms, financial statements, employment letters, police
reports for everyone in the family over the age of 18,
photo copies of passport photo page.. and this is just
the beginning. Our completed dossier was approx. 150
pages.
October
10/24/01
I "met" our social worker on the phone today. Her name
is Susan, and she works for Adoptive Families For
Children. She will be conducting our home study. We
will have our first meeting with her on Monday, 10/29,
Franks' birthday. I have been reading a book called
"The Lost Daughters of China", and all the while
thinking about a daughter of ours that may not even be
born yet. Thinking about her mother. What a horrible
decision to have to make. To decide to have to give up
your child. I feel so bad for all those moms in China
that abandoned their babies because their culture leaves
them no choice. How heartbreaking! I also find myself
thinking about all those children in the orphanages. No
families but the nannies. Being thrust into the arms of
people who do not look like them. Not understanding why.
These children may be told that the new person they see
is "Mama", but so they really know what "Mama" is,
never really having one?
As we start our home study interview on Monday, I
just need to keep remembering that she is here to help
us to bring a child home, not to look for reasons to
keep us from doing so. She is on our side. Susan told
me that we should take Frank with us to INS with us so
he can be fingerprinted if needed. She also told me it
takes INS about 3 months to finish their part of the
paper chase. Once our documents reach China, we will
have a 13+-month wait for our referral. It will seem
like forever. Our little girls name will be Alexis,
and we will call her Lexi. Her middle name will be her
Chinese name.
10/25/01
"The Lost Daughters of China" really puts things in
perspective. To think we may never know Lexi's true
birthday.
I go
10/29/01
Happy Birthday Frank! 17 today! I had to work 11-7 last night, came home and slept 2 hours. Boy, am I wiped. Susan comes over today to officially start our home study. I am praying that things go smoothly, but boy, am I tired. Mom wants a phone call today to let her know how things went. Susan should be here is about 3 hours.
About 2 hours before Susan was due to arrive, I got a call from Kimberly, our family coordinator at ACAA to tell me she had some news that was not good. China was cutting back on the number of overseas adoptions and giving each agency quota's for the year 2002, and we would not be able to make the Dec. 6th deadline. We would not be able to adopt from China. She also told me that ACAA was in the process of adding 3 more programs, Russia, Ukraine, and Cambodia, and changing their name to America-World Adoption Association (AWAA). She told me that the Cambodia program was similar to China and thought that it may be an option for us. I told her that China was our first choice, but we would consider Cambodia.
Our appointment with Susan went well, but she was shocked to hear about the news of China. She asked us questions about our family, how we met, our views of discipline, the area we lived in, the school system. She was very pleasant to talk with, and we could tell she really enjoyed her work.
Kevin and I also went in for our physicals today, and we are both healthy enough to be parents again!
