Wow, a whole month gone by since my last update. We have made good progress on our paperwork. Everything needed for our homestudy is done (including the on-line training). The final documents were sent in to our homestudy agency and they have provided a draft of our homestudy that should be ready to go our adoption agency in St. Louis this week! A major milestone for us.
We have a short list, including a couple forms and a letter to write, left to have our paperwork ready for our dossier (the paperwork that goes to Colombia). Hopefully this will be completed over the Christmas break. The only outstanding thing not in our control is our fingerprints for FBI clearance. I think we submitted them about 6 weeks ago, so hopefully will get the clearance back soon. Goal is to complete our dossier paperwork in early January, God willing on the FBI clearance.
This Advent season we have thinking of and praying for our future daughter. It is wonderful, amazing and a little bit hard to imagine she might able to with by next Christmas.
Merry Christmas all!
Monday, December 19, 2011
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
A major and minor delay averted
Not too much progress on our documentation the past week. We did start doing our online training, so far it's common sense, so that is good. We had two possible delays arrive this week and we avoided both of them. The first was regarding our fingerprints possibly being on the wrong form and having to be re-done. Let me say, I am not in a hurry to go back to the jail to have that done again. Thankfully, they decided to accept the ones we submitted. Thank you DCI.
Part of the documentation process for international adoption is getting everything "apostilled" or authenticated. Other countries don't just accept things being notarized, you have to get all your documents apostilled by the secretary of state from where they originate. Jerrod was born the state of Virginia, so that is our only non-Iowa document. Thought we were good to go with his original birth certificate, but we had a major misunderstanding about the definiton of apostilled.
We thought all our birth certificates did not need apostilled because they have a state seal on them. Those are issued by the department of vital records, not the secretary of state. So you need to have an official birth certificate apostilled . OK, fine, no problem. After reading the fine print, it says the state of Virginia will only apostille birth certificates issued in the last year. Now that is a problem. When Jerrod called there in October, they were processing requests from June (do the math - 4 months!!). After a few moments of freaking out that we would be waiting 4 months for a new copy of his birth certificate everything worked out. Thankfully, they have an online request service (thank God for the internet) that turns copies around in less than 2 weeks. Super. So, if you call or mail a request for a document you wait 4 months, if you go in person, they give it to you that day and if you order online - 5 business days (an extra $30, a lot cheaper than a flight to Virginia!). Whew - major delay avoided! I'm guessing Virginia is so busy with all the geneaology requests.
Our social worker thinks she will have a draft of our home study this week, so still on track for our goal of completing our paper work this year.
Several people have asked about the time line. The short answer is that we have no idea and no control (a good way for God to remind us that we are never really in control). Once our paperwork is submittted it takes maybe a month to translate, then it goes to Colombia for approval. That process is a big unknown. I'd like that to take 1 month, but it could take several. Then we are officially on the waiting less, which is currently "approximately 3 - 6 months".
So, we are hopeful of going to Colombia in 2012!
Thanks for reading.
Part of the documentation process for international adoption is getting everything "apostilled" or authenticated. Other countries don't just accept things being notarized, you have to get all your documents apostilled by the secretary of state from where they originate. Jerrod was born the state of Virginia, so that is our only non-Iowa document. Thought we were good to go with his original birth certificate, but we had a major misunderstanding about the definiton of apostilled.
We thought all our birth certificates did not need apostilled because they have a state seal on them. Those are issued by the department of vital records, not the secretary of state. So you need to have an official birth certificate apostilled . OK, fine, no problem. After reading the fine print, it says the state of Virginia will only apostille birth certificates issued in the last year. Now that is a problem. When Jerrod called there in October, they were processing requests from June (do the math - 4 months!!). After a few moments of freaking out that we would be waiting 4 months for a new copy of his birth certificate everything worked out. Thankfully, they have an online request service (thank God for the internet) that turns copies around in less than 2 weeks. Super. So, if you call or mail a request for a document you wait 4 months, if you go in person, they give it to you that day and if you order online - 5 business days (an extra $30, a lot cheaper than a flight to Virginia!). Whew - major delay avoided! I'm guessing Virginia is so busy with all the geneaology requests.
Our social worker thinks she will have a draft of our home study this week, so still on track for our goal of completing our paper work this year.
Several people have asked about the time line. The short answer is that we have no idea and no control (a good way for God to remind us that we are never really in control). Once our paperwork is submittted it takes maybe a month to translate, then it goes to Colombia for approval. That process is a big unknown. I'd like that to take 1 month, but it could take several. Then we are officially on the waiting less, which is currently "approximately 3 - 6 months".
So, we are hopeful of going to Colombia in 2012!
Thanks for reading.
Monday, November 7, 2011
Home Study Meeting
Last Saturday we had our meeting with our home study agency (local Des Moines agency, since our adoption agency is in St. Louis). We really like our case worker (not sure her actual title), Lucy. She has a really cool tie to a Kids Save program that has done camps to bring Colombian kids to Iowa. So, yet another reason we feel that this was meant to be our local agency.
We weren't too nervous for the meeting, since we are already parents and think we are doing pretty OK. Anyone who has met our boys can judge for themselves I guess, but we are quite proud of them. We did clean our house really well, but no more than if we were having a big get together. I also took the opportunity to organize our game cabinet, storage area under the stairs, one of the boys closets, two junk drawers and our desk. That was fun to me though!
We thought the meeting went really well. Knowing we had that deadline, really made us step it up on the paperwork. I think we are down to just a few more photocopies of documents we have and doing our online training. Back on track for our goal to complete our paperwork by the end of the year (or at least close to it!).
Good thing I am not blogging to attract a lot of readers, because I'm sure this is fairly boring. It at least meets the goal of tracking our journey for future reference.
Thanks for reading!
We weren't too nervous for the meeting, since we are already parents and think we are doing pretty OK. Anyone who has met our boys can judge for themselves I guess, but we are quite proud of them. We did clean our house really well, but no more than if we were having a big get together. I also took the opportunity to organize our game cabinet, storage area under the stairs, one of the boys closets, two junk drawers and our desk. That was fun to me though!
We thought the meeting went really well. Knowing we had that deadline, really made us step it up on the paperwork. I think we are down to just a few more photocopies of documents we have and doing our online training. Back on track for our goal to complete our paperwork by the end of the year (or at least close to it!).
Good thing I am not blogging to attract a lot of readers, because I'm sure this is fairly boring. It at least meets the goal of tracking our journey for future reference.
Thanks for reading!
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Slow and Steady
Another week has gone by and we didn't accomplish as much as we hoped. Jerrod was out of town last week for work and there were 5 papers that we needed to send to our agency. Only 1 needed notarized and we got that done before he left, but we forgot to have him sign the other 4. Oops! Well all 5 are signed and sent off to our agency now. At this rate we won't finish our paper work by the end of the year like we hoped, so we better step it up!
Instead of working on adoption papers over the weekend, Jerrod and I went on an amazing trip of beautiful churches near Dubuque, a winery, a monestary and a casino (could have skipped that part, not that exciting). It was a good relaxing time with some wonderful friends.
Thanks for reading!
Instead of working on adoption papers over the weekend, Jerrod and I went on an amazing trip of beautiful churches near Dubuque, a winery, a monestary and a casino (could have skipped that part, not that exciting). It was a good relaxing time with some wonderful friends.
Thanks for reading!
Monday, October 10, 2011
Visiting the Dallas County Jail
I didn't even know there was a jail in Adel, IA, but there is. Jerrod and I went there on Friday to get our 3 sets of fingerprints for various background criminal and FBI (yes, FBI) clearnance. We actually got to be printed in the room where they book people. Glad I wasn't there alone, it was kind of nerve wracking.
Interestingly, once the Colombian government approves your documentation, the fingerprints actually are only considered good for maybe 15 months (not sure of the exact number). So, if you are in for the 3 year wait for an infant, you would have to get your fingerprints done again. Do they change? I'm sure it is because they run the background check again, but don't you think they could use the ones on file and run the check again?
So, we now have a set of papers to be submitted this week to three different places. Defnite progress!
Thanks for following our journey.
Interestingly, once the Colombian government approves your documentation, the fingerprints actually are only considered good for maybe 15 months (not sure of the exact number). So, if you are in for the 3 year wait for an infant, you would have to get your fingerprints done again. Do they change? I'm sure it is because they run the background check again, but don't you think they could use the ones on file and run the check again?
So, we now have a set of papers to be submitted this week to three different places. Defnite progress!
Thanks for following our journey.
Friday, September 30, 2011
Actually Making Progress
Well about 5 weeks of almost no adoption rleated activity happened since the last post, followed by one good week of action. During the "break", Jerrod started a new job and the boys started 4th and 6th grades. Also we did start working on our references and a scrapbook of pictures to describe our family to our future daughter.
This week things really started going again. I think the main reason we were "stuck" was finding a local agency to do our homestudy. Since our adoption agency is located in St. Louis, MO, they are not licensed to do home studies in Iowa. They recommended a local Iowa agency, but we had never heard of them and it just didn't feel right, so we had not signed up with them. This week we researched a few local agencies and the only one that responded was Children and Families of Iowa. It seemed like a long shot for them to handle international adoptions, but they are already working with families adopting from Colombia. We've been big fans and supporters of theirs for many years, so we get constant marketing material from them. They feel familar and right, so we are hopefully back on track to focus on getting through the mountain of required paperwork.
It has occurred to me that when we selected Children and Familes of Iowa to do our homestudy that the idea of loving children that are not biological related to you is something both Jerrod and I grew up with. Jerrod's parents have done an amazing job of combining "his" and "hers" kids into "ours" with equal love and support. I think their family is pretty awesome. I grew up with an adopted cousin, but he never seemed any different to me than his brothers and sisters (OK, they are a unique family, but he fit right in!). So thanks to our familes for your love, support and example!
By the end of next week, I hope to report back at least a few more items checked off the list. Hopefully saying that here will hold us to it!
Thanks for following our journey.
This week things really started going again. I think the main reason we were "stuck" was finding a local agency to do our homestudy. Since our adoption agency is located in St. Louis, MO, they are not licensed to do home studies in Iowa. They recommended a local Iowa agency, but we had never heard of them and it just didn't feel right, so we had not signed up with them. This week we researched a few local agencies and the only one that responded was Children and Families of Iowa. It seemed like a long shot for them to handle international adoptions, but they are already working with families adopting from Colombia. We've been big fans and supporters of theirs for many years, so we get constant marketing material from them. They feel familar and right, so we are hopefully back on track to focus on getting through the mountain of required paperwork.
It has occurred to me that when we selected Children and Familes of Iowa to do our homestudy that the idea of loving children that are not biological related to you is something both Jerrod and I grew up with. Jerrod's parents have done an amazing job of combining "his" and "hers" kids into "ours" with equal love and support. I think their family is pretty awesome. I grew up with an adopted cousin, but he never seemed any different to me than his brothers and sisters (OK, they are a unique family, but he fit right in!). So thanks to our familes for your love, support and example!
By the end of next week, I hope to report back at least a few more items checked off the list. Hopefully saying that here will hold us to it!
Thanks for following our journey.
Friday, September 2, 2011
The First Approval
The journal entry is obviously much delayed, but within a week of submitting our application to our agency, we got the call we were approved by them on August 18. That was the easy part! Now we have to prove that we are physically, emotionally and financially able to support a new child in our family through a mountain of paperwork, interviews, physical exams, personality tests and another mountain of paperwork!
It does strike us interesting how much trouble both the United States and Colombian government go to in order to ensure children get a good family. Obviously every child deserves a loving family and safe place to live and especially those who are more vulnerable and whose biological parents can't care for them. On the other hand, a lot people that wouldn't pass such scrutiny do have and keep their biological children. Things that make you go hmmm....
Anyway, since the last update we received our packet (about 30 pages) of instructions on the details of what paperwork is needed. One of the scariest parts is a letter we have write to the Colombian government explaining why we want to adopt and why we are good parents. Some of the paperwork is fun though, like making a scrapbook of our family to be given to our future daughter.
Part of the documentation process is a home-study. Since our adoption agency is in another state (St. Louis, Missouri) we can't use them to do our home-study as they are only licensed in Missouri. So, our next steps are to simultaneously start gathering our documentation and pick a homestudy agency here in the Des Moines area to work with for that part. Also on the top priority list is finding a good way to start learning Spanish. This is a requirement of the Colobmian government and something we want to do anyway. We want to be able to learn as much as can to speak with our daughter so that she can become bilingual and hopefully we will too (at least a little)! Also, it will come in handy when we spend 4 weeks in Colombia for the adoption process.
Thanks for following our journey.
It does strike us interesting how much trouble both the United States and Colombian government go to in order to ensure children get a good family. Obviously every child deserves a loving family and safe place to live and especially those who are more vulnerable and whose biological parents can't care for them. On the other hand, a lot people that wouldn't pass such scrutiny do have and keep their biological children. Things that make you go hmmm....
Anyway, since the last update we received our packet (about 30 pages) of instructions on the details of what paperwork is needed. One of the scariest parts is a letter we have write to the Colombian government explaining why we want to adopt and why we are good parents. Some of the paperwork is fun though, like making a scrapbook of our family to be given to our future daughter.
Part of the documentation process is a home-study. Since our adoption agency is in another state (St. Louis, Missouri) we can't use them to do our home-study as they are only licensed in Missouri. So, our next steps are to simultaneously start gathering our documentation and pick a homestudy agency here in the Des Moines area to work with for that part. Also on the top priority list is finding a good way to start learning Spanish. This is a requirement of the Colobmian government and something we want to do anyway. We want to be able to learn as much as can to speak with our daughter so that she can become bilingual and hopefully we will too (at least a little)! Also, it will come in handy when we spend 4 weeks in Colombia for the adoption process.
Thanks for following our journey.
Sunday, August 14, 2011
The Journey Begins
Today is the official first day of our adoption journey that actually began almost 20 years ago when we were dating. We discussed adoption in the event we couldn't have biological children and were both open to it. We were able to have biological children (Zac in 2000 and Jordan in 2002) but after having two boys, the idea of adoption was still in our hearts.
When Jordan was about 18 months old in (2004) we began researching adoption as a way to add another child to our family and to guarantee getting a girl. Well at that time God had different plans because some other issues came up day before our information meeting with an agency. So at that time, we decided to focus on the two wonderful boys we had. In the mean time we moved and our boys started school (Zac in 2005 and Jordan in 2007).
Over the next few years we thought about adoption periodically and were surprised the different people God placed in our lives that had international adoption experiences that kept us thinking about it. But there always seemed to be obstacles in the way. In early 2011 we knew we still wanted to adopt and decided it was "now or never" given our ages. We knew that an infant would be hard to fit into our family's busy schedule, so we were hoping to get an older girl. Everything in our life seemed to align this time for us to be ready health, emotionally and financially.
So again we researched agencies to find one that works in Latin America. Originally we thought about adopting from El Salvador, since we have both been there. While visiting there we both fell in love with so many beautiful young girls and wished we could bring one home. El Salvador has actually stopped their international adoption program and since we are not celebrities, didn't think we could just jet into a country and find a child to adopt. So, we researched other Latin America countries and the Colombian program was our first choice right away.
Today we submitted our application to our chosen adoption agency, which we are so excited to work with. We were very impressed by the staff there and the experiences other families had with them. It is so exciting to start this journey and think and pray for our daughter who is probably a 6 or 7 year old girl right now. With a lot of luck and prayers we might meet her and bring her home within a year.
When Jordan was about 18 months old in (2004) we began researching adoption as a way to add another child to our family and to guarantee getting a girl. Well at that time God had different plans because some other issues came up day before our information meeting with an agency. So at that time, we decided to focus on the two wonderful boys we had. In the mean time we moved and our boys started school (Zac in 2005 and Jordan in 2007).
Over the next few years we thought about adoption periodically and were surprised the different people God placed in our lives that had international adoption experiences that kept us thinking about it. But there always seemed to be obstacles in the way. In early 2011 we knew we still wanted to adopt and decided it was "now or never" given our ages. We knew that an infant would be hard to fit into our family's busy schedule, so we were hoping to get an older girl. Everything in our life seemed to align this time for us to be ready health, emotionally and financially.
So again we researched agencies to find one that works in Latin America. Originally we thought about adopting from El Salvador, since we have both been there. While visiting there we both fell in love with so many beautiful young girls and wished we could bring one home. El Salvador has actually stopped their international adoption program and since we are not celebrities, didn't think we could just jet into a country and find a child to adopt. So, we researched other Latin America countries and the Colombian program was our first choice right away.
Today we submitted our application to our chosen adoption agency, which we are so excited to work with. We were very impressed by the staff there and the experiences other families had with them. It is so exciting to start this journey and think and pray for our daughter who is probably a 6 or 7 year old girl right now. With a lot of luck and prayers we might meet her and bring her home within a year.
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