Perfect Timing - Part 1

2 years ago, on November 18, 2005, we sat down at the computer and applied online to America World. We paid the online fee, and read that it could take up to 7 days for them process and approver our application. 5-7 Business days that is. That week, just like the one in 2007, was the weekend before Thanksgiving. It took until after Thanksgiving to hear from them. We were told that due to a question they had, we needed a full doctor's letter written to explain the question. Nothing major, but it did need to be done.

It wasn't a huge deal since we had started the process 5 months prior to my 30th birthday, and since you had to be 30 to adopt from China, we were still hopeful we'd be DTC right at my 30th birthday.

Well, I didn't explain (i.e. write out the letter that AWAA needed) for the doctor, so it took me a little while to get it. 7 weeks to be exact. 7 weeks of calling the doctor to find out if they had gotten it written, and if they had gotten it notarized. The notary part took an extra week since their notary was out of the office for Christmas. We finally got our approval from AWAA and were officially their clients in early January 2006. We paid our first program fee!

Perfect timing: End of year bonus/medical reimbursement/savings allowed us to start this journey with cash!

Since I had been advised not to get started on the homestudy portion as we were not sure we would be approved to start, we now contacted our homestudy agency. I had done lots of research and found the name of the social worker who I had heard was super fast! That's what I wanted, a super fast homestudy completed.

As it was now January, the homestudy agency was doing seminars and workshops and training. I had applied the first week of January to the homestudy agency, our "intake" appointment was February 1st. 3 weeks of waiting for phone calls back, filling out paperwork to apply to the homestudy agency, and finally getting in with the social worker (not the one who would be writing the homestudy). We got our further instructions, and it was now 2 months until my 30th birthday. I still had hopes we could make it.

January 26th I had mailed our I-600A form to USCIS to get our fingerprinting appointment!

As part of our homestudy approval, we must have child abuse and neglect clearance checks done. This involves local fingerprints to be cleared through state. We went on February 2nd for our state fingerprints, this only involved a quick trip to the local sheriff's department for good old ink fingerprints - 2 cards each. We mailed these in, along with the payments for the CAN clearance, homestudy fees, and post-placement fees.

Perfect Timing - income tax refund allowed us to pay cash for this as well.

February 10th we went for our USCIS FBI fingerprints. These are not to be confused with the above fingerprint which also had to go to the FBI (just not the FBI USCIS office).

I called the doctor to get in for physicals, the earliest she could get us scheduled was February 27 and February 28. I gathered the boys' medical forms, got them notarized. I paperchased for our birth certificates (mine, Dh, and the boys'), our marriage certificate, etc. Can you believe it took us 5 states to get all the information? We also did our online education requirements for our homestudy agency (the completion form had to be turned in to get our first homestudy visit scheduled). While waiting for that first homestudy visit, we got the notice that Dh's fingerprints had cleared and he had cleared CAN. I got notice that my fingerprints had cleared state, but not the FBI (not the USCIS FBI) and I had not cleared CAN. I called the homestudy agency to question this as we had started that together. They advised we wait for 6 weeks and if I had not gotten a rejection notice, then they would call and find out my status.

We had our visits for our homestudy done. The social worker was AWESOME and fast. All our visits were done in less than 2 weeks, and 2 weeks later she had it written. We were now waiting on my CAN clearance.

Agency called to check, I had been rejected they just did not tell us. So, I march back down to the sheriff's department and get fingerprinted AGAIN. It's middle of March. Our homestudy is basically done. I have all papers required by AWAA gathered, notarized, and sent off for state authentications. I'm waiting on that CAN clearance.

April rolls around, it's been 4 weeks and we've heard nothing. My birthday is past, I'm waiting on CAN clearance so we can send our completed homestudy to state for approval. At the 5 week mark we know we're headed out of town for about a week, so I get more fingerprints done and sent to the homestudy agency so they can send them for my CAN clearance if we're rejected. While gone for the week, I get a call that I was FINALLY approved! We are now waiting on that official letter from the state saying I was approved. It must be attached to my homestudy when they send it right back to state for approval (yes the same building it was issued from).

So, we get home, I was fully expecting to have that piece of paperwork. Did not have it. I called the homestudy agency, they did not have it. A few days later, still didn't have it. They noticed they had the paper from other families approved AFTER me, so they called state. State made us wait the full 2 weeks from approval before reissuing the paper. It was now early May.

We got the paperwork, sent it RIGHT BACK WHERE IT CAME FROM!!!! This time with the homestudy attached. State looked it over and approved it May 23rd. It was then sent to USCIS, and while they don't send it trackable mail (oh the agony) we estimated it got there May 26th. We were told 4-6 weeks for processing. I thought, GREAT end of June!!! I quickly sent all the rest of our dossier for full authentications. I got it all ready.

4 weeks came and went. I started getting online to look to see where the USCIS office was in processing. I found out that April wasn't even through yet! Actually I found out the officer in charge of adoptions was not working, and that the USCIS office was saying 90 days for processing as the website states. Then in mid-July, we were told it was 90 BUSINESS days. The last week of July I found out someone with a June 12 2006 date of documents getting to the USCIS got their approval, but where was MY approval? We were skipped. So, I started having people look into it. No one had phone numbers. I called our state reps. Shortly after August 1, 2006 I got our 171h form in the mail!!! It was a Saturday, so we immediately took it to the bank for the "original copy" notarization. Monday morning we took it for county certification. Monday night we drove to the state capital, walked it in Tuesday for same day processing and I sent it on to Houston for courier service. I had it back in hand Monday. I shipped it priority overnight with 10am delivery to America World. The entire dossier was shipped, and it felt like I was shipping off the most priceless artifact known to man. Since Fed Ex does not insure documents, I sent it UPS - insured for some insane amount.

I watched it via tracking - lets just say we went the scenic route, and at 3am it was in Lexington, KY with a label "adverse weather conditions"

Okay...it was August. In Kentucky, the document had come from the South. It's AUGUST. No snow. I checked Weather.com, accuweather.com, intellicast.com, and weatherunderground.com. There were no tornados. There were no thunderstorms. There was no rain. It was a clear night. No high winds. No fog.

What adverse weather conditions?

Since I had insured it, I was told I could get the amount back for between "next day 10am delivery" and whatever it made it if there was an error.

Since UPS put in "adverse weather conditions" they told me that they did not have to refund my money. They can't be responsible for weather. I asked them WHAT was the adverse weather conditions...I checked for the entire southeast and could NOT find it. I asked why it went from our city to Birmingham to Atlanta to Knoxville to Lexington when it was headed for D.C.?

"Adverse weather conditions."

Okay, I was mad. I told the guy that UPS had caused me to miss the cut-off for sending in a dossier THIS WEEK and that it had been a 9 month process! I was emotional.

I called AWAA, told them what had happened, and since I had been so good about sending in copies, my family coordinator knew I had it all correct. She told me that IF it got there Thursday early, then they might possibly be able to get it in with the shipment for Friday August 18.

We made it!!! Our DTC was Friday August 18, 2006. Exactly 9 months to the day after we applied to AWAA. 9 months for our paperchase, when I did everything in my power to push it along, and basically had our dossier complete by mid-March. If not for the CAN clearance, I would have been DTC in April 2006. Our USCIS office was processing in 2-3 weeks during the month of March. Of course, you can say that if the doctor had written the letter quickly, we would have been through CAN earlier. True. There were a lot of "delays" with our paperwork.

Perfect Timing: Because it took 9 months we were able to pay cash for the 2nd payment as well. At this point we had not gone into any debt whatsoever for the adoption. We'd not paid down extra debt, but we were not further into debt. :)