Adoption Paperwork Update

Here's where we're at:

After reading and re-reading through our homestudy draft (including a read-over and edit by our facilitator), we just submitted the final revised copy to our social worker. Hopefully, we'll now receive a notarized hard copy of that final draft by Friday, and on Monday we will have it over-nighted to immigration to be added to our 1-600a application (which we have already submitted)!

All of the following dossier documents have already been completed:

1. My medical form
2. Criminal clearances
3. Proof of home ownership
4. Proof of mortgage
5. Marriage certificates
6. Employment verification
(er... it's filled out appropriately, but still requires notarization)

What remains:

1. Donald's medical form
(Which is a pain in the butt, for reasons I'll blog about later).
2. CSPs (Child Specific Petitions?)
Our requests for specific children we submit to the SDA.
- We can't fill our a CSP until we know who we're adopting, now can we? (more news on that later!)
3. Power of Attorney
Donald will be flying home after court, and I'll finish the remainder of the process alone. This requires appropriate powers of attorney.
4. Notarized copies of our passports.
5. Notarized copies of our tax returns.
6. Notarized Interpol form
(Giving them permission to obtain information about us).

Numbers 2-6 of our remaining items are extremely simple. They're forms we print out and take down to be notarized. We'll most likely complete them this Saturday.


So here's what I'm hoping our remaining timeline will look like:

Friday, 5/13:
Receive our final homestudy draft
Saturday, 5/14:
Get remaining items 2-6 notarized
Monday, 5/16:
Overnight completed homestudy to immigration for I-600a
*Wait and pray that immigration expedites this process and grants us approval - our 171h - quickly. That completes our dossier and allows us to submit to our kiddo(s) country!*
Monday, 5/16:
Mail out mortgage document to Iowa to be apostilled.

Late May:
(...after Donald's medical form is complete) - Mail all notarized documents obtained in Washington to be apostilled.
Late May:
If we don't receive confirmation that our 1-600a is being expedited, I write my congressional representative, and promise all but my soul to intervene and speed up the process for us.

Early June:
(and this is where hopeful speculation comes in:)
Receive our golden ticket from immigration: our 171h!
Early/Mid-June:
Submit our dossier to be translated and submitted to the SDA in-country!
*wait for a travel date*
1-3 weeks later:
receive a travel date

And *hopefully* be traveling in July!

....and land back on American soul with my babies in August!

Everything past next week is pure speculation, but it's optimistically realistic speculation.

Pray, pray, pray!