The China Adoption Process..............

We are so excited to announce our upcoming adoption!!  Many people assume that since we are now matched with a specific child, we will be able to travel to China soon and pick her up.  Unfortunately, that's not the way the China adoption process works.  Here is an overview of what we've already done, and the steps that remain to be completed before we can bring her home.  (Note to my friends from the adoption community:  stop reading now.  You will find this post incredibly boring!)

In September 2011, we began our home study.  We met with a social worker on four different occasions.  We had to submit tons of paperwork including criminal background checks, financial documents, letters of reference from friends and family, employment verification letters, birth certificates,  our marriage certificate,  physical exams from our doctors, copies of our passports,  our latest tax returns, proof that our insurance will cover our new child and even proof of vaccinations for our dogs.  We also completed 12 hours of education about parenting a special needs child.

After completing the home study, we were able to submit our I-800A.  This document is submitted to the US Customs and Immigration Services to determine if they feel we are suitable candidates to adopt a child from a foreign country.  We were fingerprinted at the USCIS office in Kansas City.  Because our daughter, Ashley, is an adult, she was fingerprinted too.  Our I-800 was approved in January 2012.

Next, we had to get all of our documents certified by the Secretary of State.  Fortunately, there is an office in Kansas City, so we were able to walk in with our documents.  Unfortunately, one of our notaries did not correctly notarize 3 of our documents, so they were rejected.  After redoing those documents and making the trip back to the Secretary of State office, we were finally certified.

The next step was to send all of our documents to the Chinese Embassy in Chicago to be authenticated.

After authentication was completed, we compiled all of the required documents and forwarded them to our adoption agency.  This group of documents is called a dossier.  Our dossier was sent to China on February 24, 2012.  We were officially logged into the China adoption program on March 1, 2012.

The next step was to wait to be matched with a specific child. On May 7, 2012, we were matched with a 16 month old girl named Chen.  She is absolutely precious and we fell immediately in love with her!!

Today, we received Pre-approval from the Chinese Government to adopt her.  Following PA, we will begin the wait for our Letter Of Acceptance.  The Chinese Government will evaluate all of our documents and determine if we are suitable to adopt this specific child.  Currently, it is taking around 100 days for the LOA approvals.  We are praying for a fast approval. 

After LOA, we are allowed to submit the I-800.  This is an immigration form that will classify Chen as our immediate relative.  This should takes 3 weeks to process.
 
After the I-800 approval, the National Visa Center will be notified.  The NVC will notify the US Consulate of our approval.  This will take 2 weeks.

Next, our agency will forward the NVC approval to the US Consulate in China.  After 2-3 weeks, the US Consulate will issue an Article 5 pre-approving Chen for an immigrant visa.

After the Chinese Government receives our Article 5, they will grant us Travel Approval.  This will take 2-4 weeks.

After we have travel approval, we can request an appointment at the  Consulate for the actual adoption.  Once the appointment is set, we can make our travel arrangements and go pick her up!!  If we are really lucky, we will be able to travel in September to pick her up.  Realistically, it will likely be October or November.

After we bring her home, we are required to complete 6 more visits with the social worker.