From the beginning (of the world that is...)--God decided the Hampton family should pursue international adoption (I do so love what a planner God is!)
March 2012--Signed contract with International Family Services, based in Texas, to pursue international adoption (not to be confused with foreign adoption, which I recently learned is not politically correct)
March 2012--Signed contract with International Family Services, based in Texas, to pursue international adoption (not to be confused with foreign adoption, which I recently learned is not politically correct)
April 2012--Began our home study with Caring Choices of Catholic Charities, based in Nashville
May 2012--Completed home study classes here in Nashville over a period of three weeks
June 2012--Completed home study process to receive approval of social worker
July 2012--Submitted I-800A to US Immigration for approval to adopt an international orphan, fingerprinted at US Immigration office in Nashville
August 11, 2012--Received approval letter from the US Immigration office, granting permission to adopt a child (or sibling group) from Moldova
August 14, 2012--Sent our dossier to our agency in Texas, who in turn will send to Moldova to await a referral!
August 20, 2012--Our agency sent the dossier to Moldova to be translated into Moldovan (form of Romanian language), certified by the Moldovan government as international documents, and await a referral. The wait for the referral could be two months. It could be a year. God's timing is perfect!
August 23, 2012--Our agency provided confirmation that our dossier was received by Moldova, so the translation begins.
September 6, 2012--Translation process completed and the wait for a referral officially begins.
October 2, 2012--Sent the second dossier to our agency in Texas upon the request from Moldova for a second set of original documents.
November 19, 2012--Sent additional paperwork requested by Moldova to agency, who sent it to Moldova the same day they received it.
November 26, 2012--Confirmation from FedEx that our packet had been received by Moldova.
December 10, 2012--Confirmation from our agency that our new documents have been translated and certified in Moldova. Now we are waiting for a committee to meet to match us with a child, but we do not know any specifics about the committee or the frequency of their meetings. We do know that everything is on God's perfect schedule!
June 2013--Officially withdrew from the Moldova line. Accepted a referral from our agency and began the process to adopt from India.
July 2013--Submitted dossier to India
August 2013--Submitted "change of country" request and extension request to USCIS
September 2013--Received I800A approval
October 2013--Received I800 approval for our little one
November 14, 2013--Received both our ARC recommendation and our "No Objection Certificate"
"For I know the plans I have for you, " declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
Jeremiah 29:11
Danielle, when you did your home study, did they give you a list of things you should do in preparation for it?
ReplyDeleteThey did! It was actually a more laborious paper-gathering effort than the actual dossier. Check out http://moldovatonashville.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-paperwork-pregnancy.html. You are just a couple posts away from the list. Look that over and let me know if you have more specific questions. My home study agency was Hague-accredited in addition to my agency. Once my home study was complete, my agency reviewed and gave the thumbs up prior to the home study agency sending it to US Immigration for my I-800A approval. After receiving approval from Immigration, the home study report simply became one of the many elements of the dossier, all of which were notarized (home study is notarized with the home study agency signature), certified (at least in my home of TN) and apostilled. God bless! Again, let me know if I can help further!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much! In the next few months I think I will be asking a lot of questions.... I'll just email you next time :)
ReplyDeleteAnd again, thank you so much!