How it all began......
Looking back now, the adoption process for Mike and I started in 2002. After several years of trying to conceive on our own, then with doctors and fertility treatments, we faced the decision that seems simple to most. Did we want to be pregnant, or did we want a child? Isn't that the same thing some said? Not to us. It seems like a silly question to those who have never faced infertility but we were really consumed with "getting pregnant". Did we lose sight of what we actually wanted? Mike and I just wanted a family. We talked about it even before we were married. When it didn't happen as we planned we really soul-searched about adoption. Was it really as easy a decision as it seemed? It was. Over the Thanksgiving and Christmas Holiday's 2004, we told both of our families (and lots of our friends) that we had decided to adopt. We finally felt like we could look to the future with hope and happiness. We couldn't wait to have a child in our home!
We did a ton of research on adoption in general. I spoke with friends (and family) who had adopted, then spent many hours on the internet. We started with domestic adoption but the policy for adoption in the US provided ample opportunity for the birthparent to re-assume the child after the baby was born. This statistically happens often enough that it discouraged us from considering adoption in the states. The children in our foster care system just seemed to have more issues then we felt capable of dealing with. We also considered Guatemala but the cost was much more than China which was the other country we were considering. Combined with China's "one-child" policy and the estimated millions of baby girls available it seemed the need in that country best matched our need. We decided on our agency, Great Wall China Adoption and started the paperwork. Wow, that was really incredible. Along with getting letters of reference from 3 friends, we had to hire a licensed Social Worker and endure a 4 hour home study. That part was actually the easy part. The gathering of what we now know is called "The Paper-Chase" was really tough. Physicals, police and FBI background checks, proof of financial security, proof of employment (and continued employment), birth and marriage certificates. All of these documents required a notary signature, then each document is sent to the Secretary of State to be Certified. After certification, the documents are sent to a China Consulate (ours was in Houston Tx.) to be Authenticated. I almost forgot the dreaded I-171-H! This is the "Advance Petition to Adopt an Orphan" and took us 12 weeks to acquire! I truly thought that form would never come from the CIS (Citizenship, Immigration Services). It did on 11/02/05 and we were officially "logged in" China on 12/05/05! What a Merry Christmas this was and we hope our last without a baby.
We did a ton of research on adoption in general. I spoke with friends (and family) who had adopted, then spent many hours on the internet. We started with domestic adoption but the policy for adoption in the US provided ample opportunity for the birthparent to re-assume the child after the baby was born. This statistically happens often enough that it discouraged us from considering adoption in the states. The children in our foster care system just seemed to have more issues then we felt capable of dealing with. We also considered Guatemala but the cost was much more than China which was the other country we were considering. Combined with China's "one-child" policy and the estimated millions of baby girls available it seemed the need in that country best matched our need. We decided on our agency, Great Wall China Adoption and started the paperwork. Wow, that was really incredible. Along with getting letters of reference from 3 friends, we had to hire a licensed Social Worker and endure a 4 hour home study. That part was actually the easy part. The gathering of what we now know is called "The Paper-Chase" was really tough. Physicals, police and FBI background checks, proof of financial security, proof of employment (and continued employment), birth and marriage certificates. All of these documents required a notary signature, then each document is sent to the Secretary of State to be Certified. After certification, the documents are sent to a China Consulate (ours was in Houston Tx.) to be Authenticated. I almost forgot the dreaded I-171-H! This is the "Advance Petition to Adopt an Orphan" and took us 12 weeks to acquire! I truly thought that form would never come from the CIS (Citizenship, Immigration Services). It did on 11/02/05 and we were officially "logged in" China on 12/05/05! What a Merry Christmas this was and we hope our last without a baby.
posted by Amy @ 12:55 PM
0 comments
