OK, OK! I finally started a blog! So many of you wanted a weekly update about the adoption process, so I figured the best way to keep you all up to date was to do a blog.
So far, we know that the process is very long- approximately 2 years. We know we'll get a baby girl who will be between 9 and 12 months old. We've named her Amelia Ellen, thus "Amelia Quest."
Many of you have asked why we chose China for adoption. We did some research and narrowed the list down to 3- China, Russia, and Guatemala. From there, we based our decision on the age of the child, health of the children, length of travel time for the parents, and cost. China met all of our needs and expectations.
We are working with Great Wall China Adoption Agency (see their site at http://www.gwca.org/). We've signed our first adoption agreement with them. The biggest part of the process now is called "the paper chase"-- and that's what we are currently doing.
We have hired a social worker for our home study. During the home study process, we've had to get approved by the DHR for Alabama, have our fingerprints submitted to the Alabama Bureau of Investigation, and do a lot of paperwork. Our first visit with our social worker was last Saturday. It was approximately 4 hours, but everything went well. We have to complete 10 hours of adoption training before we'll see her again to complete our home study.
We've had to get copies of our birth certificates and marriage certificate. We will have to get employment letters, a letter from our doctor, certified financial statements, more fingerprints, and the list goes on and on. All of the documents are needed to complete our "dossier" which will be sent to the Chinese government for approval. They will ultimately be the ones who will award us the baby.
Sounds simple enough, right? After they award us the baby, we will have between 6 and 8 weeks to plan the trip and travel to China. The process is fairly straight-forward-- we will travel to China and spend 14 days. I'll give more detail on the trip later.
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3 comments:
It's about time! You're a natural blogger! I'm loving it already!
I'm impressed...!!!!
You are a natural..Keep up the good work because everyone wants to know all the details. Except for me, I already know it because I'm the "Aunt Wibby"... Right?
YAY!! I am so excited about your blog. You and Stephen are in our prayers!!
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