Our Adoption Story

So, it has come to our Agency’s (Adopt Abroad Inc) attention that the Hague Treaty requires Criminal Background and Child Abuse registry investigations for every member of he house hold over 18 for every state that we have live in since the age of 18, and for every country (to include a US Military investigation at foreign locations) we have lived in since the age of 18 as we’ll.  Not to mention the FBI investigation that is required as well.

Wow, let’s see.  California, Idaho, Oregon, Florida, Virginia, Texas, Japan.  That is 4 investigations for each location (Two for Lisa and Two for John).  That’s over 12 agencies plus the FBI that all require different forms, fees and submission requirement (some only require online submission, others require signed and notarized requests). Some states require that the Agency submit the requests in writing.  If you are just starting the Adoption Process, it is important that you get your head around each State’s requirements early, this has proved to be the biggest time consumer so far for us.  Some states have a 2 month wait!!!!!

So with that background in place, here is what we have completed since the last update.

• We completed our Home Study!!!  Thank you Janet.  This was a very low stress exercise.  having gone through NCIS security interviews pretty regularly, the quesitons seemed routine.  The interesting part was the kids being interviewed.  They did a great job and actually felt more involved in the process as a result.
• We completed the I-800A United States Customs and Immigration Service (USCIS) form.  The interesting thing here is that the new form procedure requires the completed Home study be included with the submission.  Well, the home study is not technically complete until Adopt Abroad Inc. , located in Pennsylvania, signs it.  So, instead of sending the home study to Adopt Abroad for signature and having them send it back, for inclusion in the I-800A package, we sent the package to them and requested that they forward the application and all carefuly organized enclosures once the homestudy was signed.
• We completed our Medical screenings with doctors on base and on the ship for me.  Note of interest here.  The forms must be Notarized.  This turned out to be a bit of a set back for us because this was disclosed to us after we had sent the completed forms into Adopt Abroad.  So, now we are getting the forms notarized for resubmission.
• Sent out a request for information with the USCIS Field Office in San Antonio, TX.  We are moving back to the states in September, so this affects the timming on our I-800A submission.  If we wait until we have an address in Texas to submit the form, we will not have to go through the process of having our case transfered from the Consulate in Japan to the USCIS Field Office in TX.   So, we are requesting that Adopt Abroad Hold our I-800 until we get that piece of info.
• Sent a note to Andrew and Michael through Adopt Abroad giving them an update and letting them know that we are praying for them and thinking of them very frequently.

Ok, that is it for now, thanks for checking in!!!!!  Blessings.

John

Well, alot has been happening this week. We signed and faxed / mailed the original adoption contract to Adopt Abroad, we began our home study (we got allot of it done), we gathered our financials / tax information and submitted them. Our 3 recommendation letters have been completed and faxed to Adopt Abroad. We also received notification that Adopt Abroad received our FBI background investigations.

Also, as of April 1, 2008 when adopting from Hague treaty countries, a form I-800/800A needs to be filled out and filed with a US Embassy or Consulate if you are living abroad (with DoHLS if residing in the US). So we are filing this form instead of the I-600A in Okinawa.

-John

We received the care package from the embassy on April 5th with all of our forms (correct and incorrect). The person who handled our initial submission enclosed lots of great information. Outlined below are a few points for consideration:

• When sending a cashier’s check from your financial institution of choice, ensure that the check contains the routing number and the full account number on the bottom. The DoS will not process without all this information. (Navy Federal Credit Union and others do not include all this information on their Cashiers’ Checks)
• Ensure you have you finger prints documented on the proper form. In our case, Lisa’s finger prints were taken on base by Base Security and they immediately sealed the forms in a manila envelope for security. This added measure prevented me from viewing the forms and QA’ing them before they were sent off. In this case, the Embassy does not require this measure.
• Have some one experienced take your fingerprints. In the case of my fingerprint cards, there were several unacceptable prints which the embassy rejected.
• Contact the Embassy and see if they prefer you to show up in person. The embassy would prefer that applicants appear in person to file their forms. In our case, we can either arrange for an appointment in Tokyo, or Okinawa. We are choosing Okinawa as my job take me there regularly.

I hope this helps. We will keep you updated on our progress as we find it.

-John

March 28th we downloaded the Advance Processing of Orphan Petition and filled it out to express mail it to the Embassy in Tokyo. This gets the Department of State ball rolling. Please see my follow up comment for specifics.

UPDATE: I just received word from the Embassy that the finger prints that we had taken on base were on the wrong form (the required form is FD-258 which looks amazingly like the form we used here on base) also, the representative at the embassy informed us that the cashier’s check that we supplied for the fee was not acceptable. He stated that we needed to supply cash or a money order.  So, he is sending back the whole package including our check and vital records.  He also told us that we actually needed to make this application in person either at the Embassy in Tokyo or at the consulate in Naha (Okinawa).

This is our first hiccup and a chance for some brief reflection. After over 16 years of governmental service and my share of dealing with bureaucracy, I was a bit surprised that my patience was a bit tried by the person I talked to on the phone at the embassy in Tokyo.

I remember Paul’s words in Philippians 4:6, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be known to God.” That direction is further strengthened by the encouragement in Romans 8:31 “If the Lord is for us, who can be against us.” What a great opportunity to continue to put our faith to the test.

- John

Today we downloaded the Advance Processing of Orphan Petition and filled it out to express mail it to the Embassy in Tokyo. This gets the Department of State ball rolling.  Please see my follow up comment for specifics.