July Update - Hague Treaty Bumps in the Road
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