July 6th

Our dossier was logged in at CCAA on June 5th. We are officially on the waiting list. Sigh. In the meantime, the four foster children have been filling up our days (and nights too!) so the time goes fast. The once a week "babysitting" turned into the four children living with us full-time, for at least the next three months or so. Recently, I've been asked (a number of times) if we are going to adopt these four. They are not legally free and available for adoption, so it's not even a possibility. In fact, they won't be legally free probably for many many years. There are a number of relatives and parents involved, and IF (or by the time) the family is found unsuitable the children will be teenagers. This is why we are not adopting from the US. We subscribed to the CAP book (Children Awaiting Parents) and all the children available are quite a bit older. I called on 15-20 children listed, and they were not really available for adoption for one reason or another. So we turned to China. In China, parents rights are terminated in six months and the children are legally free for adoption. Yes, it does take time to go through the adoption process, and lots of money, but at least at the end we know for certain that we will have our new son. And, of course, we were not looking to adopt a group of four siblings.

May 30 Dossier sent

Well, our dossier was finally sent to China. What does that mean exactly? It means we have to pay another invoice and we keep waiting. Although now we are "officially" waiting for the notice to travel. No reason to get excited, though. It will still be 6-9 months.

March 30, 2009

Well, our dossier is complete finally, and it's been sent to US Immigration. US Immigration usually takes 3 months to approve the dossier. In the meantime, we have to travel to our embassy in Buffalo to have yet another set of fingerprints taken. Yes, it's crazy. A criminal gets his fingerprints taken once, and they can forever check the database, but to adopt from China we have to have our fingerprints taken multiple times. It must be a money generator for someone, somewhere. Our prints are definitely on file (foster care, teacher, lawyer, and this whole adoption process), yet we have to be in Buffalo at 9am next Tuesday. Then we can wait another 3 months until the next step. Patience is a virtue, as is not trying to make sense of the process.

Feb. 10--cleared finally

Well, today we received notice that FINALLY my fingerprints were cleared through the FBI. That means that our homestudy is complete, and we are officially accepted into the China program. What it really means is that we start waiting for the US immigration paperwork to be ok'd. Then US immigration sends our paperwork to the Chinese government for their clearance. Yes, it means more waiting. In the meantime, our Chinese language classes are going well. Connor and I have mastered a dozen phrases and 40-50 words. Austin, Grandma Sue and cousin Eric have less time to study during the day, but they are greatly enjoying the classes. Connor and I have the advantage because we home-school and practice every day together. At least a few of us will be able to converse when we go to China next year!

February--another month

It's another month and no news. No updates and nothing to report yet. I have been "babysitting" the four children (that I previously mentioned) at least once a week. Whew! They are adorable, but exhausting. I'm happy we decided to adopt a child who is school-aged. I'm not sure I'd want to do diapers and potty-training all over again. Of course, if I suddenly had a baby or toddler, I'd get used to it quickly; I'm just saying, I think adopting an older child was a great choice for us.

paperwork, paperwork...will it end?

We wonder if the paperwork will ever end?? We have to sign and notarize yet another statement that we have never committed a crime in NY State. We have already had our fingerprints checked, have signed statements and references that we don't have a criminal record, and yet we have to sign and notarize another statement again clarifying that we do not have a criminal record. It seems so silly sometimes, doing everything over and over again. On another note, the Dept. of Social Services asked me if I would offer "support services" to a grandmother who suddenly has custody of her daughter's four children. DSS wants me to essentially babysit 4 children, ages 2, 3, 5 & 8, to give the grandma a break. Too bad the whole situation with the four kids stinks. I can't elaborate (privacy laws), but what a mess!! My heart hurts for the kids. At least watching these children will give me practice with younger kids, and it will keep me busy while we wait for BingHui.

Another year

Well, it's now 2009 and our resolution is to have BingHui here by the end of the year. It MIGHT be possible, if everything goes exactly as planned. We have our homestudy completed, except for the fingerprint clearance for me. Yep, once again my finger prints were rejected by Albany and sent back as not readable. It's such baloney. I am beginning to think that Albany automatically rejects a certain percentage of the fingerprint cards just to clear- off someone's desk. My fingerprints were rejected twice before (when printed for teaching certification, and when we got our clearance for foster care) so I made doubly certain that each and every print was as clear as a bell before we submitted the card for the FBI check. Oh well, it's just one more small thing. Now, David has to order a new birth certificate, and we are done with round two of the paperwork. David's birth certificate shows his birth name and not his present name; he changed his name to match his mother's name after his parents divorced. I know that immigration will have a field day with me--I've had 5 last names!!! No lie. I was born Richards, my mom remarried and they legally changed my name to Olmstead, and then I was married three times--Burkhart, Rohlfing and now Peters. Yikes! Nothing more for us to do right now, except wait.