The Paper Chase

We knew adoption was not easy. There are countless hurdles you have to jump through and many agonizing months or years of waiting can be heart breaking, but holding Lexie in our arms for the first time made us believe that our decision to adopt from Taiwan was the best decision we could have ever made. And that is why we are taking the plunge again. After a year of searching for an agency, we had just about given up hope and then, our agency announced there were openings. We knew it was meant to be, so here we are on that paper chase again. And after about 2 months, we are getting close to crossing that finish line.

Even though this will be our 2nd adoption, many family and friends still don't understand what exactly we need to do, so I just wanted to walk everyone through the process so far.

In August, we applied to the Taiwan program, which also includes paying a fee. We were sent a "Step Two" packet, which is all of the paperwork that needs to be completed. We also have to pay another fee at this time.

The paperwork includes the following (hold on to your horses, this list is pretty long):

1. Reference Forms (thanks Lorna, Debbie and Rob)

2. Medical Risks in Adoption

3. Discipline Policy Agreement

4. Parent Information & Child Preference Form

5. Criminal Clearance which includes getting fingerprinted

6. Child Abuse and Neglect Clearance

7. Medical Clearance (blood tests, doctor physicals, TB tests)

8. Financial Information (tax papers, savings, expenses)

9. Employment Information (letters from your employers)

10. Guardianship Information

11. Letter stating your intentions for adoption

12. Copies of our Passports

13. Copies of our Marriage Certificate

14. Copies of our Birth Certificate

15. Adoption Training

We had to pay another fee because this is also the start of our home study process. A social worker visited our home for about 2 hours. They wanted to see where we lived, how we're raising Lexie and talk about our plans for another child.

We are now waiting to see if we're exempt from taking adoption training classes. We took classes at our agency when we were in the China program. We also did several classes online. My feeling is that since we've adopted Lexie, we have received hands-on practical experience that you cannot get in any class. I'm crossing my fingers that we're exempt from these classes because that will be another fee that we have to pay to learn about bonding, attachment, and developmental issues that we have experienced first hand with Lexie.

If everything is in order, our home study can be completed and then we can make our appointment with USCIS (immigration) to be fingerprinted. We pay another fee for this approval. It's only valid for 18 months, so if we don't have a referral by then, we have to be fingerprinted again. Luckily the first renewal is free, if we go for a 3rd time, we have to pay again. I'm hoping it doesn't come to that.

Once we get USCIS approval, it will be sent to the agency in Taiwan and then we can start waiting for a referral. We're hoping that our paperwork will be sent by the end of this year because we may be looking at 2 years before we get a referral.

At least this time around, we have Lexie. She will keep our minds occupied and make sure we're staying busy spoiling her. It will also give us time to prepare her for a sibling. We still need to get our home ready for a 2nd child. And most importantly, it will give us some extra time to start saving. We know we'll have to go through our savings to pay for all of our expenses, but we want to make sure we still have something left once the dust settles.

So, we will keep everyone posted on how this adoption is going and hopefully it's smooth sailing.