Our homestudy is just about updated--we need to hear back about our background checks and then it's off to Living Hope for final approval.
In the meantime, I've started making lists of all the paperwork yet to come and it's a bit daunting. China is a Hague country, so several things are a bit different, especially on the front end of things. The approval process is tighter, thus we have to get more ducks in a row* as we pull together our dossier**.
Figuring out a timeline is very hard, but our agency has given us a general outline:
- I-800A application and approval + compile dossier - 5 months
- Dossier audited and approved by Living Hope - 1-2 months
- Wait time - ?
- Referral and I-800 filed - 5 months
I'm hoping the I-800A process will go smoothly--that's where I had fingerprint trouble last time and had to return twice...
*Yep, that means our paperwork costs are higher, but we only have to compile one dossier. Russia needed two... plus we'll only be traveling once!
**I really miss our very first agency... I still believe God directed us to Partners for Adoption, even though everything exploded on us. Everyone we talked to there was warm and reassuring, and they helped us every single step of the way, including putting together much of the dossier for us.
2 comments:
What exactly is a dossier? Is it similar to the "profile" that we had to put together for domestic adoption? We're still scraping together the last little bits of our paperwork over here. Solidarity, Sistah! :)
Yep, it contains medical forms, background checks, the homestudy, photos of us and the house, copies of our passports (since we're going outside the US), character references, etc. etc.
It's truly discouraging, but does keep one busy, unlike the waiting period that will be coming up next!
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