One Paper Closer To You

Some of you may be familiar with the paperwork portion of the adoption process. I say "portion" when it feels like it's *most* of the process (at least for now). :-)

When you apply to adopt (at least from China) -- you immediately send copies of tax forms, a notarized service agreement, as well as a picture of your family, a picture of the exterior of your home, and a $250-$400 application fee (depending on agency you're using). After they review your application and send you a letter/e-mail/phone call stating your app has been officially processed, that's when you begin on the homestudy paperwork. You'll immediately get sent 24+ forms plus a laundry list of other things you need to collect and provide.

These forms range from doctor signed (and notarized) medical reports for both parents (stating you don't have medical issues that would prevent you from being an effective adoptive parent), teacher recommendation letters for any kids you currently have, several reference letters, financial form proving you make X amount of money plus X amount of net worth, another financial form breaking down all your monthly expenditures, outlines of fees, medical needs chart, background clearances (FBI and state -- in our case, we need FBI, Iowa, and Ohio clearances), a 60+-essay-type-question personal data form, certificate showing you both completed 12 hours of adoptive parenting, etc.

We got our fingerprints done at our local police station about two weeks ago, and paid the money to go through a channeler to get the results quicker -- so we recently received our FBI clearances. We're also waiting for Iowa and Ohio clearances. I'm proud to let you know we're not crazy ax murderers or whatever horrible thing you can think of. ;-)

We've completed our personal data forms -- which are (what feels like) million essay question forms asking everything from marriage questions (conflict resolve, etc) to basic parenting, to infertility (no problem there), discipline, religious beliefs, medical and mental history (your own and family's), interests, what pediatrician you plan to use, layout of house, how you plan to handle racism aimed at your child, family support, and the list goes on..and..on..and..on. :-) So now, we just have a couple small things to do and we'll be done with the homestudy paperwork. Oh -- and we need to complete our 12 hour adoptive parenting online courses together. Woo! After we finish, we'll be able to begin our official homestudy (which is the process where you'll be interviewed separately from your spouse, then together, get an idea of what needs would best fit our family, home-checks to ensure our house has the space for another child and is safe for them, etc). The social worker then writes up your homestudy report based on everything gathered (I believe 6+ pages in length) -- showing that you're basically over-all good potential adoptive parents.

Basically, you can't have anything to hide during your adoption process. And your social worker, agency, and China's government will know more about you than your own mama and papa (nice to know, right?). So it's serious business because they want to ensure they're placing children in completely safe and loving families (anything to do with children is serious business really). The scrutiny is absolutely necessary -- so we're happily going through it all.  

Most simply put, after the homestudy is finished and sent to USCIS (US Citizenship and Immigration Services) for approval --- once approved it can all be compiled with other documents into our dossier to be sent to China! Collecting everything else we need for our dossier is the next thing we'll be doing here soon after completing every bit of the homestudy paperwork. And so our big goal is to have our dossier sent around Will's 30th birthday.

Paperwork isn't necessarily fun, but I have already gotten excited in receiving just a couple things -- including our FBI clearance forms. Every piece we fill out, notarize, and send is one piece of paper closer to our little one. And it really does feel like that. It feels like the main thing standing in our way of them is a mountain load of paperwork (as well as government bureaucracy). It'll be as though we're climbing Mt. Papermore with all types of hurdles (government -- both US and China, fees, etc) -- all of which will be seemingly standing in our way of getting to our precious babe. I know there will be hiccups in this process. Thankfully though -- Billy and I aren't control freaks which, hopefully, will help ease things for us (yea, yea -- I know you APs are laughing right now..). 

So every piece of paper we complete is one paper closer to you, our little one!

Our (Pre-)Adoption Pictures

Recently we had our pictures taken by my lovely sis-in-law, Sarah! If you live in central Ohio and ever want family or maternal/baby pictures done -- check her out!

www.SarahCropperPhotography.com

We're Adopting!; Official Announcement

Dear Family & Friends,

After much prayerful consideration, we have decided to further build our family through adoption! We made the decision months ago, but felt we needed to wait to tell until we had officially started the process.

We know you’ll have plenty of questions. We also know you’ll have plenty of concerns. Despite that, we pray and hope that you’ll provide much needed moral support and prayer through this journey of ours.

After intently weighing our options, we have settled on adopting through the Waiting Child - China program.

We put together a FAQS page for you to answer some of the questions you may have -- you'll find this from our blog home page in the top page bar. These will be the questions you may have after reading this initial announcement. :-) We'd appreciate it if our closest family and friends quickly took a look at the FAQS in order to hopefully help them answer others' concerns or questions when talking to them about our adoption process.

What’s interesting to know is that our child is most likely already here! How exciting (and mind-boggling) is that? Please pray with us for him/her on a daily basis. We pray that God will reveal and get them to us as soon as possible. We pray for protection over their life. We pray for healing in whatever way that’s needed. We pray the orphanage sees and takes care of their every need to their greatest capacity while we're working our way to them. We pray that while we’re worlds apart, they’ll feel every ounce of our love through our Heavenly Father’s warm embrace. We may not know who our child is yet, but our hearts are already nearly filled to the brim with love for them.

We do not take lightly that our precious baby boy/or girl will come with a back story. Adoption, as much as it is a blessing in so many ways, always begins in tragedy and loss. This loss usually occurs with abandonment. With that said, we respect that the details of our child’s story (their birth parents, how they got to the orphanage, etc) will be just that -- their story. It is not ours to tell, but theirs to tell someday if they please, to whom they please. We say this in hopes that you understand when we do not give details when asked.

Adoption is at the heart of God. Numerous scriptures speak very boldly about the need of taking care of the fatherless. In fact, there are numerous people from the Bible who were, indeed, adopted! Jesus was adopted. Moses was adopted. Esther was adopted.  And, those who have received Christ into their hearts are adopted as well! (Ephesians 1:5) Adoption is foundational to the Gospel. And though while we affirm it is spoken of repeatedly throughout scripture in various ways, please don’t misinterpret this as being our sole reasoning to adopt. We’re not adopting because we think we’re “saving a child” or that it’s necessarily a biblical mandate. We’re not adopting out of self-righteousness; in fact, we’ve had to and still are trying to overcome feelings of inadequacy in this process. We simply want to further build our family through adoption; offer our family and home to a child that needs both; and while we know we can bless a child, we also know that child can over-and-abundantly bless *us!* Children are blessings from the Lord -- period. Will this process be emotionally straining? Yes! Will it be physically exhausting? Yes! Will it be financially exhausting? Yes! But our child will be worth every ounce of it all.

We’ve heard others say, “If the same steps that are involved in adopting a child were involved in biologically having one -- hardly anyone would be making babies.” In other words, it’s not for the faint of heart. We’ve read several books already, articles, blogs, talked to others -- and all say the same, but all agree and know it’s been the greatest blessing at the same time.

So we hope you're excited in joining us in this journey. We'll certainly keep you updated through our blog -- so please come again! Thank you in advance for your moral support and your prayers! They mean so much to us.

                                                                                                                                               Grace and blessings,

                                                                                                                                               Billy (Will) & Robin