USCIS* Notice

 Triple Falls, DuPont State Forest

Today's update is short with only a little bit to tell you about, but it's part of the process, so...

We took a mini vacation for three days this past week (which is not part of the adoption process :D.  We had a great time, and I will include a few pictures of out trip at the end of the post.  The picture to the left was taken by Mark).  When we came home, there was a mail notice from USCIS* acknowledging receipt of our I-800A (Application for Determination of Suitability to Adopt a Child from a Convention Country) form.  We were also informed that USCIS* will schedule bio metrics (in plain English, electronic fingerprinting and/or photograph) appointment.  We should receive the notice for the time,date, and place in the mail - hopefully sooner rather than later, but you never know.  This notice is not an approval from immigration for the adoption but we know that they have our application! Please continue to keep our immigration approval in prayer as we wait for a decision to be made (yes or no...of course, we need/want a yes!).

We are also working to get grant applications out.  We have mailed two of them out and have complete a third online.  There are three or four more that we hope to get in the mail in the next week or so.  We will probably not have any information regarding the applications we have sent out for eight weeks or more. Thank you to those who have provided the requested references for us to send in with the grant paperwork. Please pray that we will be able to be approved for one or more grants: this would be a tremendous help for the adoption costs.

Thanks again for joining us!

* United States Citizenship and Immigration Services

 High Point, DuPont State Forest

 Triple Falls
(It rained at the beginning of our hike, so we were a bit damp.)

 At the Apple Orchard

Immigration Paperwork Is In

By Jonathan Joseph Bondhus via Wikimedia Commons

     Since the last time we updated you, we have received the hard copy of our home-study.  Yay!

     Today, we received an email from Lifeline stating that our next batch of paperwork had been received by them and they have submitted it to immigration.  We submitted form I-800 A along with copies of our birth certificates, marriage license, home-study, and the immigration application fee.  Form I-800 A is used for those who are planning to adopt from a Hague Convention country.  As stated on the I-800 A application form, this is basically  "for determination of suitability to adopt a child from a convention country". So, now we are waiting for approval from the US immigration office to be accepted to adopt internationally.  The adoption process is full of paperwork and waiting!!  Please pray with us that we will be approved through US immigration without a problem.


     And...speaking of paperwork, we are now collecting what is needed to complete our dossier (pronounced doss-ee-ay).  The dossier is a collection of information about us that will be sent to Hungary and translated into Hungarian for approval from Hungarian officials for us to adopt from their country.  (Once you are approved by the US for adoption from a particular country, you are likely to be approved by that country for adoption.)  Many of the same pieces of information that we have already collected, we will need to get again.  We will need another medical form from our doctor (this is time sensitive and cannot be done too early or it will "expire"), certified copies of birth certificates and our marriage license, financial  information, immigration approval form (once we get it), photos of ourselves and our home, copies of our passports, our home-study, and the dossier fee (there is a fee for pretty much everything you submit throughout the adoption process) are all included in the dossier.  If you are new to the adoption process, I recommend that you ask your placement agency at the beginning of the process (before you do the home-study) how many certified copies of your marriage license and  birth certificates you will need for the adoption process.  You may be able to avoid having to get this information multiple times and it is likely to be cheaper to get all the copies you need at once.

     We are excited about the progress that has been made in the last month and look forward to moving forward in the months ahead.