The Travel Meeting

This weekend we, along with 3 other waiting families, attended a travel meeting at our agency. There were 3 experienced families also there who have been helping LSS put together information to help families who haven't yet traveled. Everything from your normal logistics to things like what to expect in court and what the culture is like. Many, many thanks to all the experienced families - I loved meeting you all, hearing your stories, and seeing your photos!

Armed with the packing list we were given, this will be my first getting-ready-to-travel weekend. I'll start by setting up my travel staging area in the nursery to-be :) and then it's shopping time! Well, I should clarify... I'll be "shopping" at my friend Jen's. She's offered up an entire host of things for me to check out and, if I want, to take with us or use once we get back. Some of you know about the spreadsheet - sectioned out on tabs for clothing, feeding, care, play, etc. It's quite the collection of information she's gathered from parenting her two girls... oh, and the loads of reading and research she does looking into different foods and toys, etc. Everyone should have a Jen - and I am very grateful for mine!

We're hoping to hear from the USCIS and/or RMI in the next week or so. And yes, I think I said the same thing last week... but this time we were told that the RMI was getting ready to send some referrals "soon". With the JOH program on hold, I'm thinking that the referrals will come to LSS. I know we and one of the other waiting families at the meeting this weekend both have our Dossiers in the RMI for review so maybe we'll both get some good news this week!

Keep your fingers crossed...

Our Adoption Still On Track - Hold Affects Another Agency

I doubt that anyone reading my blog has been on the discussion boards or gone out searching for others, but on the off chance some of you have, I wanted to fill you in on some hiccups happening with some RMI adoptions.

First, this DOES NOT affect our adoption or any adoptions going through our agency, Lutheran Social Service of MN (LSSMN). I'm using the full, official name so no one stumbling across this information gets confused and unecessarily worried.

Now... what is happening according to a message board called RMI-Kids is that the RMI has placed another agency (Journeys of the Heard - JOH) on hold for a while. There's much speculation and rumor but nothing explaining why this happened. There are comments stating that the RMI will continue to process the Dossiers they have already received from JOH families but will not take any additional. If true, I'm glad for that. I can only imagine how heart broken those families would be!

The good news at this point for us is that adoptions for all LSSMN families are progressing as normal - the hold does not affect us. I received an email from our LSSMN adoption worker even before I heard about the JOH hold letting us know about it and that our adoption is not at risk. I was pretty impressed and thankful that our adoption worker proactively sent the reassuring email. We've been well taken care of by LSSMN.

Please keep the families that are being affected by the JOH hold in your thoughts. I hope the situation resolves quickly.

Good night everyone :)

The Update That Wasn't

I find myself with some free time this afternoon so I'm hanging out at the Oakdale Caribou waiting for my mom. Seems like a good time for an update. Now if I only had something to say!

Nothing has happened in the last week - at least not that we know about anyway. I assume the folks at the USCIS are busy running our fingerprints and making the determination that we aren't trying to unlawfully bring a foreign minor into the US. And that the nice people who work for the CAA in the Marshall Islands are figuring out that yes, in fact we would make outstanding parents...

This seems to be the longest stretch of wait time we've had since entering the RMI program where we haven't had anything official to do. An entire week... I think we can manage. Compared to most adoptions, I know ours is moving incredibly fast.

We have a travel meeting at the agency this weekend where we'll get to meet families who have already returned from the RMI. The hope is we'll get the skinny on what to pack, how to make flexible travel arrangements, the best places to stay/eat/shop while there, etc. Mostly I'm looking to connect with parents who have done what we're going to be doing.

Tomorrow morning we go to the Travel Clinic for shots, pills, prescriptions and advice. There isn't anything we are required to have but I'm sure they'll find some reason to stick us with needles.

Time for our appointment. That's all for now!

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Appointment Notices

The forms aren't that interesting but I wanted to test my blogger app and upload something. These are the official appointment notices to have our fingerprints taken at the local USCIS office. Check that step off the list!

Updated report... the photo doesn't upload with the message. Anyone know how to fix this? I'm updating through the web instead to add the same, uninteresting picture :)

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Falling Into Place

I know some of you are anxiously awaiting news on whether or not we got in... for those who don't know, we were trying to get an earlier appointment at the USCIS local office or find out if they allow walk-ins. It's really difficult to contact one of the local offices directly - no phone numbers or email addresses - so we decided we'd just show up when the doors opened this morning and hope they let us in. Fortunately, we live in an area where the office is relatively close so it was a short drive to St. Paul. Some people need have to drive hours to reach the nearest one.

Well, things just seem to be falling into place. I'm happy to report that they DID let us do our fingerprinting today! The prints are immediately shared electronically with the national office so I assume the I-600A will now keep moving through the system next week. In all liklihood, we cut 3 weeks off the wait time for our immigration approval! We still have to wait for the referral from the RMI but I'm convinced (read: strongly hoping) that the time we saved by going this morning will get us to the RMI sooner.

Again - if you have any specific questions, please feel free to add them as comments! This, as you know, is a private blog open only to my family, friends and co-workers. If you're thinking it, someone else probably is too!

It Arrived - Now What?

I'd mentioned before that the Dossier seems to be flying around the world on its way to the RMI... well, it's officially arrived! I'm so excited that it moved as quickly as it did but there's still a process that has to run it's course. No one has posted any questions for me so I may just blather on about what we expect to happen next since that seems to be the thing most people are asking me in person.

The disclaimer... I just want to reiterate that any timelines we experience or expectations we have about the process are ours alone. Other couples might have longer/shorter wait times or have requirements different from ours.

Okay - what happens next and how long is it going to take? Probably the thing most people are asking. There are two items in process right now:

1. The Dossier (arrived in the RMI on 2/2)
   
   The Central Adoption Authority (CAA) will review our information and determine whether or not they think we're a good fit for their program. I cannot underscore what a huge step this is! Unlike most open adoptions in the US where a birth mom (or family) choose the adoptive family, the CAA does this in the RMI. If the CAA likes what they see, they will match us with a child in their program. They will send a referral to our agency (LSS) who will look it over to make sure they agree on the match, and then make the formal referral to us. The timeline for this is unpredictable - it depends on too many variables to be able to accurately predict a date. That said, we're hoping it's not more than a month.
   
   We then have a few days to review the information. During this time we'll have the U of M international adoption clinic review any medical information we're given and make their recommendations. If we accept the referral, I think there are some documents to sign and return to the CAA. At this point, we wait until item #2 is complete.
2. I-600A
   
   The United States Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS) has received our application and has scheduled our appointment for fingerprinting. I've requested an earlier appointment but expect that it won't be granted and that we'll have to wait until the 2/24. After that, the USCIS will continue processing our application and eventually send us an approval letter.
   
   The entire USCIS process start to finish can take anywhere from 4-12 weeks. We're currently a little over 2 weeks into that timeline. If the appointment remains on the 24th, that'll add another 4 weeks making a total of 6 weeks. I'm hopeful that we'll have our approval within 8 weeks but you never know.

After the 2 items above are done, the RMI will set a court date - not sure how long it takes for them to do that. Once we're notified of that court date, we should have between 2-4 weeks before we travel.

For those of you who just want a simple answer to the question, "How long before you travel?", my best guess if everything falls into place is around 8 weeks. It's unlikely to take less time, but could happen. It's entirely possible things will take longer. This is the waiting game people... and since we've shared this news with you, you get to join us for the fun :-)