November 28, 2007 sent in application to Partners for Adoption, our California homestudy agency
January 4, 2007 Partners declares that they are not comfortable proceeding with a special needs homestudy without a China Agency on board. Our original plan was to get the dossier almost entirely completed (through I171) and only then choose an agency. Partners wasn't "comfortable" so we decided to go with a China agency which referred kids from two orphanages in Jiangsu - where Noah is from.
January 12 sent in application to Homeland Adoption Services
January 7 was to be 12-month post-placement visit for Noah - cancelled due to SW illness
January 14 was to be first homestudy visit but had to be 12-month post-placement for Noah instead (Homeland won't let us do both on same day)
January 28 finally first homestudy visit
February 2 - physical exam for both of us
February 4 Kate tests positive for TB exposure!! But chest x-ray negative. Diagnosis: possible latent TB infection. Treatment: 6-9 months of isoniazid antibiotic. Effect on adoption: total chaos.
February 11 was to be 2nd homestudy visit - cancelled on account of TB test
February 27 was to be last homestudy visit - cancelled WITHOUT my knowledge or permission. GRRRR...
February 28 After over three weeks of waiting for Chinese New Year to be over and still not getting any definitive answers from Homeland on whether or not we are likely to get rejected by the CCAA, we decide to move forward w/homestudy anyway.
March 3 2nd homestudy visit
March 7 3rd and final homestudy visit
March 13 talk with Nancy Reffsin with Homeland about TB situation and learn basically we will not get any official answer until we actually apply for a child; decide to forgo our original plan of submitting dossier first and then getting matched and proceed with more standard route of pre-applying and getting pre-approval (or not) before we submit Dossier. Discuss with Nancy which special needs we are open to; request one file
March 14 receive file overnighted from Homeland but we are not home for weekend!
March 16 return home and look at file
March 20 call Homeland and accept child... we have another son!!
March 21 FedEx LOI and documents off to Homeland
March 25 Our LOI goes to China
March 31 receive homestudy first draft from Partners for Adoption
April 9 Finalized homestudy finally received
April 9 Dossier (sans I171) sent for State Certification in Sacramento using same-day service with courier
April 11 Dossier received back from State Certification. While preparing dossier for Consulate Authentication realize that there is no interagency agreement between Homeland and Partners for Adoption as required by the Hague; spent afternoon on phone getting this worked out. Also there were multiple mistakes put in after Kate viewed first draft (for instance, the year of Tom's surgery was wrong...) Homeland declares is OK to go forward.
April 14 Interagency agreement signed and paperwork complete
April 15 Interagency agreement received and stapled to back of State Certified homestudy
April 15 Caught another mistake on the homestudy: realized Kate's passport number had changed when her name was changed on her passport; mistake was included in homestudy for dossier. Decided would get notarized letter and add to homestudy after authentication.
April 16 Dossier sent for Consulate Authentication in San Francisco
April 30 Dossier received back from Authentication; now just waiting on I171
May 6 I171 came!!
May 7 I171 hand-carried around Los Angeles for county and state certification and left at Consulate for Authentication
May 8 Authenticated I171 picked up at Los Angeles Consulate. Decide that there is no way we could hold onto a fully completed and authenticated dossier while we wait for our Pre-Approval. Dossier FedExed to Homeland Adoption Services!!!
May 13 Homeland sends Dossier sent to China!
May 19 Pre-Approval arrives from China - WHEW!!!
June 22 Impatiently typed up this timeline still waiting for word if our son has had any surgeries and wondering what our LID might be...
August 8 Not a "lucky" day at all. Our LID is July 4th. Our dossier took 8 weeks to get from Homeland's offices in New York, to China where it was translated, to the CCAA where it was eventually logged in. Redid all the calculations for when we might travel and then cried.
September 26 We received LOA after 84 days. Sadly, the three other families with the same login date as us, with the same agency, did not get their letters of acceptance. My heart aches for them.
October 17 We received our TA only 11 days after our signed LOA (finally) arrived back to the CCAA
October 27 We finally got our confirmed Consulate Appointment and scheduled flights after a week of lost or unsent Faxes from our agency to the CCAA
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