I thought it might be useful and interesting for people to have a look at the timeline of our adoption journey. It's also helpful to me to write all this down!
July 2004:
Tim and I go to a group information session at China Adoption With Love, Inc., in Brookline, MA.
February 2005:
2/12: We have our intake interview with China Adoption With Love.
The director of CAWLI, Lillian, walks us through the process and explains the paperwork we will need.
March 2005:
3/15: We mail off home study fee to the Datz Foundation in Vienna, VA.
April 2005:
4/26: Tim has his physical exam.
4/27: Tammy has her physical exam.
May 2005:
5/6: First homestudy visit with our social worker, Maureen Kenney. This is a joint interview in our home. The primary topics are why we want to adopt, why we want to adopt from China specifically, our individual strengths and weaknesses, and our marriage.
5/9: Second homestudy visit - Tim's interview. This interview takes place in a Datz office in Washington DC. Tim discusses his life history.
5/11: Third homestudy visit-Tammy's interview. This interview takes place in a Datz office in Washington DC. Tammy discusses her life history.
5/19: Interagency Agreement Received from CAWLI from Datz
5/21: The I-600A application was mailed off to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Washington DC district office.
5/23: Our last homestudy visit, which takes places in our home. The primary topics are our finances, and what type of parents we hope to be.
Our social worker tells us to expect a draft report, which CAWLI will then review, in two-three weeks.
June 2005:
6/3: We agree on a name for our first child: "Isabella Carmen" or "Samuel Kindahl".
6/4: Received USCIS acknowledgement of receipt of I-600A form.
6/8: We receive a draft homestudy report via email from our social worker. We make our list of corrections. We then forward the draft report and our corrections to our placement agency in Brookline, MA, where a social worker there will review the report.
6/9: We make the decision to specifically request a girl...our "Isabella Carmen". We modify our letter of application and commitment to CCAA, and send a copy off to CAWLI. We also send suggested changes to our homestudy report (ours and CAWLI's) to Jeanne Benson at the Datz Foundation via email.
6/17: One copy of our final homestudy report is sent to the USCIS/INS office.
6/18: We receive our copies of the final homestudy report.
6/20: We FedExed one copy of our final homestudy report to CAWLI.
6/25: We are fingerprinted at the USCIS application support center in Alexandria, VA.
July 2005:
We wait and wait on the I-171H form from the NoVA/Washington DC USCIS office.
August 2005:
8/11: The adoption officer from the NoVA/Washington DC USCIS office calls Tammy and tells her NO I-171H approval because we are moving soon. Our file is forwarded to the Boston USCIS field office. We are told we will need to get a homestudy update for our new home before receiving the INS approval. This is different than what we were originally told, which was that we would simply need to get a homestudy update before we travelled to China. Our agency, CAWLI, tells us they have never seen a case where the USCIS field decided to withold approval.
8/19: We move into our new home in Milton, MA.
8/23: We mail new background requests for the state of MA. Our background checks have to be redone in the state of MA.
September 2005:
9/1: We schedule our homestudy update appointment for Monday, September 12, at 6pm.
9/12: Our homestudy update happens! Our social worker's name is Jo. She tells me that our MA background checks are in, and that she expects to have the HS update written by the beginning of next week.
9/17: We receive the homestudy update in the mail. Jo is fast!!!
9/19: We mail the homestudy update and cover letter to the Boston USCIS.
9/30: Our INS approval is processed at the Boston USCIS office! Hurray!!!
October 2005:
10/12: INS approval received!!! At last!!!
10/31: We are DTC!!! CAWLI tells us to expect a May or June referral!!!
November 2005:
We have been told to expect a longer wait for referral.
11/18: LID!!!
December 2005:
12/12: We are informed that our LID was 11/18/2005.
January 2006:
1/7: Tim and I attended a pre-travel meeting at CAWLI, run by a parent to two Chinese daughters, Elizabeth King. The agency director, Lillian, speaks to us, and it remains uncertain when we will receive our referral.
September 2006:
9/2: The CCAA updates its website to say that families with dossiers logged in by November 30, 2005 are out of the review room. That means us!
9/11: We send out the following via U.S. mail: a.) a request to be re-finger printed at the Boston USCIS office, b.) a homestudy update questionnaire to Jo LeBlanc, our social worker through CAWLI, and c.) a request to be re-CORIed (another police background check).
9/18: We send out a request to have our Dept. of Social Services background check redone.
October 2006:
10/19: We are re-fingerprinted.
February 2007:
2/12: We sent out the materials to re-new our I-797C.
2/26: Our re-file for the I-797C is approved by USCIS in Boston.
August 2007:
8/2: We receive a referral for our daughter, Xiu Fu Xun. The happiest day of my life so far!!!
Labels: Waiting.
