Adoption Dossier Timeline

I wanted to share the timeline for our adoption dossier paperwork. I get asked a lot "how long did it take to get ___ back". I thought that posting this might help others.

January 16, 2006
- We decided to adopt a daughter from China!

January 16, 2006
- Sent away for Cory (Texas) & Lisa's (Florida) birth Certificate.

January 17, 2006
- Gathered financial information for CCAI (adoption agency) application.
- Called homestudy agencies in Texas and compared prices, time length, and the gut feeling we got.
- Decided to use Children's Connection Inc (806-745-7995) after being told the homestudy process would only take 30 days and cost $1500. Mailed them our application.
- Mailed application to CCAI (adoption agency).

January 18, 2006
- Lisa had her physical. Hearing test machine is broken. Will have to come back and do that later.
- Spoke with Deborah Phillips at Children's Connection and scheduled homestudy visits for the first weekend of February.

January 19, 2006
- Called Insurance and verified with them that pre-existing conditions would be covered. We needed this for our homestudy.
- Called the County Clerk and found out how to get our Marriage License.
- Mailed off request & check for Marriage License
- Spoke with Children's Connection. Was told who our social worker would be and the date/time she would be coming. Will be able to complete all of our homestudy visits in 2 days.

January 21, 2006
- Received paperwork from Children's Connection.

January 22, 2006
- Filled out request for Child Abuse/Neglect form and mailed it to Children's Connection.
- Remailed request for Lisa's Birth Certificate. Was missing a copy of my driver's license.
- Picked up passport paperwork at post office.

January 23, 2006
- Cory has physical.

January 24, 2006
- Got certified copy of our Marriage License!
- Printed I-600A on salmon colored paper (USCIS uses color coding to help get these orphan papers expedited) and mailed it with check and copies of marriage license, birth certificates, and divorce decree.

January 25, 2006
- CCAI called and says we have been approved!
- Signed, notarized, and mailed the Fee & Agreement form to CCAI
- Got Children's Connection's application

January 27, 2006
- Mailed application, check, copies of everyone's birth certificate, marriage license, and financial report
- CCAI got fees and agreement form. They sent us a userid and password via email to access the Parent section of their website. We were able to download our Dossier Guide.
- Noticed from the Dossier Guide that we filled out the I-600A incorrectly on a question and it said to mail a money order.
- Called Dr's office to see if hearing test machine was fixed for Lisa's physical. Still not fixed.
- Remailed a corrected copy of I-600A at Children's Connections recommendation. Did not send a money order. Am waiting to see if they accept the check.

January 28, 2006
- Faxed a letter to Cory's doctor about the wording needed for the notarization on his physical.
- Wrote cover letters for Secretary of State and Chinese Consulate.
- Wrote our Adoption Petition.

January 29, 2006
- Filled out passport forms.
- Wrote Non-Employment letter.

January 30. 2006
- Called Drs office about hearing test. Machine is fixed. Went in for hearing test.

January 31, 2006
- Got a call from Lisa's doctor. The lab has lost her blood work. Had to go in and have it redone! :P
- Went to post office and turned in our applications for passports & had our pictures taken. We put a rush on this, just incase. The 8 week wait might have held us up and I didn't want to have everything and be sitting around waiting for silly passports.

February 1, 2006
- Got letter from USCIS with all of our paperwork. They said they wouldn't accept a check.
- Remailed the USCIS (this time corrected) with a money order

February 2, 2006
- Got physical form for Lisa
- Got physical form for Cory
- Got letter for Brayden saying he is free of communicable diseases (for homestudy).

February 3, 2006
- Ess at USCIS called confused of the second "corrected" I-600a that had been mailed. She hadn't received the I-600a that was mailed with the money order yet. Gave me her number and said I could call on Monday to see if she had gotten it.

February 4, 2006
- Homestudy Day 1

February 5, 2006
- Homestudy Day 2 - We are done!
- Kris, social worker, said she would be done with her report by Monday (tomorrow!).
- Got online and bought something pink. :)

February 6, 2006
- Called USCIS. Ess says she had our packet! She will mail our fingerprinting appointment once she gets our homestudy.
- Notarized the Adoption Petition, Financial Statement, & Non-Employment Letter
- Lisa's Birth Certificate came in the mail already certified by Florida's Secretary of State!

February 13, 2006
- Our passports came in the mail!
- Had Financial Statement notarized again. Notary statement was wrong on the one we did on the 6th.
- Got letter from USCIS saying they needed our homestudy and copy of our driver's license.
- Mailed driver's license copy to USCIS

February 19, 2006
- Children's Connection sent us & CCAI (adoption agency) a draft of our homestudy.

February 20, 2006
- CCAI approved the homestudy after telling Children's Connection to make a few corrections.

February 22, 2006
- Homestudy sent to lawyers office to be signed & copied

March 1, 2006
- Called Children's Connection and found out that their lawyer's office is really busy and can't get to our file for a few weeks. Children's Connection found another place to have our paperwork run through and had it dropped off there. They will pick it up tomorrow and put it in the mail. I asked that it be overnighted to USCIS directly to speed up that process.

March 3, 2006
- Children's Connection overnighted our homestudy to USCIS

March 6, 2006
- USCIS received our homestudy according to FedEx tracking.

March 7, 2006
- Called USCIS and verified that homestudy was received. It was! They are mailing our fingerprint appointments to us! Was told the results of the fingerprints would take 10-14 days and that the 171 would go out as soon as she gets those results.
- Got package ready to mail to Secretary of State.
- Our Homestudy came in the mail!!!!
- Mailed entire dossier (minus the 171) to the Secretary of State via USPS Express Mail with a return Express Mail envelope for them to send it back.
- Went to CVS and got my Passport Photos.

March 9, 2006
- Got our fingerprinting appointment papers! Says we can fingerprint Tuesday-Saturday from 8-11AM... Any time!

March 10, 2006
- It shouldn't surprise any of you that I was dragging Cory to be fingerprinted today. They had a little trouble with Cory's, but felt that they got them. We were told the FBI would have the results back to USCIS by the end of the day!
- Got all of our papers back from the Secretary of State!
- Took all of our papers to the Chinese Consulate. Can pick them up on Wednesday.

March 14, 2006
- Called USCIS to "see if Cory's fingerprints were okay". She told me that it was too early to know, but checked and was surprised they were already done! She is mailing our 171!!!!

March 15, 2006
- Picked up our papers from the Chinese Consulate.
- Made copies of all of our papers
- Mailed all of our papers (minus 171), copies of the papers, and pictures to CCAI via USPS Express Mail.

March 16, 2006
- Got envelopes ready to send the 171 to the Secretary of State
- Checked mail all day for the 171, but it didn't come today.

March 17, 2006
- Watched for the mail lady every 10 minutes!
- 171 CAME!!!!
- Mailed the 171 to the Secretary of State via USPS Express Mail.

March 20, 2006
- 171 delivered to Secretary of State... darn weekends!

March 22, 2006
- Got our 171 back from the Secretary of State!

March 24, 2006
- Took 171 to Chinese Consulate first thing in the morning and spent the day with Cory and the kids down in that area of Houston. Picked it back up late afternoon. Made copies and mailed all to CCAI!

March 25, 2006
- CCAI got our 171.

April 5, 2006
- CCAI called. One minor problem was quickly corrected and our dossier passed Critical Review! We are off to translation!

April 11, 2006
- Our Dossier is on it's way to China! It will be delivered to the CCAI office in China and they will hand deliver it to CCAA (the Chinese Orphan Agency).

April 14, 2006
- Received an email that our dossier was delivered to CCAA in Beijing! Was given access to a Dossier to China packet. Now we wait for our LID. That is our "place" in line.

April 17, 2006
-Our LID (log-in-date) for China

April 25, 2006
-Got an email from CCAI telling us our LID

August 8, 2006
-Got our Brown Envelope from "The Foreign Service of the United States of America".

August 9, 2006
-GOT REFERRAL!!!! Pam from CCAI's Waiting Child Program called at 4:24 PM with the information on a little one that is perfect for us. Her condition has been corrected and she is just waiting for a loving home.

August 15, 2006
-Accepted Referral of Xin Xiao Yi after speaking with 3 different specialists and learning that her corrected condition is basically a non-issue.

August 16, 2006
-Received packet from CCAI with an extra referral picture in it (picture of her on the white rug)! Immediately signed the papers and sent them back to CCAI with our Letter of Intent (LOI).

August 17, 2006
-Letter of Intent mailed to China! Now our wait begins.

August 23, 2006
-Mailed a care package to our daughter and a separate package of goodies for the SWI.

August 24 & 27, 2006
-Got some surprise pictures of our daughter from members of Helping Hands International.

August 30, 2006
-Got our Pre-Approval (PA) from China. This means they accept our request to adopt Xin Xiao Yi. She is ours! Now we just wait for their Travel Approval (TA).

September 7, 2006
-We got an update on our daughter! She weighs 19 lbs, is 27 inches long, has 4 teeth, and is 9 months old!