I decided this post will begin telling others more about the adoption process. Many ask why it takes so long and how much it costs, etc. I am hoping this will answer many questions and also help you understand why during an adoption I go a little, ok a lot, CRAZY!!
Ok so this adoption is a little different as we know WHO we are adopting. Usually that comes later in the journey. Usually you start an adoption and then wait to be matched with your child. Knowing who your child is during the process is amazing and extremely hard. Amazing because you know the entire time WHO you are working to bring home. Extremely hard because you know WHO is waiting for you the entire time!!
Some Dates
On July 24, 2014 I realized that Joel was my son.
On July 26, 2014 Jeff realized that Joel was his son.
On July 27, 2014 we submitted paperwork to Madison Adoption Associates (MAA) asking to review Joel's file.
On Monday July 28, 2014 we reviewed Joel's file and told the adoption agency he was our son and we wanted to adopt him.
On July 30th we sent off LOI for Joel. LOI is Letter of Intent stating that we want to adopt Joel, this is sent to China. This letter must be notarized before we can send it off. We also went and got fingerprints done today in Farmington and mailed them off.
August 1, 2014 MAA locked in our file for Joel.
August 19, 2014 we received PA for Joel. PA is approval from China saying we can adopt Joel!!
Some Costs
Ok so those are the dates and here are the costs
$250 application fee to MAA (Usually $500 but they were having a special, YAY SPECIALS!!)
$20.00 for fingerprints for FBI Clearances
$36.00 to have FBI do Clearances
$19.99 to overnight LOI to MAA
For some crazy reason when sending documents to China they can not be more than 6 months old. This is a part of the process that I do not understand and NEVER WILL!! So I sent off for:
My Birth Certificate $28.00
Jeff's Birth Certificate $22.00
Marriage License $16.55
(Must wait for these to arrive)
While waiting for paperwork to arrive I start getting our other paperwork ready.
We must do applications for MAA
Update our Homestudy
Get 12 hours of training (after 2 adoptions we still aren't qualified to parent)
We have to have 3 notarized reference letters (Thanks to my wonderful friends and family for this)
We must complete a Finance Form and have it notarized
Get physicals from our doctors and have them notarized
Our pediatrician had to write a letter saying our kids were healthy
Get Police Clearances from our city and they must be notarized
Get Letters from our Employers and have them notarized
We also need to do 3 book reports on Adoption related books (I am fighting this one the most as its not required by China and I hate extra hoops to jump)
Once paperwork starts to come in there are more steps:
I received Jeff's birth certificate in the mail from Texas. I then have to mail it back to Texas with a prepaid return envelope and $20.00 and $4.40 in postage fees. Texas will then certify this document that it really is from Texas. This step also cost $20.00 to send our marriage certificate to Nevada and again $4.40 in postage. We also had to send Jeff's employment letter to California so again $20.00 and yep $4.40 in postage. Again this step is hard for me because SERIOUSLY it just came from Texas, Nevada and California. You would think it was done but no, once it arrives back from Texas, California and Nevada I have to send it to Washington DC for them to tell me it really is a US document. Can't wait to see how much that costs. After this we have to send all our documents to the Chinese Embassy and YES there will be more fees with that. I should not be surprised by this since its my 3rd adoption but it still boggles my mind.
Once we have all our forms I must do this same thing for the Utah forms but lucky me I live in a State that requires one extra stop so I must send to county first, then state, then Washington DC, then Chinese embassy. This step will be pricey.
Homestudy Update:
This is a little cheaper this time because she does not have to start from scratch she can just update our current home study. This costs $1,750.00 this does include 5 years of required updates to China once we are home with Joel. Our home study lady is AMAZING and has worked so hard and fast so that we can get this done. I appreciate her answering my calls at all hours and getting us in for our visits, etc so quickly. When I picked up the home study today I gave her a hug and couldn't help the tears that streamed down my cheeks. I felt such gratitude for this lady who worked so hard to help us get our little guy. Again great blessings were felt today.
Next Agency Fee to MAA:
The farther you get into the process the more you pay. Our next Agency fee is $850.00 that we mailed in with our paperwork which was $1.66 in postage fees.
BACK TO IMMIGRATION PAPERWORK
Our FBI clearances never arrived. After waiting 27 days our home study agency finally found a phone number to contact FBI. I got right through to them and they said they had not even opened our letter yet and it will be several more weeks to have it processed. I could call back tomorrow and see if they have opened it and if they have I can ask them to expedite it but it will still take a week or so.
I had a meltdown after hearing this. Luckily my friend sent me a fingerprint place she heard could do it faster. I contacted them on August 26 and they said they would expedite the process. On August 27th at 7:30 am we made our fingerprint appointment to get new prints done. We did these prints at 10:00 am and had the results by the time we got in the car. This cost us $100.00 but it was so worth it. I was really sad that we had waited 28 days when this took minutes. Oh how I wished I would have known about this sooner but this happens with adoptions. I knew something wasn't right with our prints. I kept having a nagging feeling but didn't know how to fix it. I kept trying different numbers and emails to contact FBI but got nowhere. I kept praying the prints would arrive. This new option was an answer to many prayers.
Once we got the notice that we passed FBI our home study agency printed, signed and notarized our home study I went and picked it up in Centerville and mailed it off with a check for $890.00 to immigration. Oh it also cost me $19.99 to overnight this package. Once I had this in the mail I sat back to relax for a few minutes and celebrate this step when the phone rang. It was McKade I had forgotten to pick him up at school. AWWWWW mother of the year award does not go to me today. I felt so bad but luckily my sweet boy forgave me (of course I had to buy him a Pepsi and then it was OK).
Along with the immigration application I had to include:
Copy of my birth certificate, Jeff's birth certificate and our Marriage license
Homestudy
Past immigration approvals
Police Clearance Info
So if you are keeping track so far this adoption has cost:
$3,235.89
Ok I am adding to this post its September 22, 2014 I am having a rough day as we have hit some snags. Thursday September 18 we FINALLY got the letter from USCIS saying we could be fingerprinted on September 25, 2014. I was not about to waste 7 more days so the next day Jeff and I got up early and headed to SLC. We got to USCIS at 7:46 am. When we met the security officer at the door he said your here on the wrong day. I explained that our boy was very sick and asked if we could please be printed today. He went and asked and said your lucky its early, they will print you today. Very exciting to have this done. Unfortunately the excitement lasted about 1 hour. I got home and called our USCIS officer and explained we had a medical expedite and asked if she could process our I800A since our prints were done. She explained to me that today was her last day in adoptions so she would have to transfer our file to another officer. I said could you please just pass us today its our 3rd adoption, you've always been our officer, etc. I am not against begging!! She said she would look at it and call me back. I got a call back very quickly and she said I need a police record for Jeffrey from Oregon I explained he does not have a police record there. She said we needed a letter proving this. I started to sob begging please just look in our old file you have cleared us twice before, my baby is so sick, please. She said sorry I could email it but she needed it. I called Jeff sobbing and told him he had to get this done. He gets very angry with this crap but I was sobbing saying please just get it done. About 1.5 hours later I received an email saying Jeff has no record and they will mail a letter. I forwarded the email to our officer. We now have a new officer, officer York. He did not answer my call or return it. SO FRUSTRATING!!! Monday morning there was an email from him stating he would not accept the email and he needed a letter. ARGHHHHH!!!!! I watched for the mail like a hawk and the second it came I ran to the box and luckily the letter from Oregon was there. I ran home, scanned it in and emailed it to Officer York. I then called him. He said sorry you must mail it. I said seriously you are going to make me spend $20 to mail this to you. He said you don't have to overnight it. I explained how sick my boy was so yes I had to overnight it. He said ok. I than asked how long it would take him to clear it and he said 1 day. I ended nicely as possible as he holds our future in his hands at this point.
Luckily I also got Jeffs work letter in the mail today. 2 weeks ago I finally got it back from California with a note that said they wouldn't certify it because the Jurat was wrong. SERIOUSLY, I guess California's Jurat is a tiny bit different than Utah's. So I wrote the letter with the correct Jurat and emailed Jeff's work. The lady said she would mail it off tomorrow. Well, SHE DIDN'T. It took me a week to get her to mail it and then it took 5 days to get here. So I have no time to wait for California to take over a month to get this form back to me. So I contacted Caring Hands to complete this step for me in 2-3 days. What would have originally cost me $20.00 and about $4 in postage was now costing me $146 and $20 in postage. But it has to be done, I can't wait for this document. Once I have the completed I800A back I will hand walk it into the State Capital and have it certified and then overnight all my documents to Caring Hands for them to complete the last 2 steps of authentication. This will cost me more than me doing it myself but it will save so much time that its worth the cost.
So I grabbed my kids (Louvee and I still in our PJ's) and we headed to the post office. $40 later Jeffs criminal background check from Oregon and his work letter were off. Praying that Officer York gets it tomorrow and clear us!!!!!!
So now we are up to $3421.89
Oh wait we did another document wrong and had to re do it for Utah that cost an extra $33.68. This was not our fault it was not done correctly our adoption agency has you do two different LOI letters something I had no idea about.
So the cost is $3455.57
BEST MONEY I EVER SPENT
Even with how crazy this process is,
its 100% WORTH IT!!!!
Tonight I will work on the paperwork required to start the Utah certification process. I will go to bed exhausted but excited that we are
ONE STEP CLOSER TO OUR BOY!!!
OK so if I bring this post current to today I must include my Utah step for certification it cost me $135.00 plus $21.21 in postage.
New total $3611.78
STILL WORTH EVERY PENNY!!!
Yesterday (Sept. 25) I mailed all my documents to Caring Hands for them to complete the last two steps of the adoption paperwork authentication process. It cost me $90 extra for them to do these steps but it will save me weeks in the long run of trying to do it myself so it had to be done.
It cost $112 for the authentication is the US and $350 for the Chinese Embassy to authenticate. It also cost me $40.00 in overnight shipping fees.
New total $4,073.78
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