The Paperchase

In December 2004, we decided to adopt a baby to grow our family. Having Alexander convinced us that parenting was the most amazing thing we'd ever done, however having another child "the easy way" didn't prove so easy to us. We have lost two babies since Alex, which was heartbreaking. We had always planned to adopt a third child, so after much consideration and prayer, we decided to move that plan up and adopt our next child. While we were always very open to the idea of adoption, it was an unknown path with possibly significant financial implications. Research, experience and talking with friends led us to international adoption with a focus on China. It is often a difficult and lenthy road with no guaranteed end to adopt domestically. China was more of a 'sure thing.' And we have no personal need for a child to look just like us.

After Brad completed researching the adoption agencies available and the countries that we might adopt from, we met with two agencies, Lifelink and Children of Hope. While both appeared to be good agencies, we were drawn to the small size and personal service that Lifelink could provide. The local Lifelink office is based in Edwardsville, though our social worker is in nearby O'Fallon, which was convenient. T hey also host many events for families, which has helped us to get to know others also traveling down this road to grow their families. On December 23, we turned in our application and started the what adoptive families lovingly call the paperchase.

Here's what our 3 month "paper" marathon looked like:

January:

• -- We wrote a 10 page book detailing our lives up to this point. This included everything from our parent's dicipline methods to our relationship with our cat.
• -- We were interviewed by a social worker together, separately and with Alex at home. A total of 5 interviews. She knows more about us than our parents know. The end result of the interviews was the completion of a home study, which told China we would be fit parents.
• -- Applied for licensing by the Department of Child and Family sErvices to become foster parents. This was required because only one of us would be going to China, while the other stayed home with Alex.
• -- Applied to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to be able to bring a foreign child into this country. This is the I-600A Orphan Petition.
• -- Gathered originals of our marriage certificates and birth certificates.
• -- Asked our police department to run a criminal history check on both of us and proclaim us good citizens with nothing but parking tickets in our history. (And they don't tell China about that!)
• -- We wrote a "Letter of Motivation and Intent" that, among other things, had to tell China that we will never abandon or abuse a child and will clothe, educate and love the child. As if that was all there was to parenting!
• -- Letters from our accountant saying that we did have an income and it was enough to raise a family on.
• -- A complete personal financial statement.
• -- Details of our complete physical exams, including a statement from our doctor that we were expected to live for the next 20 years so that we can raise this child. We were relieved to find out that we are expected to live at least that long!
• -- Photographs of our family and home.
• -- Copies of our passports, so that China knows we can come there to pick up our daughter when the time arrives.

February:

• -- February 12, we recieved our Child Abuse Clearance back from the state. This was the last remaining piece of information that our social worker needed to complete our home study.
• -- Februay 14, our home study was sent to Immigration to complete the documetnts that they needed to process our 600A and issue a I-171H.
• -- February 19, we recieved an invitation from the US government to get fingerprinted in downtown St. Louis at the federal building. This was the last step before our I-171H would arrive.
• -- February 22, we were fingerprinted.

March:

• -- March 9, we traveled to Springfield, IL to get all of our completed documents certified by the Secretary of State to say that the documents were certified correctly or that the documents that were notarized had valid notarizations. Afterward, we visited with Uncle Bob & Aunt Jean at their house.
• -- March 12, the mail carrier delivered the last document we needed to our door. The I-171H had arrived! Our trip to Springfield had been just in the nick of time. We were told to expect this document 6 to 8 weeks after fingerprinting, not 2 weeks and 2 days!
• -- March 13, Lori boarded the Amtrack headed for Chicago. She worked all the way up editing recipes, then stepped off the train, hailed a cab and went straight to the will call window at the United Center. She landed in her seat exactly at halftime and watched the second half of the Big 10 Basketball Championship Game. Illinois won, of course, and went on to place #2 nationally after a heartbreaking loss in the final game of the national championship in St. Louis. Afterward, Lori visited with friends from college and stayed with Lisa Kallal in Chicago. Katie Leigh was home from Florida, so it was a fun yet unexpected reunion. Monday morning, Lori headed to the Sec'y of State's office in downtown Chicago and had the I171-H form certified. She then took a train up to the Chinese Consulate and left all of the documents with them to become Authenticated by China for the low, low price of just $20 per document. Afterward, Lori had lunch with Lisa then wandered Chinatown wondering what it would be like to travel to China to bring home their daughter.
• -- March 19, the documents arrived back in Shiloh fully Authenticated by the Chinese Consulate.
• -- March 21, our official "Dossier" (packet of documents) was sent to our agency's headquarters in Rockford, Illinois.
• -- March 24, we were officially DTC (Documements To China) along with 3 other families also adopting through the same agency.

April:

• April 14, China officially logged-in our documents into the China Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA) . This date is known as our Log-In Date (LID) and would be the key date in determining when we would be matched with our daughter. In April, it was expected that we would recieve our referral, or match with our daughter, in late October. Later we would see that due to unknown reasons, there was a slow down in the matching process. We would expect a referral in December or Janary. While it was difficult to have our wait extended, we knew God had chosen our daughter and the wait was necessary to have our perfect match!