ADOPTION EDUCATION 101

Hello everyone! I seem to get the same questions a lot, so I thought I would try to explain the adoption process in as simple of terms as possible.

We are doing what is called an independant adoption. This simply means we are not going thro an adoption agency.

So here is the process:

1. Pick a child (or God picks them for you) God did this one!

2. Pay a donation/deposit to place child on hold God provided this.

3. Homestudy- usually only a one month process, but Todd had to have a job first to
show more income. Completed 8/30/06!!!!!!!

4. Apply of I600a (application to adopt a child from a foreign country) Mailed 8/30/06 waiting for approval.

5. Receive approval for I600a and get fingerprinted. Fingerprinted 10/10; approval 10/23

5. Gather paperwork for dossier(the packet of info you send to Haiti)ALL collected
and ready to go!

6. Send 4 major documents to the Secretary of State of Indiana to have paperwork
apostle's(sp?)-which means he puts a seal on them to verify the notaries are
legal and binding in our state.Sent 8/30/06 awaiting their return. Received today 9/11/06.

7. Get paperwork translated into French. Half done. Completed 10/7

8. Mail same 4 documents to the Haitian consulate in Chicago to have a seal put on
them to make them legal and binding in Haiti.Mailed 10/7; received back 10/11.

9. Mail paperwork to Haiti. Fed Ex to Gretchen 10/11. She hand delivered on 10/15 on her trip to Haiti!


Process in Haiti:

1. Once the Orphanage staff receives your dossier they begin collecting paperwork on their end. The parents birth certificates and copies of their ID cards and birth certificates of the child if they don't already have one.

2. Once you receive your approval of your I600a which is 171H you must apply for adoption under the orphans first program.

3. Your Orphans first application and the I600 (different from the I600a) application are submitted to the DHS (Department Of Homeland Security) office in Haiti. they verify that all your paperwork is in order and declare your child an orphan. Appointment was suppose to be on November 22, 2006. 11am. But it was on December 14 at 11:30. We had to file papers in person. So Todd went down there to do it. All went well.

4. Once your child is declared an orphan you go to what is called "1st legal" (done with Haitian foriegn affairs.) Here they check your dossier to make sure everything is there and place a stamp of approval on the same documents that the Haiti consolate in Chicago stamped.

5. Then paperwork is submitted to IBESR (Haitian social services). Once your paperwork is in IBESR it needs to be reviewed and signed off on by 4-5 people. The last signature being the head of IBESR.

6. Once all signatures are acquired, you go onto "2nd legal". They once again go thro everything in your file and make sure all the signatures are there from IBESR. Then they give an official adoption decree. This means in Haiti your are that child's legal parent!

7. It all goes back to DHS with the adoption decree. That is when approval is given for the I600 and you can proceed to the next step.

8. Go to US embassy to get visas for your child!

9. Last but not least....You go get them and they come home!!!!!

Now all these steps (Haitian side) if done without major blocks can take just a few weeks,but as we all know that is a good case scenario! Our friends have had their paperwork inHaiti since March of this year and it is just now being submitted to the DHS office. Note, there are a LOT of extenuating circumstances involved there. So please pray along with us that their paperwork would sail thro the Haitian system and they would gain back that lost time!

We are excited, but know there is still a pretty big journey ahead. But we are trusting and believing that the God who made the universe is in controls and Jonas will be home sooner rather than later!

Be sure to check back to this posting to see where we are. I will keep it updated regularly!

Hugs, Kristina