July 24, 2007
I have never been gifted at multi-tasking, but alas, this adoption journey is going to give me skills that would make Napoleon Dynamite gasp. Let me dig up a US Government certified definition of what the I600A is :
The I-600A is the first form you will fill out with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). This form is completed before a foreign orphan is located or has been identified for an adoption by you. Do NOT confuse this form with the I-600 form which is the Petition to Classify a Foreign Orphan as Immediate Relative.
This form used to take about 2-3 months to get approved and in some regions it still does. My state, of course, is taking about 5-6 months to approve. I was encouraged by my wonderful adoption agency that we are 99% sure we are going with to go ahead and move on this because it takes so long and the fees were going to increase as of July 30, 2007. This is the beginning of the big paper chase. Luckily, because mommy is so neurotic, I have all the paper to be chased in my handy filing cabinet! HAHHAHAHA! You can’t mess with me Homeland Security! Getting the form logged in was the critical piece of the paper chase. Final approval won’t happen until we have completed and been approved in the Home Study process, but the home study process can move along fairly quickly if all the other players in this masterpiece do their part. More to follow on that in a later entry. I had to include in this document birth certificates, marriage certificate, a release to the adoption agency we have chosen and a certification from mommy and daddy that all the copies I sent were unaltered. YEAH! Mission accomplished. Mommy has made copies of the Fed Ex airbill and the email confirmation that the USCIS received said documents (notice the legalese . . . . I’ve been at the law firm too long!). OH! Almost forgot! All of this had to be accompanied by a check:
Application fee: $545.00
2 sets of biometrics: $140.00 (that is FBI speak for fingerprints for those who are not felons. Who knew?)
I got confirmation via email that the Gov. received my documents on July 25, 2007. Groovy! Let’s hope they don’t lose them now! I have been told I will received a letter later on with a Log In Date (LID for future reference) and that will be my magical date that gets me in that long line of other parenting hopefuls.
Why am I scared? We would make great parents. We should have no problem being approved because we are the real deal. Our lives are open books and we have nothing to hide, but the anticipation of having the government be the approving body on if we are fit parenting material jars my nerves. I am told by others that have been through this that my fears are quite normal. Honestly, I’d be much less afraid of a tax audit! Probably because aside from being married to my husband, nothing has meant more to me in my life so far. Let’s hope Uncle Sam agrees with us and those that love us that we would make an outstanding Mommy/Daddy pair.
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