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Chinese
Children Adoption International
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Below is the
chronological events of our adoption process. We are pleased to be working
with CCAI, Chinese Children Adoption International, out of Englewood,
Colorado. For more information about the adoption process for yourself,
please visit them at
www.chinesechildren.org
Our most recent
entries are at the top of the page. Enjoy our story! |
|
1/27/03 ~ |
We
received Kimberly's Social Security card in the mail today. It took longer than
we expected, and not sure why! But now we need to go back and get her
passport. We will keep you posted. |
|
12/31/02 ~ |
Today I
went by myself to the Social Security office to apply for Kimberly's card.
It is so ridiculously easy that I regret not having done it sooner! If you
go to www.ssa.gov you can get the
application form and complete it before you go. They needed the following
documents to make copies of: WI Birth Certificate, Resident Alien Card,
Foreign Adoption Certificate and her State of Wisconsin Report of
Adoption. They advised me it would be 7-10 business days before I would
receive her card in the mail. They also told me that she is currently
considered a "Resident Alien able to work". But once I get her passport, I
need to revise her Social Security paperwork and |
|
12/27/02 ~ |
Oops,
today we went to the Post Office to get her passport, and were told we
needed to get her Social Security number first! So, we got a form to fill
out so dad does not have to be present the next time we go for her
passport. Off to Social Security. |
|
12/4/02 ~ |
Today we
received the 2 original State of Wisconsin Birth Certificates for
Kimberly. Now on to her Social Security number and Passport. Also,
Citizenship paperwork if we would like it. It is not mandatory. |
|
11/19/02 ~ |
Today
we sent out the notarized Report of Adoption form, a copy of Kimmy's
foreign birth certificate and $32.00 to the Department of Vital Statistics
in Madison, WI for her new birth certificate. We actually ordered 2 ($3.00
for an additional copy), so we will have one extra! |
|
11/13/02 ~ |
We received
in the mail the finalized and notarized Report of Adoption from the
Waukesha County Juvenile Court. We also received a copy back of the Order
of Adoption stating that it was filed on 11/11/02 at the Juvenile Court in
Waukesha County. Their confirmation letter gave un instructions on how to
file for her Birth Certificate. We will now prepare to do that. |
|
11/1/02 ~ |
We met with
the Judge Marianne Becker, Waukesha County Court, at 10:15 a.m. on this
day. We were sworn in and asked to give testimony as to how Kimberly
became our child. She was previously Qin Xiao Ning, and we have named her
Kimberly Xiao Ning Poser. We testified that she has seen a Dr. here and
has been in our care ever since she was placed in our arms. We promised to
love her all the days of her life. The Judge officially granted us
adoption of Kimberly Xiao Ning Poser. |
 |
|
10/9/02 ~ |
Pleasantly
surprised, we received our confirmation in the mail today of our court
date. Friday November 1, 2002 at 10:15 a.m. |
|
10/7/02 ~ |
We
finally got the necessary papers notarized and hand delivered them today
to the Waukesha County Juvenile Court. We paid a $10.00 fee, and they send
us written notice of our court date for the re-adoption. They said to
expect the notice in about 3 days, and the appointment on a Friday in
mid-November. |
|
9/20/02 ~ |
The Post
Adoption paperwork came in the mail from our Social Worker. All this
paperwork is what we need to send in to the courts for our re-adoption
process. Once we send in these papers, we will receive our court date from
Waukesha county. |
|
8/15/02 ~ |
We had our
Post-Adoption visit with our Social Worker, Beth Peters, from Special
Children, Inc. She visited our home for about an hour and interviewed us
on Kimmy's developmental progress. She asked us about our adjustments to
parenthood, and could clearly see that Kimmy is doing very well!
She will now complete the
Post-Adoption Report to be sent to CCAI. I need to provide her with 2
photos. One of Kimmy alone, and one with her family. These will go in her
report, and she will send the report from her office.
Once we supply her with
copies of our Chinese documents (Adoption Certificate, Abandonment
Statement and Birth Certificate), she will begin the paperwork for the
re-adoption process. We will then have a court date set in Waukesha
County. The we will apply for a Birth Certificate, Passport and Social
Security Card.
Please realize that
this is not the same for every state, so be sure to check withy our social
worker upon your return. |
|
4/8/02 ~ |
Upon
our return, we sent out a photo to CCAI along with a copy of our documents
that they requested. They needed a copy of the Chinese Birth Certificate,
Chinese Abandonment Statement, Chinese Notarized Certificate of Adoption
and the Adoption Registration with the Family Photo. These are all
documents provided to you in China. |
|
3/7-23/02 ~ |
TRAVELED TO
CHINA!!!!!! Please see our pre & post "Gotcha Day"
Travel Log. |
|
2/28/02 ~ |
Today
we received a packet from DHL Courier from JC Travel. It included our
airline tickets, passports and Chinese Visa stickers on our passports!
YEAH!! We are ready to go!! |
|
2/27/02 ~ |
6:00pm CST
was our conference call with all 10 families that are traveling with us!
This call was moderated by Josh & Lily (Owners of CCAI). This was our
opportunity to ask any questions of CCAI and other members of the
traveling group. Josh expressed his sincere thanks to the entire group for
embarking on the adventure of a lifetime and entrusting CCAI to assist in
our dreams. Amazingly we learned that the children we bring back only
represent 2% of all abandoned children in China!! 98% of these children
never see a true home!!
We discussed some details of
the costs of the entire adoption process, and went over the itinerary in
some detail. Now we gather ourselves and all meet in San Francisco to
travel together!! YEAH! |
|
2/26/02 ~ |
We
received Travel Packet III via email from CCAI. This is an 11 page
document including our In-China
Itinerary, Cost Breakdown, a list of all families traveling,
checklists for paperwork, and confirmation of our Travel Conference Call
on 2/27/02!! Reality has sent in!! |
|
2/25/02 ~ |
We received a
call from CCAI indicating that our travel arrangements had been set! An
email with our itinerary from JC Travel was awaiting us! Our departure was
originally on Friday March 8th from Milwaukee at 7:10am. This flight went
to Denver, to San Francisco, to Tokyo to Beijing all in one day!! We
decided that was a bit much, and revised our travel to fly into San
Francisco the day before to relax and get a good night sleep! JC
Travel was wonderful to make those revisions quickly and get us a hotel at
the San Francisco Airport! Our departure is out of Hong Kong (from
Guangzhou) directly to San Francisco to Denver and home! We now
await our Conference Call for travel arrangements from CCAI on Wednesday
2/27. This will give us all our in-China details and "GOTCHA DAY"!! The
day we actually have our baby in our arms!
Travel is later than we
expected...but we are very happy to have dates and times! Click here for
our entire itinerary: Travel Itinerary |
|
2/22/02 ~ |
Andrea called
again from CCAI's Match Department. We have updated pictures!!! And an
updated medical report (although very brief). She emailed all this
information to us! As of 1/30/02 Kimberly weighed 14lbs., still had no
teeth, could sit up, but not crawl or stand. All the babies in the
orphanage were getting over colds from going to "the festival"? But
otherwise healthy!
This was when we were told
that the babies wore 7-8 layers of clothes because there is no heat in the
orphanage! And XianYang is a cold area of China in the winter! Oh Dear!
Lets go NOW! |
|
2/20/02 ~ |
CCAI
Posted: (We are GROUP #343)
The
Travel Department is contacting groups 344, 345, 348, and 349 this week.
The travel department will be contacting the remaining groups next week.
The remaining groups will get an e-mail from JC Travel the night before
the travel department contacts you. To best serve everyone, please wait
for a call from us due to the large volume of travelers. We appreciate
your patience. |
|
2/18/02 ~ |
Andrea from
the Match Department at CCAI called saying that they had a Representative
from their Agency in China that was going to OUR orphanage the next day!
Did we have any specific questions we wanted them to ask about our baby?
We asked about her current eating and sleeping schedule, her general
health and WHEN CAN WE GO GET HER!! The wait is getting harder and harder.
This is a very special
invitation for this Agency Representative, because China is currently not
allowing anyone into the orphanages for visitation. |
|
2/13/02 ~ |
CCAI
Posted: (We are GROUP #343)
CCAI
has received Travel Notices for groups 343 - 352. We have faxed/emailed
the Consulate for appointments. The Consulate is closed 2/12 - 2/14 and
2/18/02. We anticipate a reply from Guangzhou on 2/19/02. Our goal is to
send you to China as soon as possible, within the 5-7 week time frame. We
will be actively arranging travel for everyone after we receive
appointment confirmations from the Consulate. The Travel Department will
be contacting each group as soon as we have confirmed travel arrangements.
To best serve everyone, please wait for a call from us due to the large
volume of travelers. We appreciate your patience. |
|
2/12/02
~ |
HAPPY
CHINESE NEW YEAR!
The Year
of the Horse |
 |
|
2/10/02 ~ |
We attended
the MA-FCC Chinese New Year Party!! Click pictures for details:
|
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|
2/7/02 ~ |
JC Travel
handles all of our travel arrangements with CCAI. We Expressed mailed our
visa applications, passports and a Adoption Travel Planning Form.
We also sent to CCAI directly
(via standard mail) our Adoption Placement Agreement and Adoption Travel
Release Form (Sent with signature upon arrival). |
|
2/6/02 ~ |
We downloaded
Travel Packet II from CCAI. This is a 39 page document with checklists and
instructions on preparation for travel. |
|
2/4/02 ~ |
We sent out
our box of items to the orphanage. It included a disposable camera with
instructions in Chinese for the caretakers to take pictures of her while
she is in the orphanage/foster care. It also included a toy (baby's first
stacking blocks), an Teddy Bear with a shirt saying "Someone in Mukwonago
WI Loves You", and a picture album of family photos with Chinese
translation of Mommy, Daddy, Big Sister, Big Brother, Grandma etc. |
|
1/30/02 ~ |
Today we received
our FedEx package from CCAI at approximately 10:00am! We knew to be
expecting additional photos, so we were impatient waiting for this!! We
received the additional photos you see on the
China Adventure page. We also received:
 |
The confirmation letter to be signed and FedEx's back to CCAI (Which
we signed within 5 minutes of receiving!). They in turn send it to the
CCAA in Beijing for issuance of our Travel Notice. This takes 2-4 weeks! |
|
Her
full medical report from 11/26/01 indicating she is healthy. |
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Instructions on what to include in a box to send to the orphanage
for her. This includes a disposable camera with translated instructions
for them to take photos of Kimberly before we arrive! Other items
include toys and family photos. |
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Information on the Shaanxi Province where her orphanage is located.
(Although CCAI advised us they are not sure if she has been placed in a
Foster Home or not. We will know 2 weeks prior to travel) |
|
|
1/29/02 ~ |
OUR REFERRAL
ARRIVED at 12:15pm today!! A picture of our beautiful daughter Xiao Ning
Qin born 5/4/01. We are soooooooooooooooooo blessed! More to follow! |
|
01/25/02 ~ |
We finally have a
daughter!! They know who she is, but we do not! We should receive a
phone call by January 30th. Yeah!
CCAI Posted:
CCAI is delighted to announce
that dossiers that arrived at the CCAA between 12/14/00 and 01/15/01 have
been completed, approved, and mailed!! We expect them to arrive at CCAI in
the next 3-5 days. |
|
1/11/02 ~ |
Today we
received word that we are in the "Delivery Room" once again! That is
certainly the way it feels! CCAI posted:
CCAI is
delighted to announce that dossiers that arrived at the CCAA between
12/14/00 and 01/15/01 have been moved to the Match Room. Typically, we do
not expect to receive matches for 2-4 weeks. |
|
12/21/01 ~ |
56 families
received referrals today! We continue to wait now for the next batch of
dossiers to go to the Matching Room. We SHOULD be included! |
|
12/19/01 ~ |
Sue spoke to
Andrea at CCAI today to get further clarification on the email received.
As it turns out, there were 7 families effected, all with the 12/14/00 DTC
date. So we were not alone. But it was still hard to grasp. As we
understand it, our dossier paperwork was lost (but recovered) at the post
office in China last year! CCAI was only just informed of this from
the CCAA. Andrea said she pleaded with them to include these 7 families,
but to no avail. So...what this means to us....we wait now for the next
group in January :-(
So, there is a reason for
everything. Kimberly is not ready for us just yet! We have asked God to
grant us more patience. |
|
12/17/01 ~ |
We were
informed on this day of a set-back in the information as we understood it.
Here is the email that was received from CCAI:
Dear CCAI Waiting Families
with a DTC of December 14, 2000 ~
Our staff in Beijing has just
informed us that only a portion of the families currently in the match
room will be receiving matches at this time. According to information from
the CCAA, we do not anticipate your referral to arrive with this group. We
are very saddened by this news being as how all of us have been eagerly
waiting for your child’s pictures to arrive for this holiday season. We
are communicating this news to you by e-mail because we know you are
waiting by the phone for the news of your child. CCAI is continuing to
monitor the process for your referral and will inform you as soon as we
know more. Thank you for understanding.
Sincerely, Chinese Children
Child Match Department |
|
12/6/01 ~ |
Our paperwork
has reached the Matching Room at the CCAA (Chinese Center for
Adoption Affairs) in China!! YEAH! What does this mean? Now, after waiting
a year since it arrived at this location on 12/14/00, someone is finally
looking at it! This is the time when they take all your documents and
match you to a child at an orphanage. CCAI has advised us that we should
be receiving a call from them within 2-4 weeks. What a wonderful holiday
gift, just to know that we are so close! |
|
10/17/01 ~ |
We joined the
CCAIdec2000dtc list service which is specifically for families of a December
2000 DTC with CCAI! This narrows down our group to all families that are in
the same boat as we are!! What a great place to make friends that we may
very well be traveling with. We have already met families in Georgia,
Indiana and Pennsylvania that we may travel with next year.
The waiting is becoming more
bearable as reality sets in! |
|
10/15/01 ~ |
We received our
Pre-Placement Packet on-line from CCAI. This was a 17 page document that
CCAI now sends to better prepare families for the "Matching Process" as we
draw closer to our referral date. It included the following documents:
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Parent(s) Contact
Information Sheet ~ This is a form to be completed and return to
CCAI so they can contact you the quickest and most efficient way when the
day of referral arrives! |
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How Referral and
Acceptance Happens ~ This explains what the process is once your
Dossier arrives at the CCAA to the time you accept your child. |
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What is Happening
With Your Dossier ~ This explains where your paper flows after
received by the CCAA. Dept 1 is the screening and review process of your
dossier. Dept. 2 is the "Matching Room" where the dossiers are moved in a
"first-in, first-out" order. CCAA evaluates your paperwork and makes a
referral using the child information provided by the orphanage. Dept. 3 is
when you acceptance sheet has been signed and return to CCAI, and then
sent via international express mail back to the CCAA. And then we await
travel notices. |
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When the Referral
arrives at CCAI
~ All of CCAI's staff
concentrates on contacting the families by telephone. Their staff does not
go home until all matched families have been contacted or arrangements
have been made for families to contact CCAI staff at their homes that
evening! The "CALL" will advise us of the child's Chinese name, birth
date, orphanage name/province and general health information (height,
weight, Hepatitis B results and any other available information) |
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Baby Name ~
CCAI requests that you e-mail them the name you have chosen for your
child. This allows provincial government to add the American name to your
child's passport. |
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Reminders ~
They also give additional reminders of passport pictures, travel
companions, immunizations and more... |
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10/14/01 ~ |
We joined
ccaimaillist on Yahoogroups.com. This is a list service of all families that
have, or are in the process of adopting from CCAI. It is especially helpful
because you get to ask advise of families that have already traveled. We are
finding out very quickly what a great "Family" CCAI has! |
|
7/10/01 ~ |
We completed
and sent in to CCAI an
addendum to our Adoption Petition requesting a younger child. We decided to
change from a 1-2 year old child, to a 12-24 month old child. Our decision
was based on the need we felt to spend as much of the influential and
developing years as we can with this little girl. We are very happy and
excited about our change, and CCAI and Special Children made it very easy
for us. |
|
6/8/01 ~ |
We received our
first Travel Video in the mail from CCAI. It is a bit overwhelming for all
that they tell you to bring, yet they sat PACK LIGHT!! Although the video is
very helpful, we find it best to talk to people who have experienced the
journey already. We recommend joining MAFCC before you travel. See the link
we have from the main menu. |
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4/13/01 ~ |
Our "China Adoption
Travel Packet I" arrived via e-mail today! This is a 19 page document
that gives us some general preparation information. Remember, we are about
6-7 months from expecting our referral.
They give us advise on:
Choosing a Travel Companion.
They recommend us asking a family member or friend to travel as a
companion to assist us in the process. We have opted to go by ourselves,
because we can not imagine anyone who would have 2 weeks to travel with
us! It is a great thought, but not very realistic. We do not know of
anyone else that traveled with anyone but their spouse.
Preparing Yourself Physically.
Walk, Walk, Walk! They have advised us to build our stamina now! Because
international travel involves hauling heavy luggage, standing in lines for
extended periods of time, taking stairs rather than elevators in some
areas, and getting on and off buses several times a day. Here are some of
the practical suggestions they offer:
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Walk more. Park your car in the
furthest spot from the office building or store and use the
opportunity to build those leg muscles. |
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Take consistent walks around
your neighborhood each day. As time goes on, increase distance so that
by the time you go to China a walk of a couple of miles is a normal
activity for you. |
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Practice going up and down
stairs whenever possible. |
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Practice stooping and bending. |
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Load a backpack with 15-20 lb.
of rice. Take your walks with the backpack on. |
It is also recommended that we meet
with our personal physician, travel/immunization clinic, and/or the Center
for Disease Control for specific recommendations of immunizations. China
does not have any specific requirements for immunizations to enter the
country. The do say to:
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Make sure that all our childhood
immunizations are up-to-date. Measles, mumps and rubella, as well as tetanus
and diphtheria shots should
be current. |
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A flu shot may help prevent
illness on the trip. |
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Hepatitis A immunization is
received by a majority of those traveling to China. |
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Hepatitis B immunization remains
a controversial subject. If you do chose to receive the entire series
(three injections over a six-month period), it will provide a lifetime
of immunity. Consult your physician. |
Preparing Yourself
Financially. With our dossier in China, there are no funds necessary
until after we receive our referral. Once the referral arrives, we pay the
following:
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At this time, we pay for our
domestic & international flights to the CCAI Travel Agency.
Airfare is seasonal but an average fare is approximately $1,000 per
adult. (side note: we have heard many people tell us to upgrade
to business class because the coach fares are very uncomfortable for
such a long flight! (15+ hours). We have not decided what to do yet.)
We can pay for this with a credit card. |
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Approximately 10-days before
travel, we need to send a personal check to CCAI for the in-China
hotels and transportation. |
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When in China, we will need to
bring American dollars to pay for the adoption registration, and
notarization fees. In addition to government fees, orphanage
donations, food and sightseeing/shopping. We are told the exchange
rate between the U.S. dollar and the Chinese Renminbi (RMB) is 8:1. |
Suggested General Packing
List. They list numerous items. But some of interesting note are:
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Business cards: The Chinese like
to exchange business cards. |
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Calculator: to figure out the
currency exchange. |
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Paper Goods: small Kleenex pack
and pre-moistened towels. Bathrooms outside of your hotel usually will
not have tissue or towels. |
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Small scissors. |
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Stationary items (small amounts
of each): paper clips, small stapler, blue and black pens for forms
and faxes, rubber bands, scotch tape, file folders and envelopes to
store money. |
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Camera and 10 rolls of film! |
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Much more....But pack light!
Yeah, right. |
Gift Giving in China.
Ten to twelve gifts are needed. Four to five will be for the registration
and notarization officials and the orphanage director. The remainder will
be for our child's caretakers/nannies and CCAI local representatives. They
suggest practical or collectable items between $10-$15. Monetary gifts are
good for the nannies/caretakers and CCAI representatives, but not for the
Chinese officials. Gifts are given after services have been provided.
Reading, Reading, Reading.
There are many books and reading resources recommended while we wait. We
have subscribed to The Red Thread (a quarterly magazine connecting
the families of Chinese children) and to Adoptive Families. We have
not received our first issue of either, but hope for good reading while we
wait! |
|
2/16/01
~ |
We
received our 2nd Orientation Information Packet from CCAI. This
included a video about adoption and the bonding process, along with
reading literature about the Chinese culture, choosing a Chinese name, and
learning some basic phrases in Chinese! We have a lot to learn!! |
1/24/01 ~
|
12/14/00 ~ |
Our Dossier was logged
in at the Chinese Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA). This is what they
call the DTC date. (Dossier to China). Now we wait 9 months for our referral.
We are truly in an “emotional pregnancy”!
What is a referral?
A referral, also called an offering
by some agencies, is the response of the Chinese government to your
request to adopt a child. They send you information about a specific child
and you decide if the child is acceptable. The information consists of two
items, a small photo, usually about 1 inch by 2 inches that is usually
color but may be black and white, and a medical report. The quantity of
the information in the medical report is quite varied. They can be as
little as 1/2 page with items like "Nutrition: normal", or they
may be 4 pages long with a full battery of laboratory test results. It
will always include the name of the child, which was assigned by the
orphanage, and their best estimate of the date of birth. The medical
report can be anywhere from 2-8 months old, as can the photograph. The
medical report will be in Mandarin and it is usually the responsibility of
the adoption agency to provide a full translation. After getting all of
the information, the prospective parents have a limited amount of time,
usually a week, to decide whether to accept that specific child into their
family. It is quite normal to have doubts, fears and excitement all at the
same time. In the vast majority of cases, the referral is accepted and a
notice of acceptance is sent to CCAA. |
|
12/7/00 ~ |
Our dossier was
completed and sent to China by CCAI. |
|
11/7/00 ~ |
We received our final
copy of the home study from Beth Peters! After preparing and collecting
all the other documents needed for our dossier (as you can see by
the gap above, it took about two month to get all this done), we were now
ready to mail it all in to CCAI for preparation and translation to China!
That was sent overnight to get it there as soon as possible!
What is a dossier?
The dossier is the collection of
documents that your adoption agency sends to China. It describes the
person or couple that would like to adopt, and demonstrates that they are
capable of being adequate parents
What documents go into a
dossier?
The contents of a dossier will vary
depending on your specific circumstances. However the bare minimum will
include: (1) Your home study, (2) Your petition to the Chinese government
to be allowed to adopt a child, (3) a financial statement showing your
income, assets and liabilities, (4) a document showing that you are not a
wanted criminal, (5) birth, marriage (if applicable) and divorce (if
applicable) certificates, (6) the I-171H document from the U.S. I.N.S.
stating that they have processed your I-600A application. (7) a letter
from your employer certifying that you hold a job, and (8) health
certificates (a form filled out by your doctor after a basic physical
exam).
Your adoption agency will probably
require a number of other documents and forms to fulfill state and local
(city and/or county) legal requirements as well. These can be even more
extensive than the documents that go to China in extreme cases. |
|
8/29/00 ~
|
This
was our second meeting with Beth Peters from Special Children. She met
once again with both of us, and then met briefly with Erika for a brief
interview as well. |
|
8/25/00 ~
|
We went to the Federal
Courthouse in Milwaukee to have our fingerprints done for the INS. This
was all done electronically on the computer. This data gets automatically
sent to the FBI Headquarters for approval that we have no previous
criminal record. |
|
8/16/00 ~ |
We had our first Home
Study meeting with Beth Peters of Special Children of WI. She came to our
house and met with us for about 2 hours. |
|
7/28/00 ~ |
We selected Chinese
Children Adoption International (CCAI) in Englewood, Colorado as
the Agency to pursue our international adoption, and we sent our
application in to them.
www.chinesechildren.org
CCAI will be handling our adoption needs from this point on until we
return home with our child. |
|
7/14/00 ~
|
We sent in our I-600A
(Application for Advance Processing of Orphan Petition) to the Immigration
and Naturalization Services (INS).
|
|
6/28/00
~ |
This was our first
meeting with Special Children of WI. We discussed the options available in
different countries for child needs, cost, travel time and all the
additional decision making factors. We selected China because of their
stable and predictable program for adoptions. At first we were taken aback
by the fact that China selects a child for you. We do not get to chose a
child from any pictures or other sources. However, with their
"matching process", each child is carefully selected and chosen
for a family. 97% of the children are abandoned girls due to their
"one child" law, and the majority of families want the boys to
carry on the family name and take care of the elderly parents. We also
selected China because we wanted a country that we could go back to and
visit with our children some day to carry on the heritage of her birth.
Below are pictures off the internet
of "individual older (walking) orphans from Jiangxi Provincial
Orphanage. 7 Sept 1995". |
|
6/15/00
~ |
We received
the packet of information from Special Children of WI. This is the local
agency that we selected to complete our home study. This was a
referral from Babs & Paul (Sue’s sister), as they used this same
agency for their adoption of John Bogdan from Romania in 1999.
What is a home study?
A home study is a document prepared
by a licensed social worker that describes the prospective family. A
typical home study will involve three visits with the social worker, one
at home and two at the social workers office. The family will also need to
arrange letters of recommendation from people who know the prospective
parent(s) well, these letters are sent directly to the social worker. The
final document, which usually runs to six pages or so, can be thought of
as a short biography of the parents and an evaluation of whether they will
be acceptable parents. The agencies are not looking for perfect parents
(to-be), they are looking for people that will provide these children with
a loving and stable families to grow up as normal kids. |
|
5/29/00
~ |
The
adventure began on our 6th wedding anniversary. We were
having lunch at a quaint restaurant in Cedarburg, WI when I approached
Kirk with the serious subject of a need I felt I had to fulfill –
MOTHERHOOD. We had tried unsuccessfully for our own child, and were
advised from the Dr. two years ago that it would not happen for us. The
smile broadened on both our faces, as we knew that adoption could be
(and would be) a reality for us. After much discussion, we decided we
were both scared and excited at the same time, but ready to move
forward. |
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