The Adoption Process

To those that have not experienced it, the international adoption process can be a bit mind boggling. (As someone experiencing it first hand for the first time, it is completely mind boggling). With that said, there ARE some basic steps to the process that everyone must complete in order to bring their kids home. Here is a brief overview with estimated time frames and key words included so you understand what we are talking about as we provide updates. This process is specifically geared toward Ethiopia and may vary for other countries.

• Application to an Adoption Agency, 2 weeks (Completed): At this point you do quite a bit of research to determine which agency seems to be the best fit for your family. Some families pick an agency first and then pick a country from those that their agency offers programs in. Brent and I chose Ethiopia first and then chose Adoption Advocates International based on the amount of experience they had in facilitating Ethiopian adoptions and their seemingly ethical approach (among other things).
• Home Study, 4-8 weeks (in process): The home study is where you work with a social worker to gain your State's approval to adopt. Your home study is basically an assessment that considers your family, home, parenting experience and/or plans, and children desired to ensure that you are a good candidate for adoption. We are in the midst of this process right now. It is a bit intimidating, as it feels as if someone that you don't know is judging to see whether or not you are fit to be parents (something that definitely doesn't happen if you build your family through natural childbirth). It is also a time to work with a professional social worker with experience in facilitating adoptions, so it is a great opportunity to ask questions and really begin to formulate your parenting plans.
• Immigration Approval, ongoing throughout adoption process (in process): At this stage, you are applying to the Federal Government (US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)) for permission to adopt and bring home a foreign born child. Once your home study is complete, it is sent to USCIS, along with some forms. You are then invited to be fingerprinted. This process is considered complete once you receive your I-171H Approval Letter; however, it comes up again when you apply for your child's visa and also when you readopt them back in the US.
• Dossier, 4-10 weeks (in process): The dossier is a collection of documents required for the Ethiopian Court to process your adoption. Everything has to be notarized and authenticated by both the State Department and the Ethiopian Embassy, which means it is SUPER fun to prepare.
• Wait List, varies, maybe 6-12 months: Once your authenticated dossier has been sent to Ethiopia you are added to the wait list. Basically, families are referred children on a "first come, first served" basis. We would basically be competing (if you want to look at it that way - not really my take - but a good word for explanatory purposes) against other families that are hoping to add similar kids to their families. Wait list times can vary greatly, with gender of the child, age, number of siblings, and health status being the primary factors. I think this will probably be the hardest part, because all of the work (paperwork) will be done, and we will truly just be waiting to find out who our kids are. Since we are open to either gender and a fairly wide age range, we really won't even be able to prep for the kids' homecoming until after we receive our referral. We can, however, read up on attaching and other important parenting considerations for adopted children.
• Referral & Acceptance, quick once you get the referral: This is where you learn about your kids for the first time. You will likely see a couple of photos, get a very basic health report, and maybe a short video. You have a pretty short time line to decide whether or not to accept a referral. Warning: we will not be able to post pictures of our kids on the blog at this time, as the Ethiopian Government does not allow it until they are offically ours, which happens in the next stage: court. We can email them to you though! Once we officially accept our referral we can start communicating with our kids through pictures, letters, and a "welcome bag."
• Court, average 4-10 weeks after referral: This part of the process was just changed. We will now fly to Ethiopia to appear in court. From what I understand, the court process will have 2 parts. First, the child will have to be legally deemed an orphan. At this time, any surving family members are asked to come to court and reliquish the children. Ethiopia must do due diligence to make sure the child is truly an orphan before allowing us to adopt him/her. For obvious reasons, this can take a little while, and some families have several court dates before this part of the process is completed. In the second part of court, we fly to Ethiopia to meet the kids and become their legal guardians. We do not get to bring the kids home during this trip. We were originally bummed about the new 2 trip requirement since it will add significant cost to the adoption process; however, this will give us the opportunity to learn more about Ethiopia without having to be too stressed about being first time parents yet. At this point we will not be able to take our kids from the orphanage, instead we will only be able to visit for a few hours each day, giving us time to sight see and take in our kids' native country.
• Visa Approval & Travel Home, 3-6 weeks after court: This is when we get to travel to bring our kids home! I think we will have to stay in Ethiopia for a couple of days while we wait for their visa to be approved, giving us an opportunity to learn more about the country (of course Brent and I are excited about this!). At this time, we will have custody of the kids, so we will also probably be freaking out about being parents (at least a little bit).

As you can see, it is a long and complicated process with lots of opportunities for bumps along the road. I will definitely be learning the art of patience. You can also probably imagine that there will be potentially long stretches of time when we won't have much of anything in the way of adoption-related updates to share, but hopefully we can use those times as opportunities to get ready for our kiddos and keep you updated on some of our other pursuits.