DSS and Immigration!

We are finally officially finished with our home study!  It feels so good to say that!  We had some email issues with our social worker and adoption agency, along with people taking vacation, so all of that held us up a few weeks.  We also had to modify a few things on our home study which required some back and forth with our social worker, but it is now finally finished.  David was the one who stepped up and took this bull by its horns to get it finished.  He wanted it sent off to DSS prior to Christmas so it would be there when they returned.  So, we can say our home study is officially on its way to our local adoption agency to be signed off, and then it’ll be sent off (hopefully) in the next day or two to SC DSS.

The next step, which goes somewhat simultaneously with the home study, is completing our first immigration form, the I800 A.  This notifies immigration that we are planning to adopt overseas, and that the adoption will be finalized overseas at the US consulate in the country in which we are adopting.  We’ll eventually have to complete more forms with immigration later on once we’ve been matched.  This is our first step, though.   Anyway, I mailed off our I800 A to our adoption agency today, with another large check.  Our adoption agency will forward this form to immigration in about a week and a half.  SC DSS will be completing their review of our home study at that time, and will then send our home study to immigration.  Both forms will then unite at immigration, and they will start reviewing everything.  That will take a couple of months.  Once we receive approval from immigration, then we will proceed with getting our biometric fingerprinting.

While we are waiting on our immigration approval, though, we will finish compiling all of the required things for our dossier.  Luckily most of the things we need for our dossier were collected during the home study process, so it won’t be as intense.  I’ll do a blog entry on that in January once I get the handbook on what all is involved with the dossier.

Things are moving along, thankfully.  I’m glad this first hurdle is completed-just in time for Christmas.  We’ll now get some “down” time—yes, we’ll still be compiling things, but it won’t be nearly as much.  So, with that said, I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas, and a great New Year.  We are very excited to see what God has in store for our family in 2013.  And as we celebrate this wonderful time of year, please continue to pray for the families and community in CT as they try to piece back their lives together.  Continue to pray for them in the months to come as they will face many, many tough days ahead.  May He rain down showers of blessings to everyone in 2013.