Our Homestudy is Complete!
Hello everyone!
Well, it has been done for a week or so now, but I haven't had a chance to post an update yet. We got our homestudy back in less than two weeks from our initial meeting, which is about as fast as we could have gotten it back. Our social worker was excellent, and she understood our desire to get everything done ASAP.
We sent a copy off to the CIS (Citizenship and Immigration Services), and the lady who handles International Adoptions there indicated that we should have our FBI fingerprinting appointment in about two weeks, and then our final "permission slip" (Government form I-171H) should be here about the middle of May. We are also waiting for Alisha's new birth certificate, and once we get that, hopefully early next week, that and the I-171H goes to Great Wall China Adoption, they mail it around to get authenticated, and then everything goes to the Chinese Consulate in Chicago.
We should have our completed Dossier ready to go to China, and according to our Great Wall contact, it is taking about 11 months from the time the Dossier goes to China to the referral. Then it would be 6-8 weeks before we travel. Both Alisha's mom and my mom are planning on traveling with us, so all four of us get to go through a bunch of immunization shots in over the next six months.
Right now we are just waiting and praying for the health and saftey of our girls, and we would appreciate any prayers from our friends and family as well.
Also, there is a place to comment on the blog if you want to. We enjoy hearing from everyone.
Love,
Gary and Alisha
Well, it has been done for a week or so now, but I haven't had a chance to post an update yet. We got our homestudy back in less than two weeks from our initial meeting, which is about as fast as we could have gotten it back. Our social worker was excellent, and she understood our desire to get everything done ASAP.
We sent a copy off to the CIS (Citizenship and Immigration Services), and the lady who handles International Adoptions there indicated that we should have our FBI fingerprinting appointment in about two weeks, and then our final "permission slip" (Government form I-171H) should be here about the middle of May. We are also waiting for Alisha's new birth certificate, and once we get that, hopefully early next week, that and the I-171H goes to Great Wall China Adoption, they mail it around to get authenticated, and then everything goes to the Chinese Consulate in Chicago.
We should have our completed Dossier ready to go to China, and according to our Great Wall contact, it is taking about 11 months from the time the Dossier goes to China to the referral. Then it would be 6-8 weeks before we travel. Both Alisha's mom and my mom are planning on traveling with us, so all four of us get to go through a bunch of immunization shots in over the next six months.
Right now we are just waiting and praying for the health and saftey of our girls, and we would appreciate any prayers from our friends and family as well.
Also, there is a place to comment on the blog if you want to. We enjoy hearing from everyone.
Love,
Gary and Alisha