Our I-171H Arrived Tonight....

Tonight we received our I-171H form that we applied for on 8/10/08. What does this mean? This means that we have been given clearance from US Homeland Security to adopt a child (male), 0-18 months from Russia. As a result our application (dossier) has been forwarded to the Russian Ministry of Education (MOE) in Moscow where it will be translated. This is the final step in submitting our paperwork. So it is now OFFICIAL!!! We have been waiting for this letter for 4 months now!!!

Adoption Update

A few of you have asked for an update regarding the adoption process. I apologize for not posting anything, however, there really is no update at this time. We are officially on the referral list and are now just waiting for that "phone call".

We did have a small setback in that our Adoption Coordinator, Chelsea (who we love) is leaving Frank Adoption. Due to the economic factors in the US, fewer families are willing to take on the expense of International Adoption at this time. Because of this, Frank Adoption has had to make a reduction in their staff. Chelsea was the newest social worker to join Frank and is now working part time on a contract basis. We have been assigned a new Coordinator, Anne who has been with Frank for 13 years and has adopted 2 children of her own from Russia. We plan to meet with her in the upcoming weeks.

We will post an update when we have one...Happy Holiday's.
Love - The Scott's

Referral Bound....

Sept 15....we have officially submitted our Phase One of our Dossier to Russia today. This took about 3-4 weeks securing various documentation, notarizations, birth certificates, marriage certificates, family photos and 20 hour of online education for both Dave and I.

What does this mean? We will now be placed on the referral list for a child from Russia. In the meantime, we still have more documentation to secure for our Phase Two portion of the application and are still awaiting our travel authorizations from Homeland Security. This can take 4-5 months as they take their sweet old time!!

After submittal, Dave and I celebrated with a dinner from Harrison's (this was a favorite restaurant of ours and many at Elon). Dave, ironically has a meeting in Greensboro today and picked up take out on his way home!

MVP Sports...

A requirement to Phase One of our Dossier application to Russia is 12 photos. These 12 photos should be of our family, our home (inside and out) and an age appropriate nursery. With that said, we bought the bedding for the nursery yesterday - "My Little MVP" is the name of the bedding. Dave is excited to finally be able to decorate a children's room in a color other than pink :)

Fortune Cookie...

I was at a client lunch meeting today with Cisco at the "Red Dragon". The lunch meeting went smooth and was very successful. At the end the fortune cookies arrived. I am not typically one for believing in these, afterall, most companies have a catalog of 10,000 fortunes with a quarter of them in rotation at any given time, however, this one caught my eye and I knew that I had to save it for our son to be son's "Life Book" outlining our journey to him. Here is what the fortune cookie said "Good news will come to you from far away".....Very appropriate.

I also came home to find our Dossier's Kits on the doorsteps. These binders of paperwork and information are very overwhelming, so they will sit on the coffee table for a day or two until we are ready to dive into the next step in this process :)
Jennifer

We Chose a Boy....

As many of you know, Dave and I were undecided over the sex of the baby that we wanted. Well did finally decide and indicate our preference on our homestudy...a boy (12 months or younger). Our homestudy went really well. We spent three hours with our social worker, who was extremely nice, helpful and knowledgeable about this whole process. She spent time with Julia, toured our home, got to know Julia, Dave and I and helped us with our child preferences. All in all it was a good first visit....3 more home studies to go.

And One More Makes Four.....

Julia's 1st Christmas, Jen bought "4" matching stockings from Pottery Barn that could be embroidered with each family members name. She loved them so much and knew that PB typically does not carry the same items from year to year, so she decided to buy one extra. For 6 years, she has unpacked the holiday items, passed over the lone stocking with "no embroidered name on it" and wondered if it would ever be claimed. Well....it soon will be claimed. We have decided to adopt a baby from Russia. We have always felt that we were meant to be atleast a family of four. After many years of trying to conceive a second child, a miscarriage, multiple visits and procedures with a fertility specialist and a round of invitro, we have decided to adopt.

Why did we chose to adopt from Russia?
Russia has very well-established adoption programs, shorter time frame and more availability of children. Adopting internationally will also provide us with the opportunity to see a new country and learn about a new culture. What a great way to teach a first grader about another country! Raleigh is also home to one of the first four US agencies recognized by the Russian government to legally assist children and families unite through adoption - The Frank Adoption Center. We have been spending weeks, filling out paperwork, collecting documentation and submitting applications. We would like to use this blog to share our journey with friends and family. This process is long and complicated but we are dedicated to expanding our family.

Our Application for Adoption was submitted today

Well it is official! We took the first steps and have formally submitted our 30+ page application today :)

• We received our background checks back and are all clear :)
  
• We have also submitted our I-600A application to Homeland Security. This form is used to officially request permission from the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) to classify a child in a foreign country, who fits the definition of an "orphan," as an immediate relative of its intended adoptive parents, so that there can be an expedited processing and issuance of a visa to that child, allowing it to be brought into the United States, either after having been adopted abroad, or in order for it to be adopted in the United States.

Next step:

In 2 weeks we will be assigned a social worker, who will provide a homestudy in our home....more to come