Chris and Lori's Great Adoption Adventure. This is our story of international adoption.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
We visited dearAunt Alice in Visalia after Christmas. This morning we exit our hotel and Adugna takes a deep breath of Visalia in the morning and says, "Smells like dirty diapers."
Setember 17, 2008 Applied to Vista del Mar Child and Family Services for a home study for International Adoption.
October 19, 2008 Sent application to Adoption Advocates for the Ethiopia Adoption Program.
November 2, 2008 Sent follow up application to Vista del Mar
November 8, 2008 Attended first class session of "Journey Abroad"; a class in transnational adoptions.
November 12, 2008 Sent follow up application to Adoption Advocates.
Vista Del Mar assigned social worker to our case.
November 14, 2008 First meeting with social worker. Couple interview for home study.
November 15, 2008 Attended second class session of "Journey Abroad"; a class in intercountry adoptions.
November 17, 2008 Chris' interview with social worker for home study.
November 24, 2008 Lori's interview with social worker for home study.
December 2, 2008 Received dossier packet and instructions from AAI.
December 4, 2008 Home study walk-through and safety assessment.
January 16, 2009 Home Study is finalized and complete.
January 17, 2009 Finished and passed the on-line class "Because they Waited"
February 8, 2009 Dossier Package sent to Adoption Advocates! Yippee!
February 21, 2009
I600A Approved and received I-171H Approval Form
Confirmation sent to Embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
March 11, 2009 Legal dossier arrives in Ethiopia and officially join the Wait List. At this point, 4 months for baby male referrals, 7-8 months for baby female referrals.
July 15, 2009 Rumors are that the courts may not close in August and September. Summer months are slow for child referrals. Resetting our sights to September for referral.
Waiting . . . . .
January 5, 2010 We receive our referral of Adugna of Sheshemene.
January 7, 2010 We have a medical consult with a pediatrician who specializes in international orphan adoptions. His assessment is all positive.
Hope begins to enter our lives.
January 10, 2010
10:37pm
We receive a second opinion from another pediatrician who specializes in international orphan adoptions. Her assessment confirms that all is positive.
Lori and Chris are parents-to-be. We decide to wait the night and announce to our families in the morning. No sleep tonight.
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January 11, 2010
We formally accept Adugna as our child-to-be.
February 16, 2010
We are notified that our court date is February 25, 2010.
February 22, 2010 We are notified that our court date has been suspended due to the Ministry of Women Affairs has stopped processing cases to make field studies of the local orphanages. No new date is set.
February 25, 2010
Turns out our case had been submitted and the courts passed us on the first go-round. This is out of the blue and we are overjoyed. We have a small party at the house as friends and family stop by to say congratulations.
March 18, 2010 Adugna's birth certificate is created and his immigration paperwork is secured through the immigration office in Addis Ababa.
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