Timeline

This is an overview of the steps we have taken as we’ve gone through the adoption process.

February 1-17, 2007
In China!

January 30, 2007
Had a conference call "travel meeting" with representatives from our agency and those traveling together to China; discussed last minute details.

January 26, 2007
It will happen! We found out that our plane leaves February 1st!

January 25, 2007
Our agency received our Travel Approval from China, exactly three weeks after our referral arrived. This is record turnaround time! This gives our agency permission to make the necessary appointments for us and when made, to arrange flights and hotels. The possibility exists that we could travel before the Chinese New Year, which would have us leaving on February 1st. If this doesn't work out, we will not leave until March 1 (or thereabouts).

January 19, 2007
Had a home visit with our social worker so that she could write an addendum to our home study, as we have moved to a different house across town.

January 16, 2007
Shipped a small package to Eliana's orphanage: candies for the nannies, socks for the babies, disposable camera, photo album (with our pictures) for Eliana.

January 15, 2007
Sent our passports off to receive a Visa stamp on them for entry into China. Also had the Assistant Fire Chief come to our new house to inspect it for safety.

January 12, 2007
Returned a stack of forms to our agency to begin travel preparations.

January 10, 2007
Received our travel package in the mail from our agency (AWAA). There are several forms for us to fill out to begin preparations for our trip to China.

January 4, 2007
Fed Ex delivered our precious girl to us at 10:15 a.m. She is beautiful...more than we could have asked for or imagined! We returned our acceptance letters via Fed Ex this very day back to our agency (AWAA) and the CCAA.

January 3, 2007
Our referral call came at 1:25 p.m.! It's a girl! Cheng Hai Bo ("Ching Hi Bo") and her birth date was May 17, 2006. Travel to China is estimated for early March.

December 20, 2006
Our new I-171H arrived in the mail. It took about 4-5 weeks for this third one to process (after fingerprints were done and the home study update had arrived).

November 30, 2006
The CCAA has spoken: Referrals were matched for those families logged in on September 8, 2005 and before. We missed the cutoff by ONE day! Our referral WILL come in the next batch.

November 16, 2006
Fingerprinted for the THIRD time at the USCIS in Cleveland. This was necessary for renewal of the I-171H.

November 15, 2006
Met with our Social Worker (Therese) for her to be able to update our current home study. When renewing the I-171H, the USCIS requires that the home study report be fewer than six months old.

November 7, 2006
Sent a new I-600A to the Cleveland USCIS to renew our current I-171H. Included all supporting documents as well as the $685 filing fee. Am anxiously awaiting a THIRD fingerprinting appointment at the USCIS.

November 6, 2006
Began the process to renew the I-171H. Had our fingerprints done electronically at the local sheriff's office; this is required for the home study update we will need to complete.

November 2, 2006
The latest batch of referrals is on its way to the states. We have about a 50/50 chance of receiving our referral at the end of November. Barring any unforseen global crisis, it is almost certain that we will have our referral by the end of December.

October 12, 2006
The Received our "On Deck" e-mail from our adoption agency. It stated the following: "While there are many unknowns in the referral process, and this e-mail gives no dates or guarantees, America World anticipates that your family could receive a referral within the next two to three months."

September 25, 2006
The September batch of referrals arrived in the U.S.A. from China. We are still hoping for a November/December 2006 referral.

September 9, 2006
Today is the one year anniversary of our dossier being logged in at the CCAA (China Center of Adoption Affairs). September 9, 2005 is the date that is used as our 'place in line'.

September 8, 2006
Received our amended I-171H in the mail today. It took the USCIS two weeks (after our fingerprints were updated) to get us the new document. Not bad!

August 26, 2006
Today is the one year anniversary of our agency sending our dossier off to China. It was sent with nine other dossiers, families who will all receive their referrals the same time as us (unless any of these people have chosen off the special needs list and traveled already).

August 24, 2006
The August batch of referrals has arrived from China; the slow pace is continuing. A winter referral is looking more likely.

August 24, 2006
Returned to Cleveland, Ohio to be re-fingerprinted at the USCIS office. Our prints are now valid through November 24, 2007.

August 19, 2006
Received notice in the mail today that Nathan and Lisa are to travel to Cleveland on Thursday, August 24th to be re-fingerprinted at the USCIS office. It took five loooong weeks for the USCIS to respond to our request. Our fingerprints expire September 7th, so we will renew just in the nick of time.

July 31, 2006
The July batch of referrals has arrived in the USA. We keep hoping that the pace will speed up, yet it continues to slow down. I imagine the earliest we would receive a referral is the end of November 2006, and then travel 6-8 weeeks after that. If we do not travel before February 10, 2007 - we will have an expensive document to renew. We are hoping to not have to do that.

July 13, 2006
Sent a request to the USCIS (US Citizenship and Immigration Services) office in Cleveland requesting that Nathan and Lisa be re-fingerprinted. Our fingerprints (that correspond to our background checks) expire on September 7, 2006. What the USCIS will do is set up another appointment time for us to drive to Cleveland to be fingerprinted again.

June 22, 2006
The June batch of referrals is on their way from the China Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA). The most optimistic guess for when we might receive our referral is late September 2006, which would mean travel around November.

May 30, 2006
Nathan and I received our final two immunizations (Hepatitis A and B) for overseas travel.

May 23, 2006
This month's batch of referrals has just been sent from China...the current wait time has us receiving ours in September. Stay tuned for next month's predictions!

May 8, 2006
Our agency just informed us that we will most likely have to have our fingerprints taken a second time, in order for our background check to be run again and be up-to-date when we travel to China. This is a rare occurrence and has to be done only when the wait times increase as much as they have the past few months. This will mean another trip to Cleveland, Ohio sometime later in the summer.

April 25, 2006
Our paperwork has made it through the reviewal process at the CCAA (China Center of Adoption Affairs)! This means that we are officially approved to be matched with a child. Now we wait again...hoping for a referral around August or September 2006.

March 28, 2006
Our agency e-mailed to say that wait times continue to increase. The CCAA is moving to a new building, as well as there are more people than expected in line ahead of us. We've been told that we will not receive our referral until August or September of 2006.

March 24, 2006
Our paperwork is soon to be reviewed by the CCAA (China Center of Adoption Affairs). This is when the people in China will look to see if we meet their qualifications and that we've filled out the paperwork correctly. After our paperwork "passes", it will be moved to the Matching Room, where we will be matched with our child! Because there is such a backlog of dossiers, the actual matching will not take place for another three to four months (hopefully no longer than that).

March 10, 2006
Our agency has officially "predicted" a 9 month wait for us to receive our referral. When we applied, the wait was 6 months between paperwork arriving in China and referral, so this is an increase of three months. So we are now hoping for a referral in June!

December 23, 2005
Went to Health Department for second Hepatitis B shot and a Tetanus booster.

November 18, 2005
Went to Health Department to begin our immunizations for travel; received Hepatitis A and Hepatitis B shots.

September 9, 2005
CCAA (Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs) signed our paperwork in and our official wait begins. This is our "LID" (Log In Date). We expect to receive a referral 9-10 months after our paperwork was logged in. This is estimated to be June or July of 2006. Then we would travel about 2 months after that.

August 26, 2005
AWAA sends dossiers off to China once a week - every Friday - so this is our official "DTC" (Dossier To China) date.

August 23, 2005
Our dossier was complete (including all certifications and authentications) and sent off to the AWAA office in Virginia.

August 15, 2005
Received I-171H in the mail. It took roughly four weeks (from receipt of home study) for this document to come to us.

July 19, 2005
Our social worker sent our completed home study report to the USCIS office.

June 18, 2005
Fourth and final home study appointment. We traveled to Findlay, Ohio and met at a church with several other couples to receive further training on raising an adopted child.

June 11, 2005
Infant/child CPR training at Red Cross in Defiance, Ohio (requirement for Ohio home study)

June 7, 2005
Both Nathan and I were fingerprinted at the Cleveland, Ohio USCIS office

June 2, 2005
Third home study visit. Nathan and I were interviewed separately about our growing up years and our marriage.

May 27, 2005
Second home study visit. Two social workers from Ohio-AWAA (one is in "training") came to our house. They covered the basic issues involved with international adoption as well as took a tour through the house, looking for issues of safety.

May 16, 2005
Nathan and Lisa return to doctor's office for TB and HIV tests

May 10, 2005
Assistant Fire Chief inspected our house for safety – we passed!

May 9, 2005
Health Department came to the house to check our well water

May 6, 2005
Lisa’s physical at the doctor’s office

May 5, 2005
First of four home study visits. We traveled to the Findlay, Ohio office of AWAA for an orientation meeting. Two other families were present, and we covered the stack of paperwork that needs to be completed before any further home visits can begin.

May 2, 2005
Nathan’s physical at the doctor’s office

May 2, 2005
Nathan and Lisa were fingerprinted at the county sheriff's office - this set of fingerprints is for the Ohio home study

April 26, 2005
Requested a "child abuse clearance" letter from the Children's Protective Services in Columbus

April 18 & 20, 2005
Went to Post Office to apply for a passport

April 12, 2005
Sent I-600A to Cleveland, Ohio USCIS (minus the home study report)

March 25, 2005
Heard from AWAA that our initial application was approved

March 15, 2005
Applied online to America World Adoption Association (AWAA)

December 28, 2004
Began discussing whether we would continue to build our family through additional biological children or through adoption. We went online and requested information packets from several agencies, and the "official" decision process began. We ordered a copy of Nathan's birth certificate - we didn't have one on file anyway, so what could it hurt???