I haven't posted in a while because there was nothing really to post about....no progress in our paperwork and no updates on Elli. We have just been waiting. Waiting for USCIS approval so that we could complete our dossier and get it to China. My hopes of Elli coming home in early fall have faded. Our immigration approval has taken much longer than I anticipated. Therefore, nothing else could be done. When we were gathering our dossier for our first adoption, USCIS approval in KY took about 6 weeks...not so this time.
Apparently, through the many grapevines of the adoption community, with the new Hague compliance policies that went into effect April 1, 2008, many people filed immigration papers before the April 1 date in order to not have to deal with the new Hague regulations....yes, just like us. The USCIS offices from many states have told families that they are flooded with applications. Now, grant it, I still do not understand what could possibly take so incredibly long to process, but that is the reasoning we are being told.
So my hopes of being DTC (dossier to China) by June, obviously that hasn't happened and July, well that looks nearly impossible now too. The longer it takes to get our dossier to China - yep, the longer it takes to get "into line" or LID (log in date) to be processed to get travel approval to bring Elli home. Needless to say, I have been pretty frustrated lately with the whole ordeal of the waiting game...but wait - there's more....
Now, if you didn't follow the blog of Anna's adoption, you didn't have the "pleasure" of reading the 'ramblings of a crazed mother', as I liked to call them. Those moments that I just had to release all the stress, anxiety and frustrations that I was experiencing and sometimes it was just a pure emotional, mushy meltdown of how much I wanted Anna home. I do believe this is probably the first 'ramblings' on Elli's blog. If you aren't up for it, then you should just stop here ;-)
I get a call on Wednesday from our agency that they were notified that our dossier needs to be in China by July 15....yes, IN China by JULY 15....last Wednesday which was the July 2...13 days! Now, lets just break this down for those who may not be familiar with the whole adoption thing....our dossier is compiled of various papers (birth certificates, financial statements, physical examinations, adoption petition, home study, AND immigration approval). Now, we don't have our immigration approval yet, so our dossier is not complete. So I began to try to figure out "how" all this could happen. IF I were to have gotten our USCIS approval on Thursday (3rd), I could have taken all the papers to be notarized and county certified. Friday was the 4th, couldn't do anything....5th is Sat....6th Sunday, Monday 7th, I could drive to Frankfort to have State Certified and overnight to the courier in DC....that is IF she is available to do all this on my time table. Okay, so she gets it on Tuesday the 8th....Takes to US Sec of State for Certification and picks up on 9th which is Wed and hopefully can get to Chinese Embassy for Authentication same day to pick up on Thursday, which is 10th. Picks up from Embassy on Friday, 11th and overnights back to me on Saturday 12th...I have to get it to Utah to be translated, which now it would be Saturday, so I send to UT for delivery on Monday 14th. Okay, it still hasn't been translated and still not in China....oh yeah, and China is 12 hours ahead of us, so by Monday afternoon - its the 15th. Now you might be able to feel a sense of my urgency, panic, out of control, helplessness, totally confused mind and want to crawl in a hole and hide!
I call our social worker, who tells me basically, she can try to contact the USCIS office, but basically, don't get your hopes up. Our agency, Children's House International, began their emergency mode. They have tried their hardest to figure out a way to make all this work. There are five, potentially six now, I believe, families that are in limbo. They arranged a meeting on Sunday night (Monday morning China time) to discuss the possible options and our cases. We (the families in limbo) stayed up hoping to hear positive word of their decision. No news. We were told that we would have to wait until last night (Tuesday in China) for the decision. Still no news. Apparently the supervisor that we need was out of the office on Tuesday, so you guessed it...we wait until tonight hoping to hear some good news.
Basically, all this stems from the fact that the Hague went into effect April 1, 2008 and our agency was denied accreditation. Therefore, they can no longer match adoptive families with orphans in other Hague countries or take applications for adoptions in other Hague countries. However, we were told that since we filed our immigration application prior to the April 1 deadline, we would continue our adoption under the requirements/procedures in place prior to April 1.
I want to insert here, that CHI is an awesome agency. We used them with Anna's adoption and had ZERO complaints. I couldn't have asked for more support, better service or a more caring staff. I have and would recommend them to my family/friends/random people I meet. They were not denied because of client complaints, money laundering, not following ethical practices...no, they were denied due to an organizational chart! They first were placed on a "pending" list due to them allegedly working and advertising to work in India and Peru without a license. CHI gave a copy of their license to work in India, but do not nor advertise to work in Peru. After this, they then said that basically the organizational chart was wrong. Therefore, denying them accreditation and placing them on the "black list" of agencies.
Not only was it a devastating blow to their reputation, credible agency for over 33 years, placing over 1000 children from 14 countries, BUT it was a devastating blow to the tireless workers who work diligently to place these kids. I know for a FACT, that these people truly care about these children. They rejoice and celebrate when a child is matched and united with their families and they mourn and comfort when a child dies, a referral is pulled, or a family is just having a hard time. I have seen them work to try to get medical help to a child that could not be adopted due to being deemed "unadoptable" by China. Trying to find foster care for a child that they couldn't be place in order to get them out of the orphanage. I have seen a memorial fund established when a family's child died before they could get to him in China in order to help another child who desperately needed surgery. It is an injustice to this agency and a bigger injustice to all the children and families that have been denied services due to this accreditation denial. Now, we and Elli are stuck in the middle of this mess as well!
I haven't said anything to that many people just because I didn't want to get upset. I have tried to remain positive about the whole ordeal, but there are moments, that it is hard. I have no doubt that we are where we are because we this is where God asked us to be. I know that His plans are perfect and He is in control of everything - even the governmental officials in China. I know that God loves Elli more than I or anyone else on this earth ever could. I know that He wants what is best for her and so do we.
We love Elli very much, we want to be her parents, we want all this to be resolved very soon, we believe God has a plan for our family and for Elli. I will not pretend to "know" how everything will work out. But I believe God's word when it says that He works all things to the good to those who love Him. Sometimes those "good" things aren't what we think they should be, but He sees the whole picture - He has the perfect plan.
I know that God worked out so many obstacles in the adoption of Anna. I know that He can work out all of this too. Faith is not what we see or even understand, it is just knowing that it will be. We ask for your prayers that all this would be resolved soon and that we will be given leniency from the CCAA. Whether that be through an extension or them allowing us to switch agencies....we just want to bring Elli home.
I will post an update when I hear the official word on their decision. Until, we wait...
Sending prays for good news & much love to Elli,
Rodney, Marcy, Carter, Jacob, Parker & Anna Mei
