Smart Adoption

This week turned out to be busier than planned. On Monday, I received the dreaded "pink" letter from the immigration department - otherwise known as the Request for Additional Evidence letter. UGH. This is a common occurence on I-1800A applications. Although you submit your application in full, including every piece of paper known to mankind (and your adoption agency!) They still find SOMETHING that they need more info on before they can process your paperwork. I'm guessing it's kind of like the IRS - randomly picking out files to audit. Blah.

So luckily, the items they are asking me for are not scary or unattainable. They want my social worker to write up an addendum to my homestudy, explaining the research I have done, and medical resources available in my area to treat any of the special needs I said I was open to. They also want a copy of my divorce decree, because apparently, showing it to my social worker during the homestudy and her signing a notarized document saying that she saw it and that all my vital statistics were accurate was not enough "proof" that I was legally divorced. Of course, I got this notice right when my social worker was to go on vacation for a week. They basically give you 45 days to respond in writing, or they will consider your entire immigration file (including the $830 fingerprints) null and void. Lovely. So once my social worker gets back on the 21st, we will proceed with submitting the requested documentation ASAP. Everything in it's own time. At this point, I actually don't mind that the 1800A process is dragging out, because once you are approved, the approval is only good for 15 months. So I want the timing to be such that I get approved, then I get a referral and travel to China before my 15 months is up (otherwise you have to file an extenstion, yadda, yadda...)

This week I saw a new story about actress Jean Smart having adopted an 18-month old girl from China last summer. People were thinking this was crazy - how could this happen? Jean Smart is 58 yrs old! Well, yes, she is 58 yrs old NOW. She was probably 57 when they brought their daughter home last summer...and they probably applied to adopt at LEAST 4-5 years before that...at which point they would've met China's "30-55 yr old" age requirement. Smart was quoted as saying "the process ended up taking a lot longer than we expected" ...tell me about it sister... So everytime I start to worry that I might be too old to be taking on a young child, I will think about Jean Smart. Even if this process takes another year, I will still be 18 years younger than Jean Smart when I meet my daughter! :)