Worried...

So it has been a really long time since I last wrote. It isn't because there isn't anything going on, it is just that well, you know, we have been busy!

We finished up the home visits part of the home study, all but one child has their physicals- the last one is Monday and Leonard and I have ours done.

We are in a stand still with the adoption. It is crazy, sickening, worrisome, and long. And really, it is hard to explain, but let me try!

There are 24 hours of parenting classes required by the federal government for adopters. We have taken 30 with social services, and 22 through our homestudy agency = even though I didn't major in math, I think that comes out to 52 credits taken...I would say that is more than enough, but no. It isn't.

Ok, here comes the complicated part...some of it is our fault, some of it isn't.

Since we adopted Kaycee, something new has been implemented by our government - it is called the Hague. In the adoption community, this really is not a pleasent word.

All agencies must become Hague accredited - meaning they have to jump through a lot of hoops, fill out a lot of paperwork and be approved. HHMMM, does that sound like international adoption?

Ok, with the Hague, they are requiring all parents to take 6 classes, each 4 hours long. We have taken 3, been given credit from our 30 hours for 1 and have 2 left.

These are not offered again until the middle of August.

Supposedly, we cannot complete our homestudy and apply for our I800 until these are done. I have spent many sleepless nights, many times on the phone and many emails to our agency. FINALLY! The immigration specialist stated that we could put a note in our homestudy that states we understand these classes need to be taken before we travel - ok, no problem! Got that under control.

Some people, including my husband ask why one month would make sure a huge difference. Why was I worried so much...here goes the explanation:

Noah's file came to our agency late last year. It was under the old system - where China sent an actual paper file to the agencies, and each agency got their own list of SN children.
We didn't decide to adopt Noah until February. We were NOT ready in the least - finacially or paper ready. So we knew it would take a long time to get done.

Fast forward a couple of months - China has now changed their system - it is all electronic - and all agencies share the same list of SN children. Noah's file had to be completed, with a Letter of Intent, by the middle of May.

When China was on the paper system, they would let families have at least 6 months to get their paperwork completed, now that they are on the electronic system, they only have 3 months.

Go back to the I800- with the old system, the I600, we could apply for fingerprints before our homestudy was completed, wait for our appointment, get fingerprinted, send in our homestudy, wait to be approved ,then be completly done. It took us 5 months - and that was pretty quick with Kaycee.

Now with the I800 - we have to have our parenting classes completed, then finish our homestudy (because the homestudy cannot be completed without the parenting classes done), then apply for our fingerprints