It’s hard to believe it’s been over a month since I shared our last adoption update. We get asked often if we have any new information. For the most part it is a slow moving process but we do have a few bits and pieces of news to share with you guys. In our last update we had just resubmitted our information back to U.S. Immigration for approval to adopt a girl from Hong
Kong instead of Peru. A couple of weeks ago we received a letter from the immigration office letting us know approval had been granted! Score! Our next step was to submit our dossier to Hong Kong. While waiting for approval from immigration we had our dossier mailed back from Peru and began the preparation process for submitting it to Hong Kong. Thankfully, not much had to be changed or added except for some extra financial info.
Eventually, with a little help from God, we had everything ready to ship. Our dossier was officially mailed to Hong Kong last Monday! It is such a relief to know that most of the work on our part is through. Now we just sit back and wait for our little girl. Some of you may be wondering what the rest of the process look like. What steps do we lack? How soon will we travel? ML and I often wonder the same thing. Thankfully, our social worker e-mailed us a breakdown of all the steps that we lack as well as a loosely guesstimated timeline. It’s hard to predict actual times since each case is different and Lifeline is new to the Hong Kong program but seeing everything in print helps to visualize the remaining road a little big.
DTHK (Dossier to Hong Kong)- check!
Dossier review from team at Mother’s Choice- approx.. 1 week
Dossier sent off to AUSWD (Adoption unit)
Dossier review at AUSWD 4-8 weeks
Follow up questions sent to family from AUSWD- can take several weeks to get these questions
Responses sent back to AUSWD- 2-4 weeks (of course, that is what they give you- you can respond more quickly)
Waiting period for referral begins:6-9 months (just be prepared for a shorter time frame in case)
Acceptance of referral
Submit I800 for approval- 1-2 months
Approval received/ Article 5 issued from US Consulate in HK: 2 weeks
High Court for final approval- 6-8 weeks
Travel!
We were thrilled to receive a timeline regardless of how accurate it is. I was a little bummed when I added up the weeks and calculated that worst case
scenario we could be traveling as late as next Spring. Then Michael Luke gently reminded me that it wont be a day late or day early in God’s timing. We are still hoping we will travel before Christmas. It is so comforting knowing that God is in control. He already knows who our little girl is and
everything about her! It almost give me goose bumps just thinking about it.
Tuesday, Noah received an envelope in the mail from the U.S government. It was her passport!
We were both shocked that we received it in less than a month. Way to go U.S. Gov! Although I hate to tell them that she hasn’t quite mastered her signature yet. Unless they don’t mind crayon scribble! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. ML and I have high hopes of working on the kitchen. What do you guys have planned?
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That’s wonderful news! I’m still praying for you guys!
Thanks so much! We just found out this morning that Hong Kong has officially received our dossier. So that’s one more thing we can check off the timeline list. I really appreciate your prayers.
I love ML’s way of putting it! =)
Your little one will be home in no time!!
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