Renewal - Keeping things current during this long wait
Posted on 2009 under Adoption Journey | No Comment8 May
We just officially renewed our paperwork and everything went smoothly. Every 18 months we must reapply with the US Department of Homeland Security to keep our petition to bring an adopted child from abroad into the US current. It involves a homestudy update, another round of paperwork and mystifyingly re-fingerprinting (which of course haven’t changed in 18 months!)
We have no idea if we’ll have to do this again, but having waited 18 months already, and faced with the near certainty that we’ll wait at least another 18 more - it is likely. You really have to have a high tolerance for paperwork, bureaucrats, jargon and fees to make it through this process. We’ve been lucky there haven’t been any bumps in the road, just a lot of inconveniences. I think we realized quite a few years ago that our path to a second child was going to be anything but convenient!
So we’re good for another 18 months and are looking forward to traveling to Orlando next weekend to meet with the heads of our agency. It will be nice to meet other waiting parents and see what the latest is on this long, frustrating process. Shoud be interesting.