Verners

When we tell people about our adoption to China, one of the first questions people seem to ask is, “when will you get your baby?” At that point we tend to elaborate on the complexity of the adoption process… We thougt we’d sit down and commit to paper (blog) what we’ve accomplished so far in this very long and arduous process.

Wednesday, June 7, 2006
We begin working on application to America World Adoption Agency (AWAA)
www.awaa.org
Monday, June 19, 2006
Mailed completed application to America World

Friday, June 23, 2006
Application approved by America World!

Thursday, June 29, 2006
Received America World adoption packet

Monday, July 10, 2006
Contacted Family Connections Adoption Agency (FCAA) for home study
www.fcadoptions.org

Saturday, July 15, 2006
Attended Adoption Preparation Class #1 at FCAA

Monday, July 17, 2006
Home study intake at FCAA with Jan Noll

Monday, July 17, 2006
Sent completed agreement (and 1st payment) to America World

Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Began (25 page!) “self-study” for home study

Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Crissy drives to San Diego county clerk to get birth certificate & marriage certificate

Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Cory and Crissy fingerprinted (“live scan”)

Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Received employment verification letter from christianaudio

Thursday, July 20, 2006
Crissy goes to DMV to request reports for us

Thursday, July 20, 2006
Cory applies for birth certificate from L.A. county “vital records”

Monday, July 24, 2006
Received dossier packet / paperwork from America World

Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Cory goes to Kinko’s to get passport photos & goes to post office in Escondido to apply for passport

Friday, July 28, 2006
Received employment verification letter from Dr. Nick

Saturday, July 29, 2006
Submitted completed home study application and initial payment to FCAA

Saturday, July 29, 2006
Prep class #2 and #3 at FCAA (an all day class)

Wednesday, August 2, 2006
Crissy gets physical and blood work

Wednesday, August 2, 2006
Personal references sent out by FCAA

Sunday, August 6, 2006
Crissy finishes “self-study” for home study!

Monday, August 7, 2006
Cory finishes “self-study” for home study!

Monday, August 7, 2006
Cory gets physical and blood work

Friday, August 11, 2006
We find out that our friends the Clarks are also in the middle of an international adoption to Russia! They are using AWAA & FCAA!

Saturday, August 13, 2006
Adoption photo shoot for dossier

Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Contacted “buddy-family” to talk about our adoption

Thursday, August 24, 2006
Home study checklist complete!
We’re assigned a social worker for home study.
This is a big step. This list included no less than 31 to-dos to just begin the written study phase. Some of these have already been mentioned. A few of the other things we had to provide: 5 references, proof of auto and heath insurance, therapist questionnaire, 1040, W2’s, sibling info sheet, parenting profile form, CA child abuse and neglect quiz, buddy form, school release forms and more.

Friday, August 25, 2006
Started a blog to chronicle our adoption story

Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Individual interviews with our social worker Jaida

Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Cory applies for police report at San Diego County Sheriffs Dept.

Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Social worker – Jaida – (who is very nice) home visit

Thursday, August 31, 2006
Crissy applies for police report at San Diego County Sheriffs Dept.

Monday, September 4, 2006
Our home study is completed

Tuesday, September 5, 2006
Home study goes to FCAA main office in Modesto for approval

Wednesday, September 6, 2006
Crissy goes to post office in San Marcos to apply for passport
(She pays extra to rush her passport!)

Thursday, September 7, 2006
Cory begins learning Chinese

Monday, September 11, 2006
Final payment to FCAA for home study

Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Home study goes to America World for FINAL approval!!!!!

Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Applied for adoption grant through Shaohannah’s Hope
www.shaohannahshope.org

Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Home study is approved by America World

Saturday, September 23, 2006
Received notarized copies of Home Study in the mail

Sunday, September 24, 2006
Wrote application letter, USCIS Cover Letter, Crissy Non-employment letter, and sent to AWAA for approval.

Monday, September 25, 2006
Cory gets more passport photos for Dossier

Monday, September 25, 2006
We are accepted into America World Eternal Families program. This allows friends and family to make tax deductible donations to our adoption through America World!

Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Crissy walks papers into USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services) to apply for immigration (advance processing of Orphan petition / I-717H form)

Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Cory notarizes employment documents for employers 1 & 2

Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Crissy gets more passport photos for Dossier

Wednesday, October 4, 2006
Cory notarizes employment document for employer 3

Monday, October 9, 2006
Received I-171H form in the mail!!

Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Cory & Crissy Notarize the last few documents at Family Connections

Tuesday, October 10, 2006
We ship our Dossier document to a courier in Sacramento to be hand delivered to the Secretary of State office for certification.

Thursday, October 12, 2006
Our documents are back from The Secretary of State. They all certified without any issues!

Thursday, October 12, 2006
Cory drives to the Chinese consulate in Los Angeles to authenticate documents

Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Crissy (with Dad) drives to the Chinese consulate to pick up authenticated documents. Crissy copies all documents (3 sets) and FedEx’s documents to our adoption agency in VA!!

Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Our documents arrive at AWAA for Wednesday noon deadline

Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Kimberly, our coordinator, calls to confirm that everything is in order!! And our dossier will go to China on Friday!

Friday, October 20, 2006
Our dossier is sent to China. The Verners are officially “DTC” (Dossier to China)

Tuesday, October 24, 2006
FedEx shows the package delivered! Our dossier is now in China.  Whaaooooo!!

Tuesday, October 24, 2006
We are group #284! We find out who we will be traveling with! Cory starts a Yahoo and Flickr group for 283, 284 and 285

Saturday, October 28, 2006
We announce our 1st fundraiser – a pancake breakfast at our home – to help bring Faith home.

Monday, November 20, 2006
We sent out support letters to friends and family. Our adoption expenses so far are over $11,000.

TBD – soon
We get our LID (Log in Date)