A Happy Thanksgiving pep talk to deal with the long, long, long wait!

The following is part of an email I received last week.

"I hope you are able to enjoy a sweet time with your loved ones and create new memories, and just think, with the special needs process being 9-12 months now from start to finish, you should all most likely have your children around the table next year for Thanksgiving! What an exciting thought to think of all your little boys and girls coming home in the next year!

Happy Thanksgiving!"

It really did help keep our eyes fixed on the overall short wait we are experiencing given that we will have our wonderful son home with us by next Thanksgiving.

But I still have to say that dealing with the USCIS was absolutely maddening and there was no telling how long our homestudy and application for finger print appointments would have languished if I hadn't followed up right away to see where our paperwork was in the process.

We applied for our FDL on October 7th, 2007. The USCIS IL office sent my receipt for my 1600a within 10 days of receiving it. But then I had to follow up right away because the way the letter was written led me to believe that they were mistakenly waiting for more paperwork from me before they would submit my request for fingerprinting. Which was true. She was holding our file indefinitely in her file cabinet waiting for missing birth certificates and a missing homestudy. But we had in fact sent in all the BS and the HS with the application so I asked her to look for it again. When we cleared it up she submitted the fingerprint request to the OK or NE division of USCIS that is responsible for sending out the fingerprint appt. letters, and I received the appointment letter within 10 days of my phone call to her. The appointment was for about 10-14 days in the future. We took off work and went to our local Processing Center in suburban Chicago. We were sent home without being fingerprinted as they said they had too much work and too few staff to see us that day and we should request a new appointment for two weeks later. We explained that we were there with an expedited Adoption request and they really couldn't have cared less. They didn't sound too helpful about our possibility of getting seen in a couple of weeks either. I called the main USCIS number again and got some bad info, some good info and some inconsistent info. We decided to head to the MN office based on the info we received and after looking up the address on the US Official web site we took off work a second day, got a sitter and headed out early in the morning so we could be seen. Of course the address was incorrect and we were at the wrong office. We were at USCIS but they weren't sure where the right office was for us to go to get our fingerprints processed might be. They suggested St. Paul and based on that wishy washy recommendations we headed there and luckily it was the right office. The people working there were friendly and efficient. They said the fingerprints were cleared within 48 hours. So I mailed the woman at USCIS IL a copy of my appt. letter with info written on it that we had an expedited application and that we had been fingerprinted. The USCIS has to do things the old fashioned way and has to REMEMBER who has an appointment and on what day. They have to right it down to remind themselves to check on the database as they don't have any system that reminds or cross references the appointments for follow up checks automatically for them. So that is why it usually takes up to 4 months or longer for people to get their FDL letters processed. I did this so the Orphan Bureau Director in IL would see that week that she could look them up and issue the FDL which she did within less than a week of getting the follow up info I sent her.

I can'imagine how anyone ever immigrates legally to America. The process of working with USCIS is really slow, really tedious and if you have to go into an office for an appointment in Chicago or the surrounding suburbs I can guarentee you that you will feel like pulling every hair in your head out one by one in an effort to deal with your frustration over the indifference and noticeable lack of care or concern for their customers of the people manning the office and the inconsistent information you receive when you do ask questions. Also if you call the main customer service for the US you will get incorrect information repeatedly. And if you go to the Official Web sites you will get incorrect information and if you email someone you will probably not hear back from them ever.

God bless the folks that run the USCIS in MN though. Once we found the right office they were practical, nice and efficient. Everything we expect out of good Minnesotans. AAAAARRRGGGGHHHHH!

Ok now on to more pleasant things hopefully. This was a big hurddle and I am glad it is over for now!

Emailing back and forth with other Adoptive Parents from EnMei

There is a lot of support from other Adoptive Parents online. The following is a letter I wrote to another adoptive Mom and her response back to me about our future kids.

Debra,

Congratultions! I am glad to hear things are going faster than
expected. We are hoping that will be similar for us too. Our son Shen Yong "George" is there. He is 7 years old. We are hoping to travel sometime Feb-April. Please keep us posted about if you are able to tour the Orphanage. We would love to go there with George too. I would think it would help the transition to be able to meet or at least see the people and place he spent so much time with and be able to have that frame of reference for him and for the rest of the family. Again, Congratulations!

What a wonderful Holiday surprise!
Christina


"Hi Christina--

It certainly is an exciting time! When did you log your paperwork in? If we go to the orphanage (which I hope we do) we will try and get a picture of your son--I will def. keep you posted-If we don't go, I will try and ask the director about him for you.

Good luck with everything! Have a great Thanksgiving.
Debbie"

Nothing like a Chinese and/or American Holiday or two to slow down the paperwork.

Families,

I have an update for you that Benjamin just sent in. We asked for clarity on December travel and this is what I learned today:

Again, as Emily said, if your child is from Guangzhou the latest you can travel is November 30th to travel before Christmas, if you are from any other province the latest you can travel to leave before Christmas is December 7th. Our office as well as our office in Beijing will be closed the last week of December. The next soonest date you can travel is Friday, December 28th.

Please keep in mind that the Chinese New Year will be in February of 2008 and will begin on the 7th and will last for one week. Families will not be able to travel this week as everything is closed in China.

I hope this clears up any confusion. Let me know if you have any questions!

Have a great evening!

PS No DHL packages yet this week, one came in for Kate late Friday with 2 non-special needs referrals, the families were logged in to the CCAA for 2 ½ years, so they are so excited! Hopefully I will get a package soon for ya’ll!