Just thought I'd throw a little humor in today. Yes, I realize China's products have been in the news a lot lately, and I dare not touch that issue.
When we explained to our three kids the process of adoption and where we'll be traveling, there were a lot of questions. The kids seem pretty interested in China since their baby sister will come from there. We've borrowed books about China from the library, bought children's book about adoptions from China, and even borrowed a "Big Bird Goes to China" DVD from the library. (Side note: Yes, it was interesting, but not nearly as educational as we were hoping!) And Mommy (who loves to travel and never gets to do enough of it) is also excited to see the neat landmarks that we may get a glimpse of during our trip to China.
From time to time, Ben or Reagan will notice where a toy is made. The kids now find it fascinating to see "MADE IN CHINA" stamped on their toys and goodies. "Mom, Mom, LOOK! This was made in CHINA! That's where our baby sister will be coming from!" They get so excited to see those three little words!
I haven't had the heart to tell them that most of their toys probably originated from there. As I sit here at the kids' computer desk, I even noticed that our souvenir-tin-trolley-turned-crayon-holder from good ol' American-icon HERSHEY PARK...was made in China. :-) Well, at least when our daughter grows up and can read, she'll be forever reminded of her first home.
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Monday, July 2, 2007
Lots of dollars
I thought I should mention that we struggled a little bit with advertising all of those dollar amounts in our previous post. We decided to go ahead for two main reasons.
- We have actually had a fair number of people ask why adoptions cost so much. So it seems that there is a general interest in how/why adoption costs add up.
- If you are considering adoption then maybe the list of costs will assist you in your decisions and plans. Costs change over time and vary from country to country, but at least it is a starting point.
Sunday, July 1, 2007
What is a Dossier?
For those of you who have never adopted and are not clear on the terminology, I thought I'd give you our input. When we registered with our agency, we were given a long list of documents to begin collecting. These documents became our "dossier", which was mailed out to China in May. These are the papers that give China lots of information about us. Depending on the country one chooses, the documents collected may differ depending on their policies.
Those close to us have heard us gripe and complain about this long process. As simple as it may seem... the process was expensive and tiring. The waiting was the worst part; the cost was the second worst (maybe I have that in reverse!) People ask us often what the cost of adoption involves and why it's so expensive. Outside of agency fees ($5275), translation fees ($800) and country fee (only $1500 for China), most of our expenses have been spread out over many, many areas. Even little checks here and there add up quickly. Here are the documents we collected... each of course involved their own fees and waiting times:
1. A homestudy report (4 interviews, VA police reports, doctor's exams and more involved with this... $1300+)
2. Personal statement, 2 pages long
3. Employment letter of Mother (by me since I'm not employed)
4. Employment letter of Father (his was from his employer recognizing that he was employed full-time)
5. Certificate of Financial Status (listing several expenses and incomes)
6. Physical Exam of Mother (bloodwork, basic physical issues, HIV test... $20 for doctor's visit + lab fees)
7. Physical Exam of Father (same as above... $20 for doctor's visit + lab fees)
8. Police Report of Mother (local from county... can't remember cost, maybe in the $10-$20 range)
9. Police Report of Father (same fee as above)
10. Birth Certificate of Mother (newly issued one... $10 or so)
11. Birth Certificate of Father (newly issued... $40)
12. Marriage License (newly issued one... $10 or so)
13. CIS Approval Letter (which entailed a long wait and fingerprinting... $700+)
Once our 13 documents were received, they all needed to be notarized. (Thank you, thank you, thank you, Julia, for saving us money there!!!) Then we went through an authentication process. This process involved sending all documents to the respective state (where they originated) to get sealed by the state's Department of State ($8-10 each document!) These seals represented the fact that the notaries were registered and legitimate. Then, once all of the documents were returned, we needed to send them to the US Department of State to get sealed once again (got Condi Rice's signature... or stamp of signature?... each document had a fee of $7 I think). Then we sent all of the sealed documents to the respective Chinese Consulate/Chinese Embassy for the state ($20 per document). See how the expenses add up quickly?
In addition to the dossier documents, we needed to send a copy of our passport. We didn't have them yet, so we expedited the process. The current wait of a passport is 4-6 months, but for us the expedition process only took 10 days.
Some of the documents were quick, but the CIS approval process took us forever. We applied immediately, but because we went through China, they would not give us a fingerprinting date until our homestudy was complete. Our homestudy was complete the week of Christmas; our fingerprinting date was given to us at the end of January; the approval came at the end of March/beginning of April. So, despite how easy it sounds, it takes a long time.
What other fees are we looking at? Once we get a referral, we'll be paying for our travel costs (approximately $8000 for 2 of us for 14 days in China, though a lengthened stay could cost more), orphanage donation ($3000) and various other fees for documents, visa, etc.(approximately $2000). We also need a post-adoption study through our homestudy foundation, but we've already paid that ($600). I'm sure I've missed other costs (like Fed Ex and courier services)... but that's a general look at how the adoption fees are broken down.
Those close to us have heard us gripe and complain about this long process. As simple as it may seem... the process was expensive and tiring. The waiting was the worst part; the cost was the second worst (maybe I have that in reverse!) People ask us often what the cost of adoption involves and why it's so expensive. Outside of agency fees ($5275), translation fees ($800) and country fee (only $1500 for China), most of our expenses have been spread out over many, many areas. Even little checks here and there add up quickly. Here are the documents we collected... each of course involved their own fees and waiting times:
1. A homestudy report (4 interviews, VA police reports, doctor's exams and more involved with this... $1300+)
2. Personal statement, 2 pages long
3. Employment letter of Mother (by me since I'm not employed)
4. Employment letter of Father (his was from his employer recognizing that he was employed full-time)
5. Certificate of Financial Status (listing several expenses and incomes)
6. Physical Exam of Mother (bloodwork, basic physical issues, HIV test... $20 for doctor's visit + lab fees)
7. Physical Exam of Father (same as above... $20 for doctor's visit + lab fees)
8. Police Report of Mother (local from county... can't remember cost, maybe in the $10-$20 range)
9. Police Report of Father (same fee as above)
10. Birth Certificate of Mother (newly issued one... $10 or so)
11. Birth Certificate of Father (newly issued... $40)
12. Marriage License (newly issued one... $10 or so)
13. CIS Approval Letter (which entailed a long wait and fingerprinting... $700+)
Once our 13 documents were received, they all needed to be notarized. (Thank you, thank you, thank you, Julia, for saving us money there!!!) Then we went through an authentication process. This process involved sending all documents to the respective state (where they originated) to get sealed by the state's Department of State ($8-10 each document!) These seals represented the fact that the notaries were registered and legitimate. Then, once all of the documents were returned, we needed to send them to the US Department of State to get sealed once again (got Condi Rice's signature... or stamp of signature?... each document had a fee of $7 I think). Then we sent all of the sealed documents to the respective Chinese Consulate/Chinese Embassy for the state ($20 per document). See how the expenses add up quickly?
In addition to the dossier documents, we needed to send a copy of our passport. We didn't have them yet, so we expedited the process. The current wait of a passport is 4-6 months, but for us the expedition process only took 10 days.
Some of the documents were quick, but the CIS approval process took us forever. We applied immediately, but because we went through China, they would not give us a fingerprinting date until our homestudy was complete. Our homestudy was complete the week of Christmas; our fingerprinting date was given to us at the end of January; the approval came at the end of March/beginning of April. So, despite how easy it sounds, it takes a long time.
What other fees are we looking at? Once we get a referral, we'll be paying for our travel costs (approximately $8000 for 2 of us for 14 days in China, though a lengthened stay could cost more), orphanage donation ($3000) and various other fees for documents, visa, etc.(approximately $2000). We also need a post-adoption study through our homestudy foundation, but we've already paid that ($600). I'm sure I've missed other costs (like Fed Ex and courier services)... but that's a general look at how the adoption fees are broken down.
Monday, June 11, 2007
Why China?
First of all, let it be known that this was a difficult choice. In fact, I must admit I was really hoping that we didn't have to choose the country for a long time. Each country's international adoption procedures were different and had good points and bad points. When we were faced with the first decision... choosing an agency... we chose a Christian agency that offered many options for countries simply because we couldn't decide. CWA (Christian World Adoption) has been a fantastic adoption agency. They are located in North Carolina and South Carolina (and we are in Virginia)... yet the distance has shown to cause no difficulties whatsoever.
When we first applied to work with the agency, we were honestly looking into the new Kyrgyzstan adoption program... and perhaps Kazakhstan. However within a few days, we realized that their procedures simply wouldn't work with our current lifestyle. Those adoptions required much longer traveling plans... in fact, we would most likely have to fly over there twice for two weeks each trip or stay for six weeks. Neither of those options would work with Mike's work schedule nor did we wish to leave our children back in the US without us for so long.
Guatemala was a viable option... we even knew of a family at our church that adopted from there, but the country cost was prohibitive for us. We also knew a family who had adopted from Russia ... but that country had a similar travel plan to the "-stan" countries.
Korea was a very well-known option (although CWA did not offer that program). Our friend Christy S. worked for an adoption agency that dealt with Korea, and she spoke highly of the program. Our next-door neighbors John and Joanna just adopted Sara from Korea and were very supportive of that country's program. The foster mom of their daughter was even a Christian. However, we had it in our heart to adopt a daughter, and that wasn't an option for us through Korea. We already had a girl in our family, so we were ineligible to request a gender. Our understanding is that most of the adopted children from Korea are boys. So despite hearing only positive things about Korea, we found it just couldn't work for us.
We then began looking into China. China's international adoption program has been around for a very long time and is considered very reliable. When researching international adoptions you begin hearing a lot of stories of families that had incredible heartbreak or setbacks that delayed adoptions, cost a lot more money than anticipated or were completely misleading. However China was not usually a source of problems... it was a fairly well-known program that was the most "popular" one in the US. According to the US Dept of State website, 6,493 orphan children received immigrant visas from China in 2006. The next highest group was from Guatemala (4,135 children) and then Russia (3,706 children).
At the time in which we applied and began our Chinese adoption process, very few changes had occurred in their requirements for adoption since its inception. Funny that I say that... a few months into the program, we learned that CCAA (China Center of Adoption Affairs) was changing a lot of requirements effective May 1! For a few days there, we panicked that we wouldn't be eligible. (Our main fear was a requirement to have fewer than 3 kids currently in the home.) However, we were quickly assured that we should be fine assuming our BMI's were in range and that our net worth was enough. They were. Despite the fact that we still qualified, many people were suddenly disqualified. One of the big changes was the fact that no longer could single parents expect to be given a referral... married couples would be given priority. Here is a link to FAQs about International Adoption through China. http://www.china-ccaa.org/swsy/swsy_index_en.jsp
Unfortunately in the last six months to a year, Chinese adoption referrals have slowed down in comparison to the number of requests. When we began our process, we were told that the referral-wait-time (after China logged us in after receiving the dossier) was 12-13 months. That was in October 2006. Now, in June 2007, we are looking at 20 month waits with an expectation for the wait to go up even higher by the time we receive a referral. Going on that information, we are not expecting to now receive our referral for perhaps 2 years (maybe more!) We completed our dossier papers in mid-April, mailed them to CWA who reviewed them around April 25th, and the dossier was mailed to China on April 30th. Our log-in-date (LID... found in the left margin of our blog) is May 14, 2007 ... 3 years to the day after Tommy's due date! (Tommy was actually born May 9th... Mother's Day, 2004.)
So when watching for referrals, we'll be looking for the LID of current referrals in relation to our own.
Wish us luck in staying patient during this long, long wait. I knew God was about to test my patience when we first heard 12-13 months. Now, I really need to pray to remain patient. He has a child in mind for us... whether she is already born, conceived or still a "sparkle in our eye" (as my Dad referred to this pre-conception period of time). God has the perfect child for us, and we'll just have to accept the wait for his plan to be followed through. In the meantime, we can pray for our future daughter, her biological parents and the incredible decisions they will make on her behalf, and the caretakers at the orphanage where she will be cared for until we come to get her.... not to mention our current family and the adjustments we'll all be making in the months and years to come.
When we first applied to work with the agency, we were honestly looking into the new Kyrgyzstan adoption program... and perhaps Kazakhstan. However within a few days, we realized that their procedures simply wouldn't work with our current lifestyle. Those adoptions required much longer traveling plans... in fact, we would most likely have to fly over there twice for two weeks each trip or stay for six weeks. Neither of those options would work with Mike's work schedule nor did we wish to leave our children back in the US without us for so long.
Guatemala was a viable option... we even knew of a family at our church that adopted from there, but the country cost was prohibitive for us. We also knew a family who had adopted from Russia ... but that country had a similar travel plan to the "-stan" countries.
Korea was a very well-known option (although CWA did not offer that program). Our friend Christy S. worked for an adoption agency that dealt with Korea, and she spoke highly of the program. Our next-door neighbors John and Joanna just adopted Sara from Korea and were very supportive of that country's program. The foster mom of their daughter was even a Christian. However, we had it in our heart to adopt a daughter, and that wasn't an option for us through Korea. We already had a girl in our family, so we were ineligible to request a gender. Our understanding is that most of the adopted children from Korea are boys. So despite hearing only positive things about Korea, we found it just couldn't work for us.
We then began looking into China. China's international adoption program has been around for a very long time and is considered very reliable. When researching international adoptions you begin hearing a lot of stories of families that had incredible heartbreak or setbacks that delayed adoptions, cost a lot more money than anticipated or were completely misleading. However China was not usually a source of problems... it was a fairly well-known program that was the most "popular" one in the US. According to the US Dept of State website, 6,493 orphan children received immigrant visas from China in 2006. The next highest group was from Guatemala (4,135 children) and then Russia (3,706 children).At the time in which we applied and began our Chinese adoption process, very few changes had occurred in their requirements for adoption since its inception. Funny that I say that... a few months into the program, we learned that CCAA (China Center of Adoption Affairs) was changing a lot of requirements effective May 1! For a few days there, we panicked that we wouldn't be eligible. (Our main fear was a requirement to have fewer than 3 kids currently in the home.) However, we were quickly assured that we should be fine assuming our BMI's were in range and that our net worth was enough. They were. Despite the fact that we still qualified, many people were suddenly disqualified. One of the big changes was the fact that no longer could single parents expect to be given a referral... married couples would be given priority. Here is a link to FAQs about International Adoption through China. http://www.china-ccaa.org/swsy/swsy_index_en.jsp
Unfortunately in the last six months to a year, Chinese adoption referrals have slowed down in comparison to the number of requests. When we began our process, we were told that the referral-wait-time (after China logged us in after receiving the dossier) was 12-13 months. That was in October 2006. Now, in June 2007, we are looking at 20 month waits with an expectation for the wait to go up even higher by the time we receive a referral. Going on that information, we are not expecting to now receive our referral for perhaps 2 years (maybe more!) We completed our dossier papers in mid-April, mailed them to CWA who reviewed them around April 25th, and the dossier was mailed to China on April 30th. Our log-in-date (LID... found in the left margin of our blog) is May 14, 2007 ... 3 years to the day after Tommy's due date! (Tommy was actually born May 9th... Mother's Day, 2004.)
So when watching for referrals, we'll be looking for the LID of current referrals in relation to our own.
Wish us luck in staying patient during this long, long wait. I knew God was about to test my patience when we first heard 12-13 months. Now, I really need to pray to remain patient. He has a child in mind for us... whether she is already born, conceived or still a "sparkle in our eye" (as my Dad referred to this pre-conception period of time). God has the perfect child for us, and we'll just have to accept the wait for his plan to be followed through. In the meantime, we can pray for our future daughter, her biological parents and the incredible decisions they will make on her behalf, and the caretakers at the orphanage where she will be cared for until we come to get her.... not to mention our current family and the adjustments we'll all be making in the months and years to come.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Children of the World Choir
As we have mentioned Christy and I first began thinking about adoption after hearing a choir of orphans sing in our church. The choir is called "Children of the World". They are part of a Christian organization called "World Help".
If you are interested you can learn more about them at their web site. http://www.worldhelp.net/MusicOutreach.aspx
I remember this web site because I bought a shirt from the choir after we heard them sing. The church has the web site printed across the back. I wonder why I bought that shirt...
If you are interested you can learn more about them at their web site. http://www.worldhelp.net/MusicOutreach.aspx
I remember this web site because I bought a shirt from the choir after we heard them sing. The church has the web site printed across the back. I wonder why I bought that shirt...
"I am never doing that again!"
That's what Christy said immediately after "we" delivered our wonderful third child, Tommy. I believed her too. Although there had never been any serious complications, each of Christy's pregnancies was more painful and troublesome than the previous. So on that day in May of 2004 we believed our family was complete. It seems that God had other plans...I had never seriously considered adoption or even another child until we heard that choir of orphans in September of 2005. Christy is right, when she came home and said she wanted to adopt I thought she had lost her mind. Three children were challenging, four would be insane. Over the next year I realized that Christy was both very sane and very serious. So I took it seriously as well and began to pray. I prayed that God would show us what he intended next for our family.
Three children are indeed challenging. Much of the stress, cost, anger, fear, tears and noise in our house can be traced back to one of those three little pairs of hands. But here's the secret, almost all of the true laughter and joy comes from them as well. As each of our children has entered our life a part of me has been scared to death by the changes and new responsibilities that were coming along. Today I can't imagine our family without each of their faces and I have no idea why I was so worried.
As I prayed I realized we had been given more than enough energy, love and time for four children. (Christy is the one who spends all of her time with the kids. If she can handle it, I sure can!) What's more, I eventually had to admit that God had placed a burden on my heart for orphans like those in the choir ever since we had seen them perform. A couple of brief pregnancy "scares" showed me something else as well. I wasn't just becoming willing to raise another child, I truly wanted one! Eventually after some evenings of prayer together I realized what Christy had already embraced. There was room in our hearts and home for another child; a child that needed a family.
As excuses melted away, we knew what we wanted for our family, and we believed it was what God wanted as well. It was time to stop being scared and just get started. So here we are many months later. We have filled out all of our forms and are now waiting to hear from the People's Republic of China of a little girl who needs to find a family. We will keep you posted!
Thursday, June 7, 2007
So, that's the first I've heard of this...
No, I'm kidding.
Christy and I are thrilled to be preparing room for a new daughter. Ben and Reagan are excited as well, but it is hard for them to think too seriously about anything that is still two years away. As a new three year old, Tommy just pretends he has no idea what we are talking about.
I'll write more later. I hope that some of you find the thoughts we post here over the next couple of years to be interesting or maybe even useful.
Christy and I are thrilled to be preparing room for a new daughter. Ben and Reagan are excited as well, but it is hard for them to think too seriously about anything that is still two years away. As a new three year old, Tommy just pretends he has no idea what we are talking about.
I'll write more later. I hope that some of you find the thoughts we post here over the next couple of years to be interesting or maybe even useful.
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