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Since I have so many people ask exactly what is involved I will try and record each task. Here is a list of the documents we need for our Dossier and what we have accomplished so far.
Dossier
Birth Certificates for Hugh & Patricia Marriage certificate adoption petition employer verification non-employment verification-Patricia financial statement physical for both Hugh & Patricia Local Police Clearances for Hugh & Patricia Home-study - (we will only need an update) - I171H Approval
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- All these must be notarized, authenticated by the secretary of state from which they originated, verified and authenticated by the Washington US State Dept. and then authenticated by the Chinese Embassy.
- 8 family photos as directed in our CCAI dossier guide.
- passports have
- 3 passport pictures each have
- copies of passports have
Abbreviations: CCAI- our adoption agency Chinese Children Adoption International - CAS our homestudy agency - HS=homestudy - DTC=Dossier to China - LID =log in date (this is when your dossier(paperwork/photos) are logged in at the CCAA - CCAA=China Center of Adoption Affairs - Items in Red signify documents needed for dossier.
Aug. 4, 2006 application mailed to CCAI (Chinese children Adoption International.
Aug. 14 application approved! No matter how many times you've done this it is still nerve racking.
Aug. 18 Home study contract faxed (we will only need a pre-placement update which is less than half the price!
Aug. 21 contracts and 1st agency fee mailed to CCAI
Aug. 22 contract, application, statement and app. fee mailed to Home study agency CAS (Christian Adoption Services)
Aug. 22 criminal check for HS (aww they know us by know and waived fee)
Aug. 24 criminal record check and update info. mailed to CAS
Aug. 25 HS and dossier Physicals done ( will pick up next week sometime after blood work results are in and forms are notarized and yes, no matter how many times you done this it is still nerve racking!)) I also typed up our employment verification, wording for local police clearances, adoption petition (where you request the gender and age of the child you would like to adopt)
Aug. 26 - I spoke with our SW. ( she is such a sweetie) She is going to come out Sept. 10 for our post placement for Piper and our pre-placement for #3. This will give me time to get the rest of my paperwork. One lucky thing is that we only need an update since we had our last HS done a year ago. God is good!
Aug. 29 - Non-Job verification notarized
Aug. 31 - Physicals picked up at doctors office.
Sept. 1 - 1600A mailed to USCIS
Sept. 1 - Police clearances requested - said we could pick them up Tues. as this is Labor Day weekend.
Sept. 1 - Birth Cert. & Marriage Cert. mailed to Secretary of State of SC for Certification.
Sept. 1 - Physicals for HS, girls medicals, insurance coverage page mailed to CAS.
Sept. 5 - Adoption Petition & financial statement notarized. Physicals & adoption petition faxed to CCAI for review. I also picked our notarized Police Clearances.
In the past I have waiting until I had all my documents to mail them off to the Sec. of State in NC for verification and authentication but I am thinking about going ahead and sending the ones I have ready now - physicals, police clearances, adoption petition, finical statement & non-job verification. The fee for verification and authentication from NC state is 10.00 each. SC state was only 2.00!
Sept. 8 - Received our BC's & MC back from the SC Secretary of State. Our caseworker called from the HS agency and we have rescheduled our visit for Sat. Sept. 16. She will conduct three visits in one plus Piper's last post placement visit. She will then come out the next Sat. for our last pre-placement visit.
Sept. 11 - Hugh's employment verification was signed today - I will have it notarized here on Sat.
Sept. 14 - I made a boo boo. My 1600A was returned because I was $60.00 short. I was careless and sent the old fees. sigh. oh well. The letter also said at the time it was taking 140 days for processing from the time of receipt. I sent it again overnight so looks like my new prediction date will be March DTC/LID. It is all in God's hands.
Sept. 16 - We had our final homestudy visit and I was told she would have it done by Sunday the 24th. I am waiting to here from USCIS in Charlotte. so for now we are at a stand still. As soon as I have the Home Study I will send everything off for certification and authentication. I see so many people under other USCIS offices getting their I171H so quickly.
Sept. 22 - I received receipt from USCIS that our application was received. We now wait for a fingerprinting apt.
Sept. 26 - Fed Ex'd - physicals, police clearances, employment verifications, adoption petition and financial statement to NC Sec. of State Authentication department. I will send the HS and I171H when I receive those. I am wanting to go ahead and send our documents to Wash. and the Chinese embassy before our BC's and MC is 6 months old.
October 9 - Documents received from the NC Secretary of State. Still no word on a fingerprinting apt.
Nov. 1 - Received an email reply from USCIS stating it would be 15-30 more days before we even receive a fingerprint appt. sigh
Nov. 8 - The Charlotte, NC USCIS is just now processing I600A's with the receipt date of July 10, 2006. That's 4 months. According to this time line it will not be until the end of Jan. when they process the ones for the middle of Sept. Which means we may receive our I171H the end of Feb. or March. This means maybe a May LID date....? So much for Dec. thanks to the USCIS... So maybe a Dec. 2008 referral?? Oh well, It is in God's timing not mine. I'll just be here waiting! ;)
Nov. 9 - received fingerprinting appt. for Dec. 5th.
Nov.12 - Sent in MCC to agency
Dec. 5 - Fingerprinted
Dec. 5 - All dossier documents (except the I171H) Fed Ex'd to The Assistant Stork courier service. They will hand deliver these to the US Dept. of State for authentication and then walk them over the the Embassy of China for authentication. I really need to get started on collecting these pictures.... I always wait so late to do this!
Dec. 13 - Received papers back from the Assistant Stork.
Dec. 14 - Dossier Fed Ex'd to CCAI with second agency fee and CCAA fee - minus I171H and pictures.
Dec. 15 - Dossier received at CCAI along with 2nd agency fee and CCAA fee.
Dec.21 - I171H received! Thank you Lord!
Dec. 22 - I 171H notarized as a copy and Fed Ex'd to NC Secretary of State
Dec. 27 - I 171H received back from NC Sec of State
Dec. 28 - I 171H Fed Ex'd to the Assistant Stork for US Dept. of State and Chinese Embassy authentication. An overnight Fed Ex. envelope was enclosed so it can go straight to CCAI. Also - Fed Ex'd passport photos, 12 family photos and passport copies to CCAI. This will complete everything we need to send! yeah!
Jan. 6, 2007 - CCAI received our I171H so we are done. (thanks to Laura from the Assistant Stork! I can't say enough great things about her!!) Now our complete dossier will go through critical review and translation. We will then receive a DTC date and then an LID date.
Jan 12 - Our dossier was mailed to China
Jan 19 - our dossier was received at CCAI
Feb. 7, 2007 - LID!! Our dossier was Logged in at CCAA today. :) God is good Nov. 16, 2007 -DOR- (Date of Referral)
Liu Xiao Hua soon to be Paisley XiaoHua LuSong... 14 months old waiting in Xiamen, Fujian China for mommmy, daddy, Sage, Piper, William, Jack and David | 
