The Paper Chase - Consulate Certificate

I-800A Approval Letter

One of the extra steps in Chinese adoption is the certification of the paperwork by the Chinese consulate.  This step happens after all the documents have been authenticated by the Secretary of State in your state.  As we posted earlier, we had submitted all our documents for authentication except the I-800A approval.  Well, on 12/12/15, we received a letter from USCIS telling us our I-800A had been approved.  It didn't seem like a very official looking document so we sent it to our coordinator at Great Wall to verify.  It turns out that it was the right document so we needed to write a notarial statement saying the document was truthful and then have a notary sign that.  Then the Secretary of State authenticates that document and then we sent it to the Chinese consulate for certification.  On Tuesday, 12/15, I took the documents to the Secretary of State and paid the rush fee for certification.  Surprisingly, the lady in the office said she'd have it done within 2 hours.  Wow - that's better than the advertised 1-2 business days! 

And it turns out that was a good thing.  As I researched the next step of certification with the Chinese consulate, which is in Chicago, I started to see a potential delay.  Paperwork to the consulate must be hand delivered.  So that means a trip to Chicago or working through a courier service.  The courier service recommended, There's Always Hope, is efficient and reasonably priced and it was a no brainer decision to pay the courier fee rather than 2 round trips to downtown Chicago.  However, she is traveling to Haiti from Dec. 28 - January 6.  And it takes 4 business days for the consulate to certify the paperwork.  So, if we sent the documents overnight, they would arrive on 12/16, but would probably not get to the consulate until 12/17.  That would get the documents back on 12/23 or at the latest 12/24.  So there was no time to waste.

I took off the afternoon of the 12/16 to prepare the paperwork for overnight delivery.  As I was double checking all the paperwork and making photocopies, I found another potential problem.  On two of our letters, the date of the letter was different than that of the date we signed in front of the notary.  We called our adoption coordinator to see if it would be a problem.  If we sent the paperwork to the Chinese Consulate in Chicago, it would be rejected.  However, if we sent it to the Chinese Consulate in Washington, DC, it would be ok.  However, before the paperwork could be certificated at the DC consulate, it would have to be authenticated by the State Department.  So I spent some time researching DC couriers, the fees involved and the timeline for document approval since we would have an additional step.

In the end, I figured we would be better off sending our documents to the Chicago courier in two batches.  One batch to be processed normally and the two letters to be processed as "expedited", or two day processing.  So we sent our first batch of paperwork on 12/15.  Then on 12/16 we reprinted the letters, found a notary to get them signed.  Then I went back to the Secretary of State to drop off the paperwork.  That afternoon I went to pick up the documents, put them in an envelope and mailed them to the courier.

As it turns out, all the documents arrived in time for her to make the delivery on 12/17 so they were all processed as one batch with regular processing and should be ready by 12/24 - our Christmas present!

Fingerprinting

When we arrived home from our California vacation, we had a letter telling us we needed to report to the Milwaukee USCIS office for fingerprinting on December 8, 2015 at 9am.  Dana's Mom came over to watch the kids so Dana and I went to Milwaukee on a fingerprinting "date".

We arrived just before 9am and passed through security screening at the USCIS office.  The waiting room was fairly full, but within 30 minutes we were processed.  Our friends Ross & Jenn Franke, who were assigned a fingerprinting date approximately 1 week later arrived and requested to do fingerprinting.  However, they were denied.  The USCIS official indicated that the whole process works best when you arrive on the assigned day for fingerprinting.  That is contrary to what you read on other adoption blogs and even to some of the advice that you can get if you call USCIS.  But apparently the system is streamlined to the point where showing up on the assigned day keeps things moving forward in the best possible fashion, at least in the eyes of the Milwaukee USCIS office.

Since we finished up fingerprinting quickly and the kids were welled cared for and happily engaged in making Christmas cookies with Grandma, we extended our date a bit by stopping in Johnson Creek to look at the outlet stores for a few items.  10:30 AM on an early December Tuesday is definitely the time to do your Christmas shopping as we were the only people in some stores.

After that, we stopped in Cottage Grove at the School Grounds Cafe - an old school that has been converted into a cafe/coffee shop/art gallery.  It's always caught our eye, but we never stopped.  We shared a hot cocoa and a sandwich before heading back to the house.  Who says fingerprinting and government paperwork can't be fun!

USCIS and Secretary of State

Today our I-800A arrived at USCIS for processing just after 10am.  While we wait for that to be approved and wait for a fingerprinting date to be set, we took the rest of our documents for the dossier to the state capital for certification.  USCIS is expected to take about 30 days.  SOS is expected to take 3-5 days.

Please pray for quick processing!  Please also continue to pray for our family as we prepare for another child and for Wen as he prepares for a forever family.

Secretary of State

Wisconsin Secretary of State Doug LaFollette

No, not John Kerry.  Not the former position of presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.  But Secretary of our State - The State of Wisconsin - Doug LaFollette.  Why I am writing about the Secretary of State?  Well, he plays a role in our adoption.  If you've ever wondered what the Secretary of State does, one of his duties is to certify documents.  China requires that documents be notarized and certified whereas Korea did not have this requirement.

So I find it interesting how politics is playing a role in our adoption process.  If you recall the battle over Act 10 in the early part of 2011 when thousands of protesters filled the Capitol, Democratic senators left the state to delay the vote, and eventually the Republicans passed the bill without the missing senators.  After the bill passed, the Secretary of State publishes the law.  Ten days are allowed for the publication so the Secretary LaFollette took all 10 of those days in an attempt to delay the laws implementation.  Later, when enough petitions were signed to force a recall election of Governor Scott Walker, Doug LaFollette ran as a candidate to replace Governor Walker.  He didn't make it past the primary, but in 2014 he rolled to victory for his 10th term as Secretary of State.

Well, trying to get in the way of Republicans these days is bad for one's career.  In the most recent state budget, the office of the Secretary of State was moved from a 4,000 square foot office overlooking the Capitol to a 400 square foot office in the basement of the State Capitol.  Oh, and his staff was cut from 3 people to 1 and a part time person. 

So, I don't know if the secretary needed three staff people to perform the duties of the office or not, but instead of certifications taking a few days, the wait time is now closer to 10 days.  At this point, that is not a major concern for us because we're waiting for some other paperwork, but if we need something done quickly, it could be a concern.  The interesting world of politics.

And, if you're interested, here is an audio clip where Secretary LaFollette talks about about certifications and apostilles:
http://cdn.wrn.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Dougweb2.mp3

Homestudy Approved and Received!

Our homestudy began at the end of August. After approval from our local agency, it was sent to Catholic Charities to receive approval since they are a Hague approved agency.  We received the homestudy yesterday!  Justin drove into Milwaukee for a meeting and decided to drop off a Fed Ex envelope at our agency so the social worker could send it as soon as she received it.  While he was there, the mail arrived with the approved homestudy.  Thank you Lord for perfect timing!

Wen: God Changes Everything

Chan, Wen De

I am content.  I have four wonderful children, a loving wife, and a good job.  Life has its ups and down, but a lot more ups than downs.  I wasn’t at a point where I wanted to change a whole lot.  Well, God had different plans for our family. His name is Wen and he’ll be a part of our family as soon as we can get the paperwork done.   

That’s how I felt going into July.  That was about the time our friends Stephen and Michelle Wahe were hosting a 12 year old boy named Jacob from China for a month in hopes of finding a forever family for him through the Orphan Hosting Program.  Children in this program spend one month in the United States in hopes of finding a forever family.  At the end of the month, they return to China and if no family steps forward to adopt, the child is released from the orphanage at age 14 to fend for himself.  

As we explained this to our children, they started asking a lot of questions.  “What happens if no one adopts him?”  “Why doesn’t he have a family?”  “Why can’t we adopt him?”  Tough questions for a family that is content to answer, but we did our best to provide answers.  We prayed about the situation and prayed that Jacob would find a forever family.  We also prayed that if God were calling us to adopt this boy, that he would make it clear and that he would open our hearts to that possibility.

So a few weeks later when we found out that our friends Ross & Jenn Franke were adopting Jacob, we were overjoyed.  We were happy for the Frankes, happy for Jacob, and a bit selfishly, happy that the story had a happy ending and we didn’t have to wrestle with any difficult or life-altering choices.

But God was just giving us a break to rest up before he laid out the big challenge.  As Jacob was heading back to China, we learned about his travel companion Wen.  He had spent a month in Connecticut with a family, but unfortunately, no forever family stepped forward for him.  We felt God tugging at us to be open to expanding our family.  It would have been easy to dismiss His guidance.  We already have four wonderful children.  We’ve adopted from Korea and never from China.  Our social worker retired.  We don’t speak Chinese.  He doesn’t speak English.  We’ve never adopted a non-infant.  This will mess up the birth order in our family and our kids will probably be in counseling.  We haven’t saved for the costs involved.  The list of reasons why we shouldn’t do it went on and on.  

Jacob (left) and Wen (right) at the airport returning to China

So God enlisted our children again.  The questions started again:  “What will happen to him?”  “Why can’t we adopt him?”  Cami was especially persistent, even trying to convince her brothers that they needed another brother.  She also tried to sell them on a trip to China.  After continued prayer and discussion, we talked with Ben, Cami, and Ian (Alex really didn’t have much to say other than “underpants” which makes him laugh hysterically) and asked them to pray about adding Wen to our family.  By Monday, August 24th, our family was on board.  We were going to adopt Wen.  

We immediately went to work on starting a homestudy, gathering paperwork, and all the associated steps with adoption.  We quickly learned that China is not Korea in terms of adoption.  The paperwork burden is more intense, but we’re on our way.  

Wen (left) and Jacob (right)

At this point, our homestudy has been approved and we’ll be sending the I-800A form into the USCIS (US Citizenship and Immigration Service).  Our best guess is that we’ll be traveling in late spring of 2016.  We ask for your prayers and support as we go through this journey.  

We have not yet had the opportunity to meet Wen, but from talking to his host family they describe him as smart, caring and easy going.  He enjoyed his three host siblings and they stated he would make a great brother.  He has four siblings and two parents waiting for him.  We pray the wait is short.

Family Picture 2015