Paper Chasing

This part of the adoption process I highly under appreciated. I figured that if I gathered my paperwork quickly the whole process would go smoothly and quickly. I did not realize that although I was in a hurry, every other person in the world could care less how quickly my dossier was completed. This was just the beginning in my lesson in patience.

My criminal background check was is an excellent example. Twice they spelled our names wrong and once they typed up the wrong address. During my fourth visit to the office, the secretary complained about my being "SO PICKY" . She also informed me that she was tired of having to type up my forms. I immediately let her know of my feelings. I broke out into tears right then and there. I told her that she may be unhappy about all the mistakes, but I could guarantee that I was much more upset about it. I explained that "Every time you type it up incorrectly that means one more day that my daughter spends living in an orphanage." I went on to say that it meant one more day that I would miss holding my daughter in my arms, and one more day of her life that I would miss out on!!! Then, I looked right at her and said " If it's typed correctly this time, then we will both be happy, and my daughter will get to come home." The secretary quietly replied "I will make sure that it is right this time". It was!!

We also had to wait almost 2 months for our I171 form. We called the office many times but the person in charge never seemed to be able to give us any other answer than they were working on it.

Finally, after a total of 41/2 months we could send our Dossier to China.

How We Started Our Adoption

In January of 2006, we started the adoption process with an agency in our state. One week after starting the home study process, I read about a special needs little girl in Datong, China who was waiting for a family. She was trying to be placed by a different agency than ours. I knew that our agency did not work with others, yet I felt like I had to find out more about this little girl. Her name was Kang and she was born with microtia. I requested her picture, and as soon as I saw her face I knew that she was my daughter. I said a little prayer and within an hour I contacted the agency about starting the process to bring my daughter home. When my husband came home that night, I let him know what I had done. My husband was very surprised to say the least. He was not sure about taking on the medical issues of a special needs child. We had discussed adopting a special needs child before, but had never pursued the idea. He thought a decision like that should not be made so quickly. I reminded him that a decade ago, he asked me to marry him, after knowing each other for only 6 weeks.
He looked at her picture, then asked me "How can you be so sure?".
I simply replied "A mother knows her child."
He was quiet for a moment, and then he asked "How do we bring her home?"