Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Good news/Icky news

For anyone who knew how crazy we were to get all of our immigration paperwork in this month- we have great news! We were told that it could take a few months to process and approve our application. Our goal was to get our I-600 A (application to adopt internationally) approved and get our I-797C (basically your approval letter) back in time for our trip. We have an appointment scheduled in Port Au Prince on December 16th to file another round of paperwork but we needed this form back. Well... in an amazing feet of U.S. government efficiency, we received teh I-797C last week! We noticed that the original had been sent to the central processing center in New Hampshire, not Port Au Prince, as we requested. Ah hah! This is where it goes wrong, right? Well, a few quick phone calls later and we find out that the form has indeed been forwarded to PAP and in record time!

As for the dossier that is being translated to be sent to Haiti- that is taking much longer than we anticipated. Apparently, the translator was backed up- not exactly a great sign. Hopefully, the documents will be sent to PAP next week and the Haitian part of the process can begin.

We've had lots of questions about "why this takes so long" so we figured we'd try to give everyone an idea-

The Adoption Process
Minister of Foreign Affairs (MFA)
2-14 weeks
First Legalization (1st Legal). This is where all of the papers are authenticated.

File prepared for IBESR (Concurrent with MFA)
1-4 weeks
When the paperwork is at Foreign Affairs, the lawyers prepare your file for IBESR. IBESR requires that the paperwork be in a certain order. The child's social history and psychological examination required by IBESR for your child must be made during this period. It involves putting the child's social information into a home study format with your home study information.

IBESR
2-6 months
Your child's paperwork is put together with your documents and the file is then presented to IBESR (Haiti's Social Service Department) where a social worker will look over all of your documents and decide whether to approve your adoption request.The director of IBESR, the IBESR lawyer, the head of adoption services at IBESR, and the IBESR social worker must all sign off on your dossier. This is four stages of approval.

Parquet
2-12 weeks
This step involves asking all of the birth parents to come for interviews to make sure that they understand that there children are being adopted. Apparently there was some fraudulent activity going on and he wants to protect the birth parents interests. i.e. make sure they are in agreement.

Civil Court Legalization
2-8 weeks
The adoption is finalized. After this point, the children are legally yours. (2nd Legal)

Minister of Interior Affairs (MOI)/Haitian Immigration
5-20 weeks
The file is submitted to three levels of approval and reviewed for accuracy. Upon completion, the file is submitted to the passport process. The passports are printed in the adopting parents last name.

DHS Processing (U.S. Parents)
1-3 weeks
I-600 is filed by adopting parents. File is reviewed and approved by DHS

DNA Testing
0-6 weeks
May or may not be necessary. Depends on DHS' opinion.

Consulate/Visa Appointment
1 week lead
Child receives visa in preparation for travel to their new home
time

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