My home study will start soon and I will need to compile medical and financial information and my friends will need to write references. This is where they will look at my life under a microscope to make sure I am a good person that can afford and deal with a child. They also will make sure I have no crazy illnesses.
Somewhere along this line, I will be fingerprinted and the FBI will need to sign off that I am not a fugitive...I guess. There is a mountain of other paperwork that will need to be signed, notarized and then authenticated by the US government. Then all of this paperwork goes to Ethiopia to be translated and the US authentication will need to be authenticated by them.
This is when I will actually get the chance to be matched with a child (aka get a referral). I have chosen an agency that will allow me to choose age (0-12 months) and gender (female). This referral process can take months or over a year in itself, since I am being so specific in age & gender. If I wanted a sibling group or an older child I could be matched more quickly. After the referral is accepted I have 10 days to have the medical report looked at by a doctor before I need to accept or decline the referral. Once I accept a referral, I have to wait for the court date. This can be weeks or months, since they take the summer rainy season off (about 2 months), and have other holidays, that we do not. This is where the Ethiopian government will determine if I am worthy of adopting one of their children. I will not be present at this court date. If they accept me, then that day the child will be mine.
Once approved by the court, it will be another 4-12 weeks before I actually travel to Ethiopia. I will be in Ethiopia for a week... getting custody, US visa for the child, immigration paperwork etc.
Once I return to the US, I will need to do more paperwork to have the child considered at US Citizen by adoption and get a SS#, be re-adopted in the US by me, and some other things I can't even think about right now.
I must have to have a social worker come to my house at 3, 6, 9 and 12 month times to evaluate my situation and then yearly after that until the child becomes 18. These reports are translated and sent to the Ethiopian government.
So as you can see, this is really the very beginning of this process. I could have chosen not to tell anyone, but I wanted you to share in the joy of the journey I have chosen to take.
Please be happy for me and my future child.
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