Mid-90's...a desire was placed in my heart to adopt a child
March 15, 2003...I met my husband, who saw now reason why we shouldn't adopt!
March 12, 2005...Jacob and I were married & we had 3 kiddos from '08 - '11
January 23, 2013 - Mailed adoption application to Lifeline Children's Services to adopt from Colombia
January 28, 2013 - Application ACCEPTED!!
January 31, 2013 - Assigned adoption social worker, Beth Stanley
February 3, 2013 - Began 20 hours of Colombia adoption education
February 4, 2013 - Secured home study agency and social worker, Ashley Gray with the LA Bapt. Children's Home
February 6, 2013 - Mailed 1st set of agency fees and initial paperwork
February 14, 2013 - Orientation/First Step in Home Study
February 19, 2013 - Mailed LA state and FBI fingerprints; scheduled psyc eval...
March 18, 2013 - FBI clearances came back in record time
March 19, 2013 - Psycological Evaluations
March 25, 2013 - Louisiana State Police criminal background clearance
April 4 - 6, 2013 - Home study
April 29, 2013 - Medical Evals Completed and Approved
May 5, 2013 - Filled out USCIS/Immigration Approval Application
May 9, 2013 - Psychological Eval Finalized
May 27, 2013 - Completed Adoption Education
June 27, 2013 - Home study finalization and approval - Happy Birthday to me!!
July 1, 2013 - Immigration Application sent in
August 9, 2013 - Biometrics Appointment in NOLA
September 29, 2013 - Immigration Approval Received
October 1, 2013 - Dossier officially submitted to Colombia
December 17, 2013 - Dossier APPROVED!!!
2014 - Applied for and received grant money
2014 - Just waited and received regular updates from Lifeline
February 14, 2015 - Received Silas' file to review
February 15, 2015 - Submitted a Letter of Intent to adopt Silas
April 2015 - Our LOI was accepted by the orphanage and our file was transferred from ICBF to Chiquitines
May 2015 - Chiquitines requested updates medicals and clearances
June 2015 - Gathered requested updates and returned to Chiquitines
August 28, 2015 - Received official referral for Silas!
my humble attempt at writing about my God, my kids, my family, our adoption, attempts at craftiness & sewing, & whatever else comes to mind...
Could you please tell me what your time in-country was like (duration as well as what types of things happened)? In my research, I'm finding a wide variety of estimates for how long the family stays in-country. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteCould you please tell me what your time in-country was like (duration as well as what types of things happened)? In my research, I'm finding a wide variety of estimates for how long the family stays in-country. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteHey. Rachel! I guess I need to update this timeline! It depends on the region where the child is located for in country time. Our son was in Cali and the average there is around 5 weeks (with the last week being in Bogota). We were in Colombia a total of 4 weeks to the day of receiving custody. Many families whose children are in Bogota are able to go through court in La Mesa, which cuts the in country time down to about 3 weeks...some as quickly as 2. It really just depends on the region, the court you're assigned to, and how well your in country rep advocates/pushes things through in country. Most agencies tell you to plan for anywhere from 5-8 weeks. It is not as clear and definite timeline as other countries can provide.
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