We received Meighan's passport yesterday. Now we can travel outside the country! Yippee!
Another aspect of adoption is TRUST. Several times during our paperwork process (domestic and international) I thought about how much trust is involved. You give out a LOT of personal information and you have to trust people to handle that information with care. The caseworker who does your home study needs certain information about you so that they can make an informed decision and create the home study appropriately. You give out information to get your background checks done.
Another part of the trust thing is that YOU know that YOU will do everything YOU need to do to bring your child home. You have to also trust that EVERYONE ELSE will do what THEY need to do to help you bring your child home. You trust that your caseworker will write up the home study according to the proper format. You trust that the mail/UPS/FedEX delivery people will not lose your paperwork when it is sent somewhere. You trust the courier to take your dossier to the proper places to get it authenticated (US Dept of State & Chinese Embassy in our case) and you also trust them with your passports when you need your visas. You trust that your paperwork won't get lost on a desk somewhere at the agency or at the CCAA. You trust the orphanage caregivers who are taking care of your child until you can meet her/him. You trust the airline pilots to fly the plane safely that VERY long distance so that you can meet your child.
One of the things that I suggest to anyone working on adoption paperwork is to take your paperwork yourself whenever you can. I drove to Lincoln to get our dossier state certified and drove home with it. I could have sent it but since Lincoln is close for us, that was one thing I could do to have some control.
The loss of control is another part of the trust thing. You really don't have any control whatsoever when things will happen. One other thing I highly recommend is that people keep up on the progress of where they are in the process so that they don't get "forgotten." You probably won't be forgotten but sometimes when time passes, it seems like you have been forgotten. And agencies should be very willing to talk to you at any time to answer your questions and concerns and listen to any venting. Sometimes there's nothing they can do but in my experience, they didn't mind listening to me vent.
That's all for today. Maybe I'll have more ramblings later.
No comments:
Post a Comment