Orientation...

Last Saturday (sorry this is late, I've been busy) was orientation. We spent 4 hours at CCAI with 32 other couples. 9 of those couples were going back for a second or even third child. The whole think started out like I've always pictured AA meetings starting. The person who started it, said her name, and that she was an adoptive parent (and she works there as well). It was almost like "I'm Sally (not real name), and I'm an adoptive parent." Then, introductions for all 33 couples. This went much like the lady starting the orientation, "We're the Smiths, and this is our first adoptive child," or "We're the Jones, and this is our second adoptive child." I just wanted to say "Hi Jones," or "His Smiths" after each intro.
After this, Lily, the co-founder of CCAI, got up and yep, "I'm Lily, and I'm an adoptive parent." She went into the history of the agency, the charities they run, and a little bit about the cultural center.
Next, it was on to the part we all expected, what it takes to get through this slow and painful process. We found out we needed certified copies of pretty much every document we've ever seen, including marriage license, birth certificates and even a financial statement that we put together. This information has to go though a wild process. First they have to be notarized (birth certificates excluded) then sent to the Secretary of State in the state they were issued or notarized (all documents). The Sec. of State then "Certifies" the notary or certification of the document. Then the documents need to come back to us, so we can send them to the Chinese consulate to be "Authenticated" which is basically the consulate certifying the Secretary of States certification of the notary's certification of the document.
We needed to get background checks, which we did through the CBI. The good news is, they came back clean (no arrests). The bad news, now they have to be notarized, certified and authenticated.
We still need to fill out the I600 form for immigration, and do our home study.
We were hoping to hear from the social worker at orientation, but no luck. However, we had a message on our phone before we got home from her! So tomorrow, we have our first of 4 home study visits.
After all these documents are completed, we'll need to send our dossier to China for Chinese approval, then wait.
Oh, there's one more thing. The I600 is filled out to get approval to adopt, which is an I-171 form. This form is only good for 18 months, but the whole process could take longer than that. If it does, we'll have to have the home study done again, as well as complete more forms and redo fingerprinting (a total of about $1500). I guess that's just part of the game if we want to adopt. I'll write more about the first home study visit tomorrow or Monday.