Saturday, September 3, 2011

New Information on the Dossier Process

This Thursday I had the opportunity to talk with Claire, our social worker with CAN (Children of All Nations) International Adoption Agency to discuss the Dossier (our 2nd packet of information that we're busily gathering) process a bit more. We had the general gist of the process but it was nice to get a few of the gaps filled in so we can tell where we are on the timeline a little bit better.

First off, I learned that Kiki was the individual from the orphanage that was the liaison with the IBESR (Haitian Government body for adoption). So the orphanage is quickly trying to restructure their team to fulfill these duties. Pray that Pierre Alexis, who is going to transition into this role, will make a smooth transition.

I also learned about the sequence of events that will take place with our Dossier once we have it complete. We will send the Dossier off to CAN and they will review the documents. They will then break apart the Dossier and send the pieces of the Dossier to the respective states for the Secretary of State of each state to authenticate the documents. We will have documents going to Minnesota and South Dakota. This can take from a week to a month to get the paperwork back to CAN.

Once this paperwork is sent off, we can get a referral at any time. The people at CAN will work with the orphanage to find two children that would match up with our specifications. This process could take a while if there are not children that are appropriate waiting for a family placement.

When CAN receives the paperwork back from Minnesota and South Dakota, the Dossier will be compiled again and then sent to "translation." It will then be translated into Haitian Creole. This process also is varying in time frame but could be a month or more.

The next step in the process occurs when the Dossier, now translated, is sent to the Haitian Consulate. This is an office in the United States. There are a few Haitian Consulates around the country. Claire says that they vary in the length of time that they take....could be weeks...or months.

The Dossier will be approved and then sent on to the orphanage in Haiti, For His Glory or Maison des Enfants. They will review the documents and then it will be brought to the IBESR or Haitian government for approval. This process has also varied in length of time. It has taken families every where from 4 months to 24 months! Thankfully the process has been on the shorter side recently. We hope this trend will continue now that the new government is in place in Haiti.

Once the Dossier is approved by the IBESR, we will be in the home stretch. We will be able to travel to Haiti two times to complete this process. I am still a bit unclear in the timing of these trips and I am aware that it varies because the time of referral is different for each adoptive family. We will be required to take two trips to Haiti but are allowed to take more if we would like. We will go on the first trip to fill out preliminary paperwork over there and to meet the children.

The final visit will be when we travel there to bring the children home with us. We will be united with the children and will have some bonding time before leaving the country and heading home with our forever family complete. We are so excited for this part of the process. It will be such an adventure.

There is an opportunity to travel to be with the kids between the first and last trip. It is also possible for other family members to come along so they can meet the other kids and to see the orphanage. This would be a wonderful opportunity to learn about the culture for the rest of the family as well.

I spoke with Claire about an overall timeline and she was hesitant to even give me a ball park because it varies so much...but after talking for a while, it sounds like once our paperwork makes it into the hands of the IBESR, it will likely still take about one year or so. I am estimating that the rest of the process will at least take 18 months from now.

We are still feeling very patient. We are just looking forward to finishing with our part of the process. When the paperwork is sitting at our house, it feels like we are the ones holding it up. It is still in our control. Once the Dossier leaves our home, we will be no longer the ones holding it up and we will just have to wait patiently as the Lord guides the process. We are excited to have everything come together, but we know that the Lord's timing is perfect and we are willing to be patient.

We are so thankful for all of the people that show support of our decision to move forward with the adoption. I think that this process and these children will be a blessing to all people that they come into contact with! I can't wait to see how many ways people will be blessed.

Well, that about wraps up the new information that I have received. We continue to work on the Dossier and are excited as the pieces are coming together. Blessings to all.

Rebecca

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