The Paperwork Heads to Haiti!

Erin called today and the paperwork has been sent! I was able to talk with her and get a better understanding of what will happen from here on out.

The paperwork should arrive in Haiti at the orphanage or "Creche" (means crib in English) as she calls it in 4-5 days. When it gets there, a lady named Angie will begin to process the paperwork. She will begin looking for children that will match our dossier requirements. She is a missionary there that works full time with the director to evaluate the dossiers and to find matches for referral.

We probably won't get any updates until after the New Year because she will be coming back to the US for the holidays.

When they have found a match for us, we will receive the formal referral. It will be accompanied by a 6-8 page document with all of the information on it pertaining to the children and with several pictures. We will be given some time to consider the referral.

After we accept the referral, they will complete a child study report on the children to be certain that those specific children are prepared for adoption fully.

Once that process is completed, the paperwork will be presented to the IBESR, the area of the Haitian government that works with the adoption process. Typically when other families have gotten to this point, it has been taking about 10 more months to have the adopted children come to the US with their new families.

Once the referral has been accepted and the government has begun processing the paperwork, the orphanage will grant us a travel approval. That will allow us to travel to Haiti to meet the children and to begin the portion of the paperwork that needs to be completed during the initial phase there.

Then we will be allowed to travel up to one time per month to see the children down in Haiti...but we are required to travel there only one additional time to bring the children home. We would love to bring Aftyn, Haley and Aiden there to meet their siblings before they come home, but we are still unsure of how all of this will come together.

We are so excited that the process continues to move forward. It has been such a blessing to see how the Lord is working through this adoption journey in so many people's lives! What a Christmas gift!

Loving the Lord!
Rebecca