Tuesday, March 11, 2014
Give me a deadline!
I've always worked best with deadlines. Tell me you need a newsletter written "sometime this winter" and you likely won't get it the day before the Spring Equinox. But tell me you need it "by next Friday at noon," and you'll have it—rain or shine, sickness or health. I'll get it done. So this open-ended arrival date is not good for me. I need someone to tell me the kids will be here on (fill-in-a-specific-day-and-maybe-even-time). Then I will spring into action, and by that day we will have:
- set up four extra beds in our house
- purchased a car big enough for six people
- figured out what we're doing for school
- researched the best ESL programs in Philadelphia
- reworked our grocery budget
- etc. etc. etc.
When will the kids arrive? This is the question everyone is asking, including us. We don't know an exact day the kids will arrive. Here's what we do know:
1. Our dossier (that's the big fat file containing every thing there possibly is to know about us) has been translated and delivered to Peru's Central Authority for Adoptions (DGA). It was the head of that department who granted the exception to the law about there needing to be 18 years between the kids and the adoptive parents. So we know we're on their radar, which may or may not help things go more quickly for us. We also know they want to process our adoption before the girls turn 16 in the middle of May, so we're hoping that helps moves things along, as well.
Time frame estimate: March-April-May (to get approval)
2. We're told that the DGA always asks for additional information or revisions to our dossier (to prove they read it, according to our adoption agency case worker). Hopefully that will be something simple that we can take care of in a few days.
Time frame estimate: March-April
3. After the revisions, our dossier goes to some sort of committee called a "consejo." We're told these consejos are typically held once a month at the end of the month. This is where we'll be assigned specific children.
Time frame estimate: April-May-June
4. After we have the approval and assignment from Peru, we have to apply to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). We've already received preliminary approval from them, but the second step is to receive approval for those specific children to enter the country. This takes 1-2 months.
Time frame estimate: May-June-July-August
5. That approval from USCIS is our green light to travel. The adoption agency asks us to arrive in Peru on a Sunday so that we can begin the ultimate adventure race to various bureaucratic institutions to finalize the adoption process in Peru. That's supposedly a 3-5 week process.
Time frame? May-June-July-August-September
5b. Our adoption agency here in the States works closely with an attorney in Peru who will help us navigate the process once we travel to pick up the kids. We just learned that she will be on vacation for three weeks at the end of May/beginning of June. So I suppose nothing much will happen while she's away.
So when will the kids arrive? Your guess is as good as ours. Could be May. Could be September. Ack! Someone give me a deadline. Lie to me if you must.
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