When will I travel...

Trying to determine when you will travel to Kaz is a game most families end up playing. There is no line in Kaz and the agency you use, the region you go to, the age and gender of the child you want are all factors that affect your wait.

My agency estimates that I will get my region assignment 6-9 months after dossier submittal and then travel 1-3 months later. My dossier was submitted in Decmber so it has been almost 5 months already. I have been following the blogs of other families that are with my agency, LMI. Two families just got their regions and are getting ready to travel. Comparing how long they waited once their dossier got to the MFA, I will be at that point in less than 2 months. Things tend to slow down in the summer so my best guestimate is that I will travel this fall sometime. It could be sooner or it could be later.

Summers are very hot (100+) and they do not have air conditioning. Winter are extremely cold with lots of ice and snow. So spring and fall are good times to travel. I'd rather have traveled this spring, but I will be happy to travel this fall(Of course if I have the option, I will travel this summer- air conditioning or not!!)

The baby's room

I started to work on the baby's room right after I submitted my dossier. Baby jungle animals is the theme. I have left some space on the walls for souveniers from Kaz. Alot of the really cute stuff you see in the stores are the crib bumpers, comforters and mobiles. Since the youngest my baby will be is 9 months, she will have already out grown all of those.

Who am I...

I guess I should cover this, but since I made this blog private, I figured most people would be family and friends. So for those future friends, my name is Julie and I live in central Illinois. I am currently a single mom to one furry child named Frosty. She is an American Eskimo and just a little bit spoiled. She just turned 12 last week so she is doing well for her age. She is not sure how she feels about no longer being an only child, but as long as there are plenty of dog treats involved, she will be ok. Can you tell that she hates getting her picture taken?

How does it work...

For those who have never been through an adoption process, this is a quick overview of the Kazakhstan process. First, you have a social worker complete a homestudy (HS) in which they bascially confirm that you would be a good parent and write a 5-6 page report describing your background, life and the type of parent you hope to be. You must also get clearances from pretty much every government agency ever in existance. Well, not that bad, but I have been fingerprinted 8 times already for background checks by the local DCFS, state police (2X), FBI (3X), and the USCIS(immigration) (2X). You apply for a 171h which is the immigration approval for you to bring a child into the US. There are many other forms you fill out. Every thing has to be copied, notarized and apostilled (which is basically having the state notarize your notaries signature). You bundle all of the papers up into a large pile called a dossier and send it off to your agency.Everything is translated into Russian and the dossier is sent to the NY Kazakhstan Consulate. They check to make sure you have all the appropriate paperwork and that you qualify to adopt from Kazakhstan. It is then sent half way around the worldto Kazakhstan and ends up going first to the Kazakhstan Ministry of Finanace to process(not sure what they do) and then to the Ministry of Education (MOE) which is the agency that controls adoptions in Kaz. Different adoption agencies work in different regions of Kaz. LMI works in 9 different region so the MOE decides which of these region you will travel to. Once there are children available in your region to adopt, you will get a Letter of Intent (LOI) which is your permission to travel to Kaz to begin the adoption process.Once in your Kaz region, you meet your child and bond for 15 days by visiting the child in the orphanage daily. This gives you a chance to learn something about the child and for them to become more comfortable with you. Once the bonding period is over, you must petition the regions court to allow you to adopt the child. If you are given permission to adopt, there is a 15 day appeal period to make sure that no one objects to the adoption. It is only after this appeal period is over that you are allowed custody of the child. It then takes 7-10 days to process the child's new passport, visa, and other legal papers to allow the child to leave the country. Now come the best part, you get to bring your child home. The moment your child touches US soil, they becomes a US citizen and you get to start the rest of your life. Timeframes vary with the region, the speed paperwork is completed, Kaz holidays, and backlog in the court system.

Where am I going...

Where in the world is Kazakhstan? The easiest way to locate it is to look south of Russia and west of China. It is a surprisingly large country with a large oil field that bodes well for its future. They also are the location of the Soviet space program. They are historically nomadic horse people whose country was taken over by Russia, but they regained their independence in the early 1990's. Life style ranges from living in expensive modern cities to very poor rural areas. It will probably be a few months before I know which region I will travel to. LMI operates out of 9+ regions so i am trying to learn a little about each region.

Why blog...

I've been reading other adoptive families blogs for the last few months and have finally decided to start my own. This is my first attempt at blogging so I am learning as I go. I decided to blog to help other families that follow to have a better idea of what they have to look forward to. Communication is not always easy from Kazakhstan. Blogs are a good way of letting family and friends know how things are going during the long in country stay. I hope to travel sometime this year to Kazakhstan to meet my daugther and plan to use this blog to keep anyone interested informed of my journey.