I am reeling from the news we received today that Ethiopia will be limiting adoptions to families with 5 or fewer children in the home. The good news for our family is that the new rules will not apply to us since we are already in the process. The bad news, however, is that a once large family-friendly country will join the ranks of many others who exclude families because of the number of children in their families.

From what I learned from our agency, exceptions will be made for families wanting to adopt HIV+ children, those with severe special needs and for sibling groups of more than three children. (There’s more than a little irony there. “I’m sorry, your family is too big... more

Out of all the steps of international adoption, I dread this one the most. When we first began adopting, we had to travel two hours away to the sheriff’s office in our nearest big city. It was an inconvenience, but doable, and we ended up making a fun day out of it. The second time we adopted, we found out the sheriff’s office would no longer do the fingerprinting because it was too much hassle for too little money. We ended up having to travel two hours in the opposite direction to a tiny little town to have it done. This time, it was a pain, but it still... more

In part two, I discussed the many sources of knowledge and support to which we turned as we made the decision about adopting a child with special needs. Even though Cora has been home with us for more than six months now, I am amazed at the help that seems to bubble up continuously to help us stay on the right path. We have a wonderful physical therapist and a fabulous occupational therapist, a super TVI/COMS (teacher of the visually impaired/certified orientation and mobility specialist), and a skilled family support specialist who are all a part of Cora’s care and growth. (I might add that she also... more

Anyway, this was darn frustrating to me. It’s unbelievable to me that someone who works in the Social Security office doesn’t know about the Child Citizenship Act. But even more than frustrating, it’s scary. Just because we know a child is a citizen doesn’t mean everyone will, and it’s important that we secure that tangible proof for each child.

For the last couple of years, issuance of the Certificate of Citizenship has become automatic for children entering the country on an IR-3 visa. As I’ve written about before, many Certificates are issued in the child’s original name, or version of the adoptive name not necessarily chosen by the family. Even though it’s maddening to have... more

Yesterday, I traveled as planned to our nearest Social Security office to apply for Social Security cards for our four newest children and to request a name change for our first adopted child, Maizie, whom we brought home from China in December of 2002.

When the woman behind the desk asked for proof of Maizie’s citizenship, I had her Maizie’s Certificate of Citizenship, which she unceremoniously refused. It turned out that the USCIS office who issued the Certificate had not filled in the certification portion at the bottom (it was signed and sealed, but with no dates or other information filled in), but I had never noticed. How I will get this fixed remains to be seen, but that’s... more

Other perks include the fact that the sheriff's office keeps criminal record check forms on their hard drive with our names on them. Seriously. Our local McDonald's offered to do an all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast to help us fundraise for our first adoption. Professionals (bank presidents, doctors and nurses, etc.) who have to write letters or complete forms for us know us personally and understand how important it is that we get those documents back quickly. Our needs aren't lost in a pile of papers, gathering dust, because a doctor doesn't know us from Adam.

On the flip side, the biggest drawback we've discovered is that it's impossible to keep adoption plans a secret. The... more

Last night my husband and I went out to for Chinese food and a movie with our friends J and D, who are adopting from Haiti. D is also our family doctor, and because he'd just completed our adoption physicals, he brought our notarized doctor letters for our Ethiopia dossier to the restaurant. I thanked him for being so prompt, tucked the envelope into my purse and didn't think about it much after that.

Last night when my husband and I pulled into the garage, I realized I no longer had the envelope. I looked all over the car and couldn't find it, so I figured I must have dropped it at the theater and would have to call them when they opened. I was pretty worried I'd never find... more

Yesterday I received our Ethiopia dossier packet in the mail at about 11:00, and from the moment I opened the envelope, I went full steam ahead with my work! The older kids were busy working on their schoolwork, and I told the younger ones that today would be our “off” day (they do school 4 days a week and we have a floating day off) and that they would get to play. There were no complaints there, so I camped out at the kitchen table with my computer, my adoption binder, the new packet, and a pen. I made copies, wrote letters, adeptly printed notarial blocks onto copies of birth and marriage certificates (OK, so I wasted about 20 sheets of paper before I got it right), and filled out our... more

For information about applying for a social security card for an internationally adopted child: link

For a domestically adopted child: link

And for those concerned about the proposed USCIS rate increases, the public is invited to comment on the proposals until April 2. Below is the pertinent information:

Fees are increasing at USCIS. The following is an outline on how the increase affects adoption. Please feel free to forward this message to any agency, listserv, group or individual who may... more

Which leads me to the other reason I’ve been pulling my hair out this week. I appreciate the Child Citizenship Act, I really do. It was wonderful to get our newest children’s Certificates sent automatically rather than having to file a bunch of paperwork and submit a large fee. The problem is, our Haitian kids’ certificates came with names assigned by the Haitian courts, rather than the names we’d chosen for the kids. At $220 apiece for corrected Certificates, I decided to put this off until I have a spare $660 lying around (ha!). Unfortunately, I discovered that the United States Citizenship and Immigration (USCIS) department is proposing a rate increase (aren’t they always?) that will... more