What Happens Next?

Most people I talk to are very surprised when they hear that we still have a year or more of waiting before our daughter comes home. For those of you new to the international adoption world let me fill you in on what happens next.

Jonathan and I have submitted paperwork to USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) for approval to adopt little girl "A." Once we get that approval we will fill out more paperwork which will allow us to obtain Article 5 from India. That is a crucial piece of paperwork that will come into play further along in the adoption process.That is what is left of the paperwork we need to complete...at least I think that's all.

Everything else is a matter of waiting on India and their timeline. Here are the key pieces of the process over in India and they will hopefully give you a glimpse into the rest of our journey.

ARC: State Approval. Currently we are waiting to receive ARC. There is an unknown wait for the state approval. It all depends on how often the committee in our daughter's state meets and what requirements they have for families adopting out of their particular state. We have been told it will most likely take months, possibly even up to 9 months or longer. We will obviously be praying for a quick review of our case.

NOC (Non-Objection Certification): Federal Approval. Once a family receives ARC their case is passed on to the federal committee. This committee meets regularly so this approval should happen somewhat quickly once we have passed state approval. Sadly, we have heard of families being turned down at this point. We have also heard of families receiving ARC and NOC within days of each other. Once again...there are no guarantees. Families must have Article 5 to receive NOC approval. At this point in time we will be allowed to send a photo book to our daughter, up until this point she probably will have no idea that she has a family pursuing her.

Court: Once families receive ARC and NOC approval their case goes before a judge. This is another step in the process which has an unknown time-frame. The court process can happen in one sitting or the judge may take numerous appointments before approving a family. Often times families are given verbal approval and then wait weeks to receive the actual paperwork.

Passport: Once the orphanage has the court approval in hand they will apply for the child's passport.This process could take weeks or months. Are you seeing a pattern here?!? There is just a lot of uncertainty with timeframes. I believe during this time we will work with our agency to arrange travel plans and obtain entry visas for India. This is the last step before travel!!!

Anyone confused yet?!? To sum up, currently we are waiting on ARC (state approval) and the timeline we have been given from acceptance of referral to travel is 12-14 months. So obviously we don't expect to hear any news soon but you will certainly hear from me when we have something new to report. Please continue to pray for our daughter as she waits for us and please lift us up as we prepare to become a family of 4.