FAQ's

Lately we have been getting a lot of questions about the adoption.  Here are some FAQ's and the best answers I can give.

1.  Where are you in the process?
We have completed our home study visits (4) and the paperwork involved in that (obtaining originals of birth certificates, marriage certificate, all family had medical exams and blood work, pet vet records, letters of reference, employment verification, criminal background checks, child abuse clearances for all states lived in).  I am sure I am missing some of the paper work stuff.  There is A LOT!  The home study involved interviews with us about our marriage, parenting styles as well as separate interviews that looked at our past.  Kyrie also had a simple interview of her own.  The social worker also took notes as she walked around our home.  Once the home study is written up (hopefully very soon) we will drive to our agency in Greenville SC to review it and it will be sent to our adoption agency in Portland, OR.

We are currently working on our Dossier.  This is what we send to China that is basically our family profile.  It includes all of the home study paperwork plus some more including family photos and home photos and passport info.  Once the Dossier is sent to China we can become LID which means Locked in Dossier.  At that point a larger number of children are available for us to be matched with.  Because Brooks is so young we have decided to go this route rather than be matched with an older waiting child.  We want to maintain birth order.

2.  Are you sure you are adopting a girl?
Yes, although I do not have a strong preference either way, Brad and Kyrie do.  Now that we have planned and imagined having another girl, I couldn't picture it any other way.

3.  Will you have to travel?
Yes, we will travel to China for about 2 weeks.  The kids will be cared for at home by their grandparents.  The two weeks are spent seeing sights and learning about the culture as well as having medical exams, completing paperwork and maintaining a visa for our new daughter.

4.  When do you think you will have her?
There is no exact science to figuring it out but, we are assuming next spring.  We will know more once we are matched with a baby and our dossier is in China.

5.  Why are you adopting?
My first blog entry explains this very well.  It's truly a calling from God.  We chose China for a number of reasons. First and foremost, after prayer it felt like the right decision.  In addition is a rather short process, there is a huge need and China is one of the only countries where 1 travel is required.

6.  Besides the normal delays of being in an orphanage will there be anything else medically wrong?
We are adopting through the waiting child program.  All of these children have some type of special need.  We have met with our social worker and adoption agency to discuss what type of need we feel we can handle as a family. 


Okay, those are most of the FAQ's we get.  I will add to them as we get them.  Don't be afraid to ask.  We love questions.