I800A Approved and Dossier on its Way to Poland!

On Friday, I called the USCIS and was told our I800a had been approved the day before (March 8)!  We received the Approval letter in the mail on Monday, March 12.  That afternoon I took it to the state capitol to be authenticated, added it to the stack of documents known as our Dossier and sent it via Fedex to our agency.

I am happy to report that our worker at the agency emailed today to say that she had just received our Dossier and that she was sending it back out with Fedex today to Poland!

Here is a photograph of all of the documents we were required to gather from various states, agencies, departments, etc., ie., this is the Dossier (minus the Approval letter which I had not authenticated yet).  The page on top of each of the 30 documents bares the $10 gold apostille (authentication) seal.  An apostille is the State's authentication of the notary's signature.  So each document is notarized and apostilled.

Now, to count down the days to completion of translation and submission to the Polish government!

Patience

Still no i800a approval.  In fact, our application has still not been assigned to a case officer.  I know because I have called the designated Hague adoption line once a week since we received notice that our paperwork was received by USCIS on February 7.  I can't help myself.  So, today is one month from being in USCIS' hands without so much as a once over glance by an officer.  It's also one month past Luka's first birthday and it's my birthday.  Learning patience.

Very difficult, this patience thing.  Especially since I sent a letter with the application requesting a "medical need expedite" with a picture of Luka and explanation of his many issues.  Today, I was told that it had to be a life or death situation to get the medical expedite.  I guess the fused cranial bones threatening Luka with brain damage and the missing cranial bones that leave his tiny brain unprotected in some areas of his head are not such a big deal--they won't kill him (right now) so any permanent damage deserves no consideration.

The lady I spoke to said that most of the kids coming through the process have medical issues so they can't give an expedite to everyone.  I guess I feel like if that's the case it shouldn't take more than a month to process anyone's application.  It truly is a matter of simply verifying documents and fingerprint searches already conducted by the FBI.

Sometimes I get so worried about the length of each step and how much further out that puts Luka from being in the waiting, loving and eager arms of 6 Kanes, from being seen by medical experts AND how much longer it keeps him in the institution.

1. One month (looks like maybe 2) for the i800a approval.
2. Then three weeks for all of our paperwork with i800a approval to be sent to Poland and translated.
3. Three weeks for Poland Adoption Authority to review paperwork and send our "official referral".
4. Three weeks or so after our acceptance reaches Poland for a court date to be set to grant us permission to meet Luka and bond for two weeks.
5. A month for permission to travel and start that two week bonding period.
6. Two weeks later, court date to finalize adoption.
7. Two to three weeks for appeal period--I wait in Poland with Luka and the other kids for this period to end.
8. One week to get Luka's Visa and immigration/citizen paperwork from US Consulate in Warsaw.

Seems insurmountable.  Now that I have listed it out, I am desperately trying to keep myself from looking back up at the list or I will hyperventilate.  Just focusing on the i800a is enough drive up the blood pressure.

The one reprieve we have is that when I emailed our agency today about the status of our i800a, she told us she can go ahead and send our dossier to their representative in Poland to start the translation so it is ready to go to the Poland Adoption Authority when we do get the approval.  She's double checking and will let us know when she hears.  This could shave two to three weeks off the process.

But you can bet I'll be calling USCIS next Wednesday!