The process to adopt from China can be different depending on whether or not you wish to adopt a 'healthy' young child or a special needs child, one with medical needs or who is older. The process also is different depending on whether all of your paperwork is in China or not at the time of a match. We found Min before submitting our paperwork. She was being advocated for by a mom who met her and wanted to help Min find a family. Because she is older, and has medical needs, we were able to submit our intent to adopt and then get all of the paperwork to China. We filled out some paperwork about ourselves along with our plan for Min's medical care in the USA and submitted it China. They approved us to adopt Min as long as our paperwork, ie home study and US Immigrations, is in order. We are waiting for our home study to be done, we have submitted all of our information to the home study agency. Once that is finished we can send in our application to US Immigrations. Once that is finished a packet of all the paperwork with government seals on it goes to China. China approves it and we get a specific Immigrations approval for Min as opposed to just any orphan. Once we have that, China gives us an approval to travel. Then the US gives us a scheduled Consulate date so that we can get Min's visa to leave China. Then we fly to China and get to meet and officially adopt Min.
We are with a great agency who will help things go smoothly and quickly. We are hoping that the home study is done quickly and that immigrations accepts our request for expedition. Luckily some of the steps are can be processed through email which takes out the mail time between China and the US.
And at the end of that process is Min. What a great community she is going to get to come home to! Last night some friends of our stopped by. Their family had been talking about Min and their two young sons wanted to help. Their oldest son lost a tooth, and wanted to donate his tooth fairy money to help bring Min home. Their younger son had less money to give but wanted Min to know he loved her so he gave us his tool box with his toy tools so that Min would have toys to play with. How do I say thank you for something like that? How do I express my appreciation for welcoming our daughter with such amazing love? How do I say thank you to the many, many people who have taken the time to donate to help us expedite Min's adoption? How do I show my gratitude for the prayers and support given to our family? We have had friends, family and people we have never met donate to Min's fund. People have passed envelopes at work to collect donations. A friend designed a piece of jewelry and is donating all of the profits for Min. Family members are fund raising in different parts of the country. Adoption advocacy blogs have featured Min.
I can not express the great appreciation I have. It is a truly humbling thing to ask for help. We would not be able to expedite her adoption on our own. With all of my heart I thank you.
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