Happy Birthday Yu-Lin

Happy Birthday!!!!

Paperwork to St Lucys and Birthday Girl

Done! The paperwork is done and will be at St Lucy's Center in Tainan for pre-approval by November 1. Also, Heartsent is letting us send a birthday gift to Yu-Lin for her 5th birthday on November 6. I had asked if we could send something anonymously, since I knew it would be presumptuous to send something from her new family when we didn’t even have pre-approval. Alex and I decided on a playmobil set that opens to a dollhouse. We made sure the princess had dark hair.

Paperwork - Round 2

Bal Jagat was not thrilled. They are still our homestudy agency, so it’s not like they are going to lose money, but the attitude was begrudging. Linda who did our homestudy in January has taken a break, and so we have been assigned to a new social worker for the update (I knew this was not going to be simple). In addition to much of the paperwork needing to be redone for Taiwan (all references to China need to go), much of the paperwork needs to be notarized. We also need to attend classes. Alex wanted to come to some of the classes even though they were boring for him. He wants to be a part of everything...even sitting around for 2 days waiting for criminal clearance from the sherriffs office.

Pasadena Picnic

It poured on the picnic today. Everyone got drenched. Since we have not seen rain here 10 months, the only umbrella we had in the car was the beach umbrella. Everyone laughed, but it was large enough to fit 5 people under. We let Val know that we indeed want to adopt Yu-Lin, and we brought a stack of paperwork that had originally been sent to Bal Jagat. Homestudy, medicals, financials all need to be redone. It seems daunting. On one of the questionnaires they ask “what stresses you out the most about adoption” and I had to say, the paperwork and having to rely on other people to do their part, the social workers, Immigration, everyone…it’s the control freak part of me.

Through the warm rain, little girls who had been adopted, mostly from China were running around the playground. Alex was looking at them with sad faces, and suddenly we thought “uh oh.” I pulled Alex aside to ask if seeing the little girls made him think maybe he didn’t want a sister. He looked at me and said, “no Mommy, seeing the little girls makes me feel like I want my sister to be home now. I’m sad that she is not here.”

Introducing Yu-Lin

Some people find out they are having a child by peeing on a stick. We went to Heartsent Adoptions in Pasadena. At 2:30 PM we met with Val from the main office and Kerry from the local Pasadena office to find out about the little girl from Taiwan. After talking for an hour about our thoughts on family, children and the realities of adopting and older child, Val handed us photos. There looking back was little girl with a mischievous smile eating Pringles potato chips. I started crying. Her name was Yu-Lin and I just wanted to hug her.



Val asks us to sleep on our decision, to make sure we are absolutely certain before moving forward. There is no room for error in Yu-Lin’s life. She is turning 5 in November and has been at St Lucy’s since she was two.

Did she find us?

After a brutal weekend at the VMA's, I'm back to reading ChinaAdoptTalk and I come across a message which goes something like this:

****
Anyone in Calif wishing for/requesting an older child?
My agency is trying to find a family for a healthy (and darling) 4 year old little girl. PM me if you would like more info...Ziggy
****

WHAT!!! So I calmly (okay maybe not so calmly) get the agency info from 'Ziggy' and call Val Free at Heartsent Adoptions up in Northern California. The little girl is in Taiwan. Val and I chat for about about about what our family is looking for...and everything clicks. Val is coming to Pasadena in a week for the annual Heartsent adoption picnic and a meeting is set for the 21st. (reminder to self - breathe)

When...

When seems to be the big question. Friends are family keep asking, and is we wish we knew. The pace of adoptions from China has come to a crawl. In 3 months they have only made their way thru only about 2 weeks worth of logged in families. They are currently up to November 7, 2005...YES 2005! At that rate with a LID of April 9, 2007...we are looking at over 3 years waiting (possibly more, or worst case the program could close down). The CCAA (China Center of Adoption Affairs) is stating that there are more domestic adoption in China and less available children. I don't know of anyone in the adoption community that truly believe that is the cause.

Since we have sent our dossier to China, I've been a number of chat board and realized there were SN kids (special needs). I didn't realize there were different paths that could be taken to adoption and I didn't know what China considered a "special need." Well turns out it can be something as simple as a birthmark. Seems that in China children with minor correctable conditions are not 'desirable,' and a lot of families can't afford even minor surgery, so they wind up as SN kids in the orphanage. 90% of the kids apparently have a cleft lip or cleft palate, which is easily corrected.

Well with this knowledge, we contacted our adoption agency and our China facilitator, and we are now on the wait list for a SN child. There are about 25 families in front of us, but this path should have us at a 15 month wait for our mei mei. When our turn comes to look at the list we will be able to review the medical records with our pediatrician and make a determination from there as to whether or not we think we can handle the need. I personally think this process may go faster since most folks want a baby AYAP (as you as possible) and we are looking for a toddler or pre-schooler.

Stay tuned....