| Five years ago today, I was in Kazakhstan, in the | | | | for Russian and Ukrainian Adoption, at and The |
| middle of the most important event of my life. I was | | | | Eastern European Adoption Coalition at |
| becoming a mother! I met my daughter just a couple | | | | >From reading these sites, I learned the first thing I |
| of weeks earlier, though I had dreamed of her my | | | | needed to deal with was the INS, and submit the |
| entire life. | | | | I600A (Application for Advance Processing of Orphan |
| As 5 years is a milestone, I took this opportunity to | | | | Petition) to get the all-important I-171H. (I've learned |
| read the online journal that I kept during the | | | | the numbers for lots of official forms in the past |
| experience. Perhaps it will help others in their journeys | | | | year!) This process can take 4-6 months, so it's the |
| to parenthood.... | | | | logical first step. |
| Part 1: How the Journey Began | | | | The second step is the homestudy. This must be |
| 11-4-2000 | | | | done by a licensed social worker or adoption agency |
| Today is my 41st birthday. And I'm finally about to | | | | in your state. A homestudy is required for any |
| become a mother! | | | | adoption-domestic or international-and is also a |
| It's been a long, difficult "pregnancy". When my | | | | time-consuming process. Mine consisted of four visits |
| daughter arrives, she'll be 18 months old, and will have | | | | with a social worker, including a visit to my home, |
| a lot in her past to overcome. She's currently living in | | | | during which every aspect of my life was scrutinized. |
| an orphanage in Karakastek, Kazakhstan and I leave | | | | The outcome is a six-page report stating that I'm |
| Los Angeles to bring her home on November 18! This | | | | approved for the adoption of a child. This homestudy |
| is going to be a very long two weeks. | | | | report becomes part of the dossier that you must |
| I began this adoption journey almost 18 months ago. | | | | compile. |
| It was last June when I realized I was coming up on | | | | So, I filed the I600A, got fingerprinted by the FBI |
| my 40th birthday, and decided that I was no longer | | | | (part of the INS process), and got started on the |
| going to wait for the right man to come along to | | | | homestudy (which includes being fingerprinted by the |
| help me have a child. I've always known that I'd be a | | | | local police department-no, the FBI and police can't |
| mother, and always believed it would happen well | | | | use the same fingerprints... that would make too |
| before I turned 40! | | | | much sense!), and tried to decide which adoption |
| So, that night I got on the Internet and began | | | | agency to use. |
| researching international adoption. Something led me | | | | I must have sent away for 30 packages from |
| in that direction. The idea of a domestic adoption | | | | various agencies, and joined a bunch of internet |
| passed through my mind very quickly, as I didn't think | | | | mailing lists consisting of people in various stages of |
| a birth mother would choose a single, 40 year old | | | | international adoption to get as much information as I |
| woman as the new mother for her child when a "full | | | | could compile. |
| family" was easily available. Plus the problems inherent | | | | After about a month, I finally decided to use a small |
| in the US foster care system and adoption laws | | | | agency based in Cokeville, Wyoming, called Focus on |
| quickly made me realize this was not the route I was | | | | Children. I chose them because they are small, it's |
| meant to take. | | | | family-run (two sisters who both adopted children |
| My heritage is Russian, so I began researching the | | | | from Eastern Europe) by people who are in it for the |
| plight of orphans in the former Soviet Union, and | | | | kids. Their fees are low, and they give a lot of |
| found that there were over 600,000 children living in | | | | humanitarian aid to the regions that their children |
| orphanages there. Though obviously not an easy | | | | come from, something I can't say about a lot of the |
| process, it was one I decided to embark upon. | | | | bigger agencies out there. |
| I began researching agencies and figuring out what | | | | I requested a baby girl less than 12 months old, and |
| paperwork I needed to assemble on the journey to | | | | was told the wait would be 4-6 months for a referral |
| find my daughter. I found two great resources on | | | | after submitting my completed dossier. So, the paper |
| adopting a child from Eastern Europe the first night I | | | | chase began! |
| got on the Internet to start reading. FRUA, Families | | | | |