Logistical Fortitude

Welcome to another installment of ‘What they don’t tell you about adoption.’ You get warned about the ridiculous mountain of paperwork you’ll need to fill out, but you also are reassured that somewhere other mortals have accomplished this task. So it may be difficult, but it is doable. When you get the list of paperwork that needs to be filled out (for us that’s items A through Q) you realize that you have inadvertently signed up for a government sponsored scavenger hunt. The thing is, there’s no second place. It’s all or nothing, and only winners need apply.

Last Saturday, we received in the mail our last 2 pieces of paperwork! We needed our background checks certified and they finally arrived. In layman’s terms, this leg of the journey involved driving to Evanston to get fingerprinted, wait 2 weeks for background paperwork, when it comes in the mail, call the State and tell them the number on the bottom of the form they just sent you, then wait another two weeks for them to send you a certified copy of what you’ve just received. Last time we tried this we waited too long to make the phone call (btw, noone tells you this is how it works, and you only have 30 days from when you get the first background check to request a certified copy.) This was elusive item K on our list. See, scavenger hunt, seriously. But we got it. And for about 15 minutes there was rejoicing. Then Chris checked the list again. Turns out that Item A, our formal adoption request letter (which we had already redone once) was not certified. We’re sure it was sent out, but apparently never came back.

So blegh.

At this point, we have two choices. We can mail the letter downstate and wait 2 weeks, or take the day off of work and drive to the Office of Index in Chicago. The thought of heading into Chicago is so repulsive that we don’t even consider it an option. But on Monday, I just happened to have training in the City. And, as it turns out, the Office of Index was right in between the train station and my class. So, two dollars and a twenty minute walk later, I have a certified copy of our LAST letter in my hands. I even made it to class on time.

When I got home that night, we ran out to Kinkos-FedEx and made 4 copies of everything, 3 copies for America World, one for us. 60 dollars later, WE SENT IN OUR DOSSIER!!!

We were exhausted, but we won. 6 years in the making, our DOSSIER is done.

The next couple of days Chris and I would look at each other and say, “Hey, we’re finished.” It didn’t really sink in, though.

Then Thursday, the day Fed-Ex said that our dossier would arrive in America World’s hands, Chris got confirmation from AW that they had indeed received our dossier… and that it wasn’t complete.

Apparently 4 of the documents we sent in still need certification. The punishment/irony/insult of the situation is that those documents are original state-certified documents (which is why we didn’t find some way to get them re-certified) like our marriage license and birth certificates. So basically we need a statement from the State that certifies our State certified documents are really legitimate. Yes, it’s like asking a woodchuck if he chucks wood. No, we can’t argue the rules we can only play the game.

So now, we wait for our paperwork to come BACK from the adoption agency so that we can resubmit them to the States (i.e. both Illinois and Michigan) that already certified them. Right now, we’re still exhausted but also deflated.

We wait.

Again.