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USCIS & Dossier Update

23 items. There are 23 items on the Dossier checklist. They include simple things like a copy of our mortgage to prove our residency and really complicated things like a full psych eval with MMPI assessments from a Ph.D. level licensed psychologist. Pretty fun stuff.

We are down to about 3 items left there. The approval from United States Customs and Immigration Services will likely be the final piece of that puzzle. USCIS wants another set of fingerprinting and background checking done (this will be the 2nd full-blown FBI-level clearance for each of us in this process). Estimated timeline to hear back from them is about 2 months, so we could be looking at the middle of July or early August before submitting the Dossier.

The Dossier itself will go to the Brazilian Central Authority (CEJA) for review and approval. Then we move to "matching." We have submitted our Letter of Intent for a sibling group of 4, 3 boys and a girl, range in age from 2 to 7, and we are praying with hope that we will be matched with them when the time comes.

The review and matching process is another 2-3 months, putting us at the middle to end of October this year. Once we are approved and matched, they will want us to travel ASAP to finalize the adoption and get the kids back home.

The in-country stay is probably 6 weeks. Time for bonding with the kids and finalizing paperwork for the adoption and then time for the U.S. side of the approval to be finalized at the U.S. embassy so we can return home.

Biggest prayer request right now is for finances to come together. We are applying for grants and working on other fundraisers as we are able. The reality is this is probably a $60,000+ process for us with travel expenses and multiple siblings. When we started last October the expectation was that it would take 2-3 years for the process to take place and for us to be matched, now that the timeline has been compressed to 1 year (praise the Lord!) we are feeling the crunch and pressure on the financial side of things.

The other huge prayer concern is for the kids down there; not just the four that we have prayerfully submitted a request to be matched with, but all of the orphans. There are just so many needs on so many levels around the world. Even here in Clovis we have a shortage of foster parents and there are kids who are in terrible situations and are being transported out of town, away from schools and friends, just for lack of available foster families in the area. Pray that God would provide for His orphans and that if you are supposed to be involved, through giving, fostering, or adopting, that you would say yes and do His Will.

He is a Father to the Fatherless. A Defender of the Weak. May His Will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.

Thanks for listening to a brief update as I share my heart today.

Comments

  1. UnknownMay 11, 2019 at 1:14 PM

    Praying big prayers for you guy but knowing God already has it all worked out! hugs and love













    ReplyDelete

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