Adoption Timeline as of 4/15/06

12/05 Researched adoption, met with friends that recently adopted, and met with adoption agencies.

1/1/06 Completed online application for Homecoming Adoptions.

1/31/06 Completed formal contract with Homecoming Adoptions and decided to pursue adoption from El Salvador. Received dossier requirements for the El Salvador program.

2/2/06 Mailed contract with Adoption Support Services of Florida to complete our required home study.

2/3/06 Received list of home study requirements:

• Five personal letters of reference
• Life summaries (written by us answering all sorts of questions about our backgrounds and families)
• Guardianship form
• Florida Deparment of Law Enforcement background clearance
• Department of Children and Families background clearance
• Copies of our birth certificates
• Copies of our tax returns
• Copies of our marriage license
• Proof of health insurance
• Floor plan of our house
• Family photos
• Physician forms
• Employment verification letters
• Affidavits of Good Moral Character
• Orange County Law Enforcement background clearance
• Client Information Form
• Finanical Form
• Supplemental Homestudy Questionnaire
• Home visit & interview with social worker

2/3/06 Asked our friends and family to provide reference letters

2/15/06 Found out that the El Salvador program now requires that married couples be married for five years prior to adoption. Continued to work on requirements for both the home study and our dossier while we tried to decide on another country.

2/17/06 Scheduled the home visit for our home study for 2/24/06

2/20/06 Decided to pursue adoption from Guatemala. Received the listing of dossier requirements for Guatemalan adoption (* indicates notary required):

• Florida Department of Law Enforcement background clearance
• Medical letters*
• Employment verification letters*
• Copies of tax returns*
• Copies of passports*
• Power of attorney
• Family photos, including photos of each room in our house and front and back yards
• Citizenship & Immigration Services approval
• Home study report and agency licenses
• Affidavits of Good Moral Character*
• Letters of reference*
• FBI background clearance
• Letters from financial institutions*
• Name affidavits (listing all of the names and nicknames we've ever gone by in our lives)
• Witness affidavits (from two acquaintances attesting to our good character)

2/24/06 Met with Lori Fraas, social worker and founder of Adoption Support Services of Florida, at our home. (a little side note: Lori was wonderful and helpful and we were really pleased with our experience during the home study process. Anyone thinking of adopting...we highly recommend Lori and her agency.) Provided Lori with our birth certificates, tax returns, marriage license, proof of insurance, family photos, floor plan of our house, client information forms, and supplemental questionnaires. After our home visit, we took pictures of every room in our house (b/c we frantically cleaned before Lori's visit and we knew it wouldn't look that good again for a while!) and emailed the photos to our adoption agency. Got our fingerprints taken. Mailed fingerprints and applications for background checks to FBI. Had financial forms and Affidavits of Good Moral Character notarized. Mailed financial forms and Affidavits of Good Moral Character to home study agency and adoption agency.

3/6/06 Adoption agency confirmed the receipt of our Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) background clearance and our employment verification letters.

3/7/06 Mailed physician forms and Orange County background clearance to home study agency. Mailed physician letters to adoption agency. Home study agency confirmed receipt of Department of Children and Families background clearance, which we previously requested. Home study agency received first reference letter.

3/13/06 Mailed our life summaries (mine - 24 pages, Louie's - 19 pages) and guardianship form to home study agency. Agency confirmed receipt of certified copy of Louie's certificate, certified copy of our marriage license, and FDLE background clearance, which had all been requested by our agency.

3/15/06 Second reference letter received by both agencies. Witness affidavits mailed to adoption agency. Long wait for my birth certificate caused adoption agency to follow-up (since it is the agency's policy not to send the CIS application until vital records are received). State of Louisiana was processing walk-in requests for vital records with priority over mailed requests due to effects of Hurricane Katrina. Luckily, I had an extra certified copy of my birth certificate. Ran into another snag, our medical letters returned by the adoption agency because they were not on our physician's letterhead.

3/16/06 Mailed birth certificate and letters from financial institutions to adoption agency.

3/17/06 Third reference letter received by both agencies. Home study agency informed me that they were beginning our home study report, but couldn't finalize it until receipt of final reference letters.

3/20/06 Bank letters were returned by adoption agency because they were not notarized. Instructions didn't say to have it notarized, but if these are the worst kinds of potholes we hit along this road, I'll be very happy.

3/24/06 Final reference letters received by both agencies. Mailed new physician letters and bank letters to adoption agency.

3/25/06 Received draft of home study report. We were approved!

3/28/06 Received FBI clearance.

3/29/06 Mailed FBI clearance to adoption agency.

3/31/06 Mailed I-600 application to Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) Orlando sub-office.

4/1/06 Received final home study reports.

4/4/06 Mailed final home study report to CIS and delivered another to adoption agency.

4/5/06 Received appointment for CIS fingerprinting (4/15/06) much soon than we expected. Yeah!

4/15/06 Had fingerprints taken at CIS application support office. Got chastised for taking pictures of Louie getting fingerprinted on these really cool machines that they have. No ink required. Mailed signed copies of I-600 application and power of attorney for Guatemalan attorney to adoption agency.

And, as if all that isn't enough. The following are important milestones that are ahead of us:

• CIS Application Approval - once received, our dossier will be complete and our agency will request a referral for us. Very exciting!
• Referral - this is when they match us with a child. At this point, we will receive a name, a photo, a copy of his/her birth certificate, and limited medical information. Based upon this information, we will accept/decline the referral. It is not likely that we will decline for any reason.
• Family Court - I'm not even sure what this is yet.
• DNA Results Received - to help prevent fraud, Guatemala performs DNA tests to determine that the person giving the child up for adoption is actually the mother/father.
• Embassy Pre-approval
• Procuraduria General de la Nación (PGN) Start Date - PGN is the government body that oversees adoption in Guatemala.
• PGN Release - this is apparently a BIG day because many people get kicked out of PGN (e.g., a copy of a particular translated dossier document is not dark enough...puts you back about six weeks).
• New Birth Certificate & Passport Completion
• Adoption Day!!