Saturday, August 13, 2011

Kunming Social Welfare Institute & What's Next?!


Since posting pictures of our care package, I have gotten a few requests on making a donation to Emma's orphanage. There are two things I would suggest: 1)  Spread the word about adoption. There are TONS of ppl in the US that I think would have the heart to adopt, if they only had a nudge to really look into it. 2) If you able to donate financially, I suggest Love Without Boundaries. You can sponsor a child for surgery, for foster care,etc.  Sponsors receive updates and photos on their sponsored children and get to see firsthand the difference they are making.  What a great way to teach your kids some perspective on the world as well when they are asking for that new toy!


Also, if you are interested, I was able to get my hands on some pictures of both Emma's orphanage & the foster village.  If you are interested in seeing where she may be living, check out the links here:


What's Next for us? Well, you may need a PhD to follow but here it is...
  1. LOA -this is where we are now. Our dossier (i.e. 100 pages of paperwork) will all be translated to Mandarin and reviewed to ensure compliance with the guidelines. This step can take anywhere from 30-100 days. Our Pre Approval should have only taken about a week but instead it took 32 days, we don't know if that put us way behind or if any progress was made during that time. 
  2. I800 Immigration approval -  we have previously submitted paperwork to the US to be approved to adopt from China. The I800 paperwork allows us to adopt Emma specifically. The US Gov't requires the LOA to submitted with the I800 paperwork.  This step can take anywhere from 2-4 weeks.
  3. NVC Cable- Once we have our I-800 approval, our officer will forward the approval to the National Visa Center (NVC). NVC will upload our approval into their system and cable (send) our approval the US consulate in China. Then the NVC will issue a letter stating they have done this. It takes about one week to be cabled, and another week to receive the letter.
  4. Article 5 - Once we receive the NVC letter, we will send it to our agency. The agency will deliver this letter to the US consulate in China.  Once the consulate has your NVC letter, they will issue your Article 5 in 2-3 weeks. The article is the consulate pre-approving your child for an immigrant visa. 
  5. Travel Approval - Once the CCWAA receives the article 5, the Travel Approval will then be issued. This takes around 2-4 weeks. 
  6. We would actually get on a plane 2-4 weeks after receiving Travel Approval.  So, essentially, we get 2-4 weeks notice to book flights, hotels, leave work, etc. :-)
I have run the dates a few times. Of all of the above steps, #1 is obviously the most volatile.  The rest of the steps are pretty stable in terms of estimates.  In order to get Emma home by EOY, I think we would need to receive our LOA by 9/15.  That would by 45 days after PA but about 70 days after our Letter of Intent got there. 

If you followed all of this, you are amazing!! :-)



4 comments:

kitty said...

I love your blog...we are waiting also for our notice to get our lil guy home..really nice to learn about your journey..best of everything for you and your family..kitty (Deitra's mom)

Annie said...

Amazing, isn't it!! I remember being so incredibly overwhelmed by it all when we were paperchasing for Lizzie! Then as you get used to all of the abbreviations and terminology, you are able to get a handle on it all. The rest of the world, however, has NO clue what you are taking about!! LOL!

a blog full of weldons. said...

hi dear! I'm so behind and just now saw you got your PA! every step is such a celebration! now that it's over I actually understand all of the steps you listed! haha I was so lost going through...I must have googled LOA and "cabled in" at least 5 times! oh and there is a way to get your cabled in letter emailed to you so you can send it direct to the agency...could shave off a week for you...I'll look back and find the instructions for you!!

Unknown said...

Hello and what a nice blog you have....we picked our daughter up from Kunming in January of 2013. I was wondering if you could tell me how you found out which adoption village that she belonged to?
Thanks!