Well, our adoption was not final in 2011…not even close. And I’m pretty sure that, like most families stuck on slow-moving waiting lists, our girl won’t be home by the end of 2012 either. So what about that tax credit?

Under Obama’s healthcare reform, the Adoption Tax Credit was reinstated and enhanced for 2011 and 2012. For adoptions finalized in 2012, parents are eligible for a non-refundable credit of $12,650. However, if a family does not have a tax liability of that amount, they can claim the credit in 2012 and carry it forward to apply it for the next five years until the credit is used up.

In 2013 and beyond, only families who adopt children with special needs from foster care will be eligible for the credit, which is reduced to $6,000. Also, the income limits for the credit will be reduced significantly in 2013, meaning that families with higher incomes will not benefit.

While President Obama has included an extension of the Adoption Tax Credit in his budget proposal, it certainly cannot hurt to urge your Congressmen and women to support this initiative. Now is the time to convince Congress that the credit is critical to helping more children find forever families. (That is sure the case in my house!)

Please consider contacting the lawmakers in your area to let them know how much the Adoption Tax Credit means to you. You can find their contact information here and here.  

And you can use sample letters and phone scripts from the National Council for Adoption here.  

If you’re passionate about adoption, please spread the word and do what you can to make adoption more affordable for thousands of families and the orphans who are depending on them. With just five minutes of your time, you can make a big impact.

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But the central claim in these articles alleges that some children were wrongfully placed with adoptive parents when they were not actually orphans, as evidenced by the fact that these children’s parents were still living.

For domestic adoptions and adoptions through the foster care system in the US, what makes a child eligible for adoption? American children are legally placed for adoption, most often, when their birth parents are still living. So why must a child in another country be considered an orphan only when his or her parents are dead?

I turned to USCIS for clarification. “The Immigration and Nationality Act provides a definition of an orphan  for the purposes of immigration to the United States. A child may be considered an orphan because of the death or disappearance of, abandonment or desertion by, or separation or loss from, both parents. The child of an unwed mother or surviving parent may be considered an orphan if that parent is unable to care for the child properly [in accordance with the foreign country's standard of living] and has, in writing, irrevocably released the child for emigration and adoption. The child of an unwed mother may be considered an orphan, as long as the mother does not marry (which would result in the child’s having a stepfather) and as long as the child’s biological father has not legitimated the child. If the father legitimates the child or the mother marries, the mother is no longer considered a sole parent. The child of a surviving parent may also be an orphan if the surviving parent has not married since the death of the other parent (which would result in the child’s having a stepfather or stepmother).”

In the last year, both the Ethiopian and US governments have implemented several new oversight measures to make the adoption process slower and more ethical. I do understand that, as much as anyone tries to prevent it, wrongful placements do unfortunately occur in adoption (both domestically and internationally). But I cannot imagine advocating a shutdown of the program, particularly in a country where so many children are homeless, parentless, or abandoned…where orphanages are at or above capacity…where children sleep three to a bed or on the floors…as orphans.

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Huh. What a novel idea.

Imagine not spending all your free time reading adoption blogs. Imagine not checking your agency’s website for updates that you may have missed via email. Imagine not connecting with other adopting moms, particularly those from your agency, to share tidbits of information (which I’m sure the agencies just love). And if you’re waiting for a referral, imagine not making a little wish, in the hopes that THIS is THE CALL, every time your phone rings. I wonder what that would be like!

Forgive my honesty, but I bet that woman feels…free. I bet she has all her Christmas shopping done. I bet she walks her dog religiously every day. I bet her adoption paperwork is neatly organized in a white binder with color tabs. I bet she bakes. I bet she actually makes that stuff that I repin on Pinterest and never actually intend to do. If she has kids, I bet she has never missed a minute of playtime to read other people’s blogs. I bet she has time to go to the gym. And while she’s on the treadmill, I bet she’s not thinking about her next blog post.

Don’t get me wrong. I love the adoption community. I enjoy connecting with other mothers who are going through this crazy adventure. But sometimes, as another week goes by and I’m still not on the waiting list, and I read about others who are getting referrals and court dates, I feel like a woman who is trying to get pregnant and has to go to lunch with glowing, expectant friends. And someday, when I’m waiting for a referral that should come “any day now”, I’m pretty sure I’ll feel like I did when I was 40 weeks and 4 days pregnant…”Nope, still no baby.”

Perhaps this woman, with her sparse blog, is on to something. Maybe distance would make the process easier.

For me, probably not. I would love to think that I have the will power to not obsess over something, but that’s just not me. I research everything. I do research before I buy sheets or even laundry detergent. I love poring over adoption information. I love sharing adoption information. I love reading people’s referral stories and sharing my journey with others, even if I’m a year behind where they are in the process. I love anything that makes me feel connected to the process, because I feel like I’m moving one step closer to my little girl. I suppose we all deal with this process in our own ways.

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With the sudden increase in these cases, USCIS recently sent a team of officers to Ethiopia to work on adjudicating them. The team was able to approve more than half of the “not clearly approvable” cases they had received. Only one case, so far, was denied. The rest required more evidence or are still under review. After the additional USCIS staff departed Ethiopia, USCIS has begun utilizing additional resources in the Rome district office to process some of the affected cases in a timely manner.

In the coming weeks, USCIS and the Department of State will announce an update on how they will process any new cases identified by the US Embassy as “not clearly approvable”.

To approve an I-600, USCIS officers must complete an investigation and Form I-604 to prove a child meets the US definition of orphan, which can be found on the USCIS website. The Form I-604 requires proof of age, identity, and orphanhood. According to Form I-604, proof of orphanhood means that the following criteria must be met for approval:

• Documents or a competant authority must confirm that the child has no parents and provide proof that the orphan was abandoned or deserted by, separated or lost from, or that both parents have disappeared; or
•  ”The intended child has a sole/surviving parent who, in writing, irrevocably released the child for emigration to the United States and for adoption and the surviving parent is incapable of providing proper care for the child according to the standards of the foreign sending country.”

In developing countries like Ethiopia, obtaining documents that prove identity, age, and orphanhood can often require an extensive investigation. When transportation and communication channels are unpredictable, conducting these additional investigations proves time-consuming. While they are necessary, the children waiting to be adopted remain in orphanages longer.

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Recently, I interviewed a family who is adopting a boy from Ethiopia. Meet the Page family. Mollie and her husband Scott have three adorable girls. The boy, Isaiah, they are waiting to bring home from Ethiopia is equally as cute.

Two years ago, Mollie and Scott were gathered at a friend’s house to hear a band play. The band was there to raise awareness about the orphan crisis. That night, the Pages could no longer silence the stirring in their hearts to adopt. As they prayed about their decision to adopt, “We always came back to Ethiopia. Truly, it was like Ethiopia chose us!” said Mollie.

She explained, “Even though I had never been there, African has been on my heart for many, many years. I would dream of working in an orphanage or teaching in an African school. Little did I know, our son was the main reason for my affinity toward Africa.”

The Page family waited nearly 14 months for their referral. They traveled to Ethiopia in August for their court appearance and to meet little Isaiah, who is a year old. Like many families, they had a long wait ahead of them for their Embassy appointment. To deal with the wait, they said, “We truly get our strength from the Lord. We’ve gotten great support from our friends, family, and the many adopting families in our community.”

They have learned a lot about faith and love through adoption. “At the beginning of this process, our thoughts were that we would be providing a better life for a child through adoption,” they said. “Through our love, that child would be blessed! Since then, our thoughts have changed. It’s through the life of our son that we now have a deeper understanding of God’s love for us. We are the ones that have been blessed!”

The Page family also offered the following tips for other adopting parents:

• If you know another family traveling to Ethiopia before you go, try to send a care package and include a soft photo album with pictures of your family.
• Bring humanitarian items for the care center; include diapers, wipes, blankets, bibs, and clothes.
• They brought protein bars, peanuts, crackers, and trail mix. When they were approached for money in the city, they were able to give food instead.
• Get creative with your fundraising. Have a garage sale, sell t-shirts, or partner with organizations (like Junk Posse and Just Love Coffee) that donate their profits to fund adoptions. And remember to tell your story!
• Ciprofloxacin (an antibiotic) is a must.

With an estimated 5 million orphans/homeless children in Ethiopia alone, the Page family feels a greater duty to give than ever before. “Scott and I feel that we have been blessed so that we can be a blessing to others, locally and globally,” said Mollie.

The Page family will soon be together at home with little Isaiah. They got clearance from the Embassy just before Thanksgiving.

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When the US Embassy deems a case “not clearly approvable”, it does not mean that these cases are denied. Instead, it means the Embassy does not have enough evidence to approve these cases with 100 percent certainty that the child in question is an orphan under US immigration law.

Previously, when the Embassy did not have 100 percent certainty about a child’s orphan status, they requested additional documentation or amendments to documents submitted to obtain the evidence they needed. This was not done within the Embassy’s jurisdiction, and they will no longer continue this process.

USCIS, a division of the US State Department, has more authority than the Embassy when adjudicating I-600 applications. For the cases that have been referred to the USCIS office in Nairobi, officers will either approve the application (which happens 60 percent of the time) or submit a Request for Evidence. Less than five percent of all I-600 applications submitted (for all countries) have ever been denied by USCIS. If the USCIS investigator has enough evidence to prove the child’s orphan status with certainty, the child’s case will be approved.

Because of the high number of “not clearly approvable” cases lately, USCIS recently sent a team of four investigators to the US Embassy in Addis to review these cases. This team will stay until the Thanksgiving holiday to expedite the mounting cases.

This information provides insight into the slowdown in Embassy approvals recently. However, it is unclear how future I-600 applications will be affected, particularly if it is true that the Embassy can no longer request more information before forwarding cases to USCIS. Additionally, no information has been posted regarding USCIS’s plans for the potential long-term need of more investigators in Nairobi, beyond the Thanksgiving holiday.

It does appear that more agencies and orphanages are being asked to provide additional evidence to support a child’s orphan status. While frustrating for many waiting families, this does suggest more is being done to further ensure ethical adoptions from Ethiopia.

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In fiscal years 2004 and 2005, Americans adopted nearly 23,000 children each year from other countries. The number of international adoptions has been on a steady decline since then. And it seems this fiscal year, which ended September 30, is no exception.

There are some obvious clues as to why international adoptions have declined. China has dramatically slowed down international adoptions. The Guatemala adoption program was very popular, and the closing of this program was bound to affect those statistics. Also, the US economy has affected most Americans financially, making the cost of adoption prohibitive to many families.

But what about the children? In the last seven years, is it possible that there are so fewer children in the world who need loving families? Of course not. Millions of orphans around the world are still waiting for families, arguably moreso now than ever before.

The effects of this startling statistic (of 9,000 international adoptions last year) is most felt by the orphans. Imagine you’re running an orphanage in another country. And suddenly the adoptions slow down or stop all together. The children are no longer leaving the orphanage with their forever families like they used to. So the beds they occupy are no longer available for the other children waiting to come in to the orphanage. And the portion of money that used to come through your doors that once paid for kids’ care is now coming in much slower than it used to. Without that money, you need to make a choice between food and staff. So you let some staff go so that you can still feed the kids, but those staff are desperately needed to care for so many children…

This is a common scene in orphanages. Without staff and other resources, they are forced to make do with less and less. Instead of having enough hands to feed everyone, they prop bottles up with towels to feed babies. (This method can often cause pneumonia.) If you need to make a choice between changing diapers and giving the kids attention they need to thrive and attach, guess which one you’re going to choose.

As international adoption rates drop, children around the world pay the price. This National Adoption Month, choose to be the advocate orphans need. Consider supporting an agency’s humanitarian aid program in a given country, so that they can continue to provide care for the children in their orphanages. Continue to voice your support of adoption to policy makers. Tell your story to families considering adoption. More than ever, orphans need us…not just on Orphan Sunday.

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As you may know, the approval process for Ethiopian adoptions occurs in two steps:

1) Ethiopia’s Ministry of Women, Children, and Youth Affairs declares adoptive parents as the legal parents of an orphan; then

2) The US Embassy agress that the child meets the US definition of orphan, and the family is now allowed to return to the United States.

In March, the Ethiopian government announced a slowdown in the first step of this process as an effort to reduce any possible wrongful placements in reaction to claims of poor practices or coercion. In addition to this slowdown in case processing, new regulations were placed on orphanages and agencies to make sure the children being placed with adoptive families were in fact orphans. Both of these events led to an increased wait time for families waiting for referrals and court dates. (And as fewer children were being referred or approved, fewer children were able to go to orphanages if they were at capacity.)

The Office of Child Issues of the Department of State and the Department of Homeland Security US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) did recently post an announcement concerning delays in the second step of the approval process for Ethiopian adoptions. Specifically, many of the I-600 forms, which are Petition to Classify Orphan as an Immediate Relative, have been lacking sufficient evidence (by these new standards) to prove a child’s status. As Angie said in the previous post, “If this paper is not properly documented with the required evidence given, the child is not eligible for adoption under the United States decree.”

My understanding is that the US Embassy is working diligently with families and agencies to make sure each child’s status is properly investigated. They are taking extensive measures to prove a child was either abandoned or that the birth family is truly unable to care for the child.

From my lay perspective, it does not appear that any one agency is experiencing these delays or deeper investigations. They are simply the result of increased scrutiny and the desire of all parties to do what is in the best interest of the children.

In response to this, the USCIS is holding a stakeholder conference call on Friday, October 28 at 10:30am EST. During this call, they will discuss the processing of Ethiopian adoption cases that the US Embassy is declaring “not clearly approvable.” They will explain what this status means, as well as how these cases will be handled from that point. For more information, please click here.

Overall, I am convinced that these additional measures are making the Ethiopia adoption program stronger and better for the children. I imagine these investigations can be very difficult for adopting families. (I realize this is easy for me to say; I am not living through this limbo phase.) However, I have seen cases recently, among friends, that have been approved after extensive investigations.

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The dossier is basically your adoption application that will be sent to the country from which you’re adopting. You need to assemble a long list of documents according to the country’s requirements. These range from financial statements to proof of health and life insurance. For a complete list of these requirements, click here. Most families work on compiling the dossier while they’re waiting for their approval from USCIS, which is the I71H. This document must be submitted with the dossier.

There are several tricks to getting your dossier compiled, and here are the tips I know of:

• Documents should be signed in blue ink. This helps government officials to know the documents are in fact originals, rather than copies.
• Most of the documents will need to be notarized. The notary’s term of service cannot expire for one year from the date of the notarization. So before you have a notary wield her fancy stamp, find out when her service expires.
• The documents need to be signed within three months of each other. So if you can, try to get them all initiated within a span of a few days (assuming it will take some time to get all the documents written and signed).
• Each document should have your full legal name, as it appears on your passport.
• Your dossier will be sent to Ethiopia, so the documents will be translated. Keep this in mind when you’re drafting the documents. Length and fancy words are not the goal; it might lead to higher translation fees. So use common words, and get to the point whenever possible. Additionally, avoid using abbreviations, like St. or Ave. and US.

After you get all your documents together, the documents will need to be authenticated by the Secretary of State for the state in which each document originated. Then,  your dossier will be certified by the US State Department and the Embassy of Ethiopia. This all sounds a bit dauting, but your agency will guide you through this, and many agencies take care of this step for you.

Do you have any tips to offer for compiling the dossier? How long did it take you to receive the I71H or to chase down the required documents? How long did it take to get your documents authenticated before they were sent to Ethiopia? (Is it that obvious that I’m trying my best to estimate when I’ll get on the waiting list?)

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And then you look at your handsome, loving husband. He’s watching the scores scroll across ESPN to find out the score of the Chiefs game that wasn’t televised. And he’s thinking about…football. That’s it. Just football.

So why is it that husbands–those who are fully on board with adopting–seem to be less involved than their wives when it comes to the adoption process? I realize I’m making a huge generalization here, but in my very scientific study (a skim of maybe 100 blogs), I didn’t find any posts written by adoptive dads who were venting about the challenges of paper chases or making their houses impossibly clean for a home study.

I asked my husband about this phenomenon. He carefully thought about it before offering an analogy. Pregnancy is usually felt by a mother. (Of course.) Why would a paper pregnancy of adoption be any different? He said guys can be excited about becoming dads, but they don’t “feel” the baby every day. When they look at a sonogram picture, they see a peanut instead of “the most beautiful baby ever.” It’s not that men are emotionally detached from the adoption process, but typically men don’t get as emotional as women. They need to see the baby before the tears come on.

My skeptical eyes came out. He offered another analogy. Weddings. Men know their places when it comes to wedding planning. They give passive input on the big decisions, they agree with their fiances on the details, they stay out of the way when they’re not asked to participate, and they show up on time with a good hair cut. “Whether it’s filling out adoption forms or decorating the baby’s room, I know you don’t want my help. You just want me to approve.” (Ok, this may be true.)

“Furthermore, if I took over the work, what would you do to stay occupied?” he asked.  ”And if I messed up something and it delayed the process, you would be much more upset than if the roles were reversed.” (Definitely true.)

After humble deliberation, I concluded that I actually didn’t want to give up any part of my role in this adoption. (Hi, my name is Lindsay, and I have control issues.) What I really want is for him to acknowledge how much time I’m putting into it all and say “Thanks” once in a while. And an offer to help would be welcome, even if he knows that I’ll say no.

Maybe I’ll let him print bank statements.

P.S. The Chiefs lost…again.

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