So what are we waiting for?

So with our NAC approval we found out that we were missing a required dossier document. Now this document was not on our list of 28 required documents ..... it's "new"  we were told.  But my friends using another agency have this document on their list ... frustrating since we have been waiting 6 months for the NAC approval! :(
But the adoption process goes on .. So what we need is a hard copy of our background check from the FBI.  Now we did this digitally a year ago when we did our home study,  so we know it's fine and it's written in our home study that our FBI background check is clear.  But the NAC wants the hard copy.
So we got our fingerprints done the following day we were informed we needed it. I went to our local Sheriff, we live in an unincorporated area so if we went to the local police department ... they charge us $100 .... residents .. $0!!!  NICE!!! So the sheriff charges $16.  Paul was at his office in Chicago and I found a place in the Federal building near his office that did it for $9. I filled out the applications and credit card forms on the FBI website and asked them to authenticate our documents when they send them back. And off to Fedex they went.

So now we wait ... for up to 8 weeks .... we Fedex'd it on March 13, it arrived March 14 at the FBI location in West Virginia.

After we receive it back from the FBI we need to send it to Washington DC to have it authenticated by the US State Department and the Kenya Embassy.  We did this with our 27 other documents so we will use a courier,  it's a LOT faster (7-10 days as opposed to taking 3-6 weeks if we mail it) .

We SHOULD be waiting for our referral (the information about the children we are matched with) right now ...... but that can't move forward until our FBI background check is submitted! UGH!
The waiting is hard!

Kenya Adoption Requirements

Kenya Adoption Requirements

What do you need to know if you are going to adopt from Kenya?


Here are a few of the basic requirements:

• Must be between the ages of 25 and 65 to adopt
• Married couples must be married for at least three years
• Single female applicants on a case by case basis
• More than 21 years older than the child
• Ability to live in-country for 7-15 months or until the completion of the adoption process
• Process is the same for former Kenyan Nationals that are US citizens seeking a relative adoption 

 Persons Not Allowed to Adopt:

The following are prohibited by law from adopting a child in Kenya:
1. A person who is not of sound mind
2. A person who has been charged or convicted previously of child abuse offense
3. A person that is a homosexual
4. Joint applicants who are not married to each other
4. A sole foreign male applicant

There are 2 US agencies that have current Kenya adoption programs: (click on links for more info)

Lutheran Social Services of Wisconsin and Upper Michigan

Carolina Adoption Services

If living in the US, you must use one of these agencies to adopt a child in Kenya, there are NO "independent" adoptions allowed. 

Why Kenya?

The decision to adopt is a big one and a very personal one. Everyone has their reasons for the country they chose, the age of the children they would prefer to adopt, some may not wish to share .... I will share our reasons ..... it's part of the reason I am starting this blog :) 

I have 2 wonderful, adventurous, smart boys that are 9 & 10 (nearly 11). I had very difficult pregnancies; my oldest son was born at 32 weeks due to preeclampsia. After having a placenta abruption .... put on hospital bed rest , preterm labor ... not serious but found out when I was admitted, preeclampsia .... after 5 days of hospital bed rest , going temporarily blind because of the preeclampsia, having 2 seizures (while in the hospital)  .... my preeclampsia became eclampsia, my son was delivered via EMERGENCY c-section while I was under general anesthetic. He was 3 lbs 11 oz ... he stayed in the NICU for 25 days and then we brought home our 4 lb baby home. 

18 months later my younger son was born, full term 7 lbs 6 oz, after a high risk pregnancy that required a lot of monitoring and some unpleasant medication for 11 months. 

We have 2 healthy boys and for that we feel blessed. We talked about adopting a little girl ... someday. 

The boys kept us very busy for years ...... 

In 2007 I was called to go volunteer in Kenya at an orphanage for 3 weeks. 

It changed my life .... it changed our family's life :) 

after I was there for a couple days I knew we were going to adopt from Kenya ... I just didn't know how, or what the rules were,  I knew it was a difficult process and I needed to find out more. 

By the end of the 3 weeks my heart was full of love and pain, I had to leave all of the children I had just spent every day with .... I knew my family at home was fine without me, We missed each other,  but what was going to happen to all these children? I knew I would be back. 

The moment I got home and had a spare moment I was researching adoption.  I found an agency that had a Kenya program. I continued to research. In December 2007 I went back to visit. To find out more information about Kenya adoption and to visit all the children and friends that I had met. 

Kenya held elections Dec 27, 2007 ....... after the elections there was terrible violence resulting from the outcome of the election results.  A couple months later in 2008 our agency stopped their Kenya Adoption Program. Later in 2008 the US State Department closed adoption in Kenya. 

I made a few more visits back to Kenya. In late 2010 we went with the family. We didn't know adoptions were still closed at the time and we weren't really thinking about it when we went to visit. 

This was my husbands first visit with me. After that visit we started talking about adoption again. 

We started researching in November and December 2010. In January 2011 we called the US Embassy in Kenya and they told us the moratorium was being lifted ... WOOO HOOOO!!! 

We signed up with our home study agency , we contacted the ONE agency that had a Kenya Adoption Program at the time - Lutheran Social Services of Wisconsin and away we go .... One year ago today .... February 1st 2011 .... we mailed our home study application. Our first interview was February 14, 2011.