In May we began what is a long and complicated process to bring our child home. We are working with an agency around Chicago that will complete our home study. That agency partners with another agency in New York, which then partners with the agency in Korea. The amount of paperwork is incredible, and goes something like this…
-Apply with New York agency by filling out nine pages of very detailed information about ourselves, our families, our medical history, our finances, reasons for adoptions, letters from physicians, narratives about our life, and what kind of child we will accept.
-Apply with Chicago agency by attending an informational meeting, sending in a balance sheet of our finances including our debt to income ratio, and a personal information paper.
-Apply for necessary DCFS license in Illinois, which includes another fifteen page application, being fingerprinted, and attending a CPR class.
-Apply with USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) for the approval to adopt internationally.
-Continue with our home study, which is the term for a three to five month process in which we are educated about adoption and during which our social worker will determine if we meet the requirements for adoptive parenting. The home study itself includes:
-A home visit from our social worker
-Application to USCIS (US Citizenship and Immigration Services)
-Application for passport
-Cross-cultural questionnaire
-Two live adoption classes
-Six hours of online adoption classes
-Writing an autobiography
-Individual interviews with our social worker
-Health report from physician
-Photocopies of birth and marriage certificates
-Tax forms from the past three years
-Verification of current income
-Letter from insurance carrier
-Diagram of home including fire and emergency evacuation plan
-When our home study is finished, we await approval from USCIS. Once that happens, our home study will be sent to Korea! From that point, it will take around nine to ten months for a referral. A referral is what happens when a couple is matched with an orphan that becomes legally available for adoption. We are not able to choose the baby’s gender, but 85% of the referrals are boys, so that’s what we are expecting. If we accept the referral, we will travel about three to four months later to Seoul, South Korea, bringing our baby home!
One of the biggest obstacles in this whole process (besides the never-ending paperwork, of course) is the financial aspect. When we began the process we knew that we didn’t have the amount of money needed sitting in the bank. However, we felt that if God was calling us to adopt, He would bless us and provide for us as needed. The total cost of a Korean adoption is about $30,000. This includes the home study, fees for the New York and Korean agency, and travel. This is an overwhelming amount of money and we are planning a couple of fundraisers to try and help with these costs.
We are so glad that you are sharing our journey with us. It is sure to be exciting, and full of surprises and blessings. We would very much appreciate your prayers and support for a smooth process, and more importantly, for our child, his or her birth mother, and the foster parents. We will keep you updated as we travel on the road of international adoption!
-Apply with New York agency by filling out nine pages of very detailed information about ourselves, our families, our medical history, our finances, reasons for adoptions, letters from physicians, narratives about our life, and what kind of child we will accept.
-Apply with Chicago agency by attending an informational meeting, sending in a balance sheet of our finances including our debt to income ratio, and a personal information paper.
-Apply for necessary DCFS license in Illinois, which includes another fifteen page application, being fingerprinted, and attending a CPR class.
-Apply with USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) for the approval to adopt internationally.
-Continue with our home study, which is the term for a three to five month process in which we are educated about adoption and during which our social worker will determine if we meet the requirements for adoptive parenting. The home study itself includes:
-A home visit from our social worker
-Application to USCIS (US Citizenship and Immigration Services)
-Application for passport
-Cross-cultural questionnaire
-Two live adoption classes
-Six hours of online adoption classes
-Writing an autobiography
-Individual interviews with our social worker
-Health report from physician
-Photocopies of birth and marriage certificates
-Tax forms from the past three years
-Verification of current income
-Letter from insurance carrier
-Diagram of home including fire and emergency evacuation plan
-When our home study is finished, we await approval from USCIS. Once that happens, our home study will be sent to Korea! From that point, it will take around nine to ten months for a referral. A referral is what happens when a couple is matched with an orphan that becomes legally available for adoption. We are not able to choose the baby’s gender, but 85% of the referrals are boys, so that’s what we are expecting. If we accept the referral, we will travel about three to four months later to Seoul, South Korea, bringing our baby home!
One of the biggest obstacles in this whole process (besides the never-ending paperwork, of course) is the financial aspect. When we began the process we knew that we didn’t have the amount of money needed sitting in the bank. However, we felt that if God was calling us to adopt, He would bless us and provide for us as needed. The total cost of a Korean adoption is about $30,000. This includes the home study, fees for the New York and Korean agency, and travel. This is an overwhelming amount of money and we are planning a couple of fundraisers to try and help with these costs.
We are so glad that you are sharing our journey with us. It is sure to be exciting, and full of surprises and blessings. We would very much appreciate your prayers and support for a smooth process, and more importantly, for our child, his or her birth mother, and the foster parents. We will keep you updated as we travel on the road of international adoption!
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