Today was a good day! A big thanks to Julie for noting that a phone call might get the ball rolling. I don't know why I didn't think of that? I guess in my mind, I pictured our document being thrown into an abyss of other papers and no way to track it down. Lol. Thankfully though, our home study agency had a direct e-mail for the person who takes care of that department. I wish I would've known that sooner!:) Anyway, the woman was wonderful and said the child abuse clearance will be sent out "no later than July 6". That is a great development...thank you Julie for the idea! It's nice to know it's accounted for and will be on the way soon.
Also, for Ramie and Kara who called about the FBI prints, was it pretty easy to track down the correct person? Since I had good luck with the state, maybe it wouldn't hurt to get a status update with fingerprints too. Speaking of that, as we were gathering the information for the FBI prints (and instructions) my husband learned that they implemented new guidelines this year. You are now able to get the prints apostilled after they are cleared (if you request that on your form). I was nervous about doing so because I wanted to follow the dossier guidelines EXACTLY but my husband said it was fine, so they will be getting apostilled too. I hope that won't affect the time frame too much, I guess we will see!
Finally, we are excited and grateful about our first fund-raiser coming up! A friend of mine is a photographer and offered a professional mini session, with all proceeds going to our adoption fund. We didn't know if anyone would respond, but thanks be to God....it filled up!:) We are humbled and appreciative of her time and the support. Her website is here with more details. I am still getting used to the idea of asking people for help on our journey. We certainly are not wealthy, but we've always supported ourselves, even paying for our own wedding and never missing one bill payment, no matter how tight things were in the early days. So, it's humbling to trust in others and be dependant on their help. God is so good though, this experience has once again shown us that all things are possible with faith and the Holy Spirit. Thank you Lord!
Going private soon.....
12 years ago
I called to check on our first fingerprints once, and they were able to check on them. They told me they could only expedite if we were already matched with a child, though it seems they were done pretty quickly after that. Maybe my phone call moved them up!
ReplyDeleteThe second time around for the USCIS approval I was able to call and email someone.
I know what you mean about fundraising, which we are doing too. We made sure we were giving something in exchange, just like your fundraiser is. To us it's like we are selling a product and we know where the money is going. I think of it as earning extra money. Of course most people who participate want to help us out too.
How nice that you can get your FBI clearance apostilled by them. That must be a very new thing as when we applied for ours at the beginning of April they were still saying they would not apostille.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you have a date for your child abuse clearance now.
I'm thrilled that my comments helped you! It might not have changed the date your clearance would be sent, but it sure is nice to know. Have a great holiday weekend!
ReplyDeleteIt really is nice to know where docs are in the process & when to expect them. We had to rush to be refingerprinted for USCIS and they were very easy to contact thru email.
ReplyDeleteHmm, we definitely did not need to get our fingerprints apostilled. Apostilling is verification that the notary is indeed a registered and current notary in that state, so how do they apostille a federal document? I would be curious to know if someone could explain that to me.
ReplyDeleteFor the FBI prints, every time I called they would just check the status, let me know they had not been completed yet, say, "I know it's for an adoption, we can put in a note in to the supervisor, but its an 8-10 week wait." Then in week 10 (on my second round of prints) I broke down and starting sobbing (at that point it had been 4 months since I was FIRST fingerprinted) and she asked if I was past my deadline. I just said "Yes" (What deadline, I have no idea, maybe that it was Sherry is referring to). I received them the next day via FedEx. Ironically, they were rejected again. But our agency had just implemented the electronic system (like USCIS) to get prints verified by FBI (I think some other Polanders have done this?) and we got those results in one week, but our agency personally called and begged the woman as well. That was when I finally got approval.
I could not find the FBI number I called, but try googling it and you should get a phone number to call.
Funny enough, our USCIS approval came 7 days after we were fingerprinted for that.
Yeah, I meant to mention the apostille for the fingerprints too. I know we didn't have to do that, because we chose the option of sending them directly to the agency. We never even saw the documents.
ReplyDeleteI guess there are little differences in the process. We had our USCIS fingerprints done on Jan 20 and got approval on Feb 2nd, so thankfully those ones are fast.
Hi There,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments, as always.:)
My husband took charge of the FBI fingerprinting so he knows more of the specifics, but for Kara, he just sent me this link with the information about apostilling. He said to look at question #9. http://www.fbi.gov/hq/cjisd/faqs.html
The FBI impleneted a few new guidelines this year so it's a good link to have if anyone needs it.
Kara,
ReplyDeleteIt isn't the fingerprints themselves that are apostilled but the approval letter that the FBI sends to you. With us they sent us the approval letter then we have to have it apostilled. Apparently you can not have it apostilled as is since it is a federal document but our agency gave us a statement to write on the back or on a copy I don't remember as we haven't done the apostilles yet then we sign it, the notary notarizes our signature which is then apostilled. Again we haven't actually done this yet but the process was in the paperwork our agency sent us.
I was just scolded by my husband because I didn't not comment on the this post when a question was specifically asked to me.....as far as the FBI fingerprints go...we were told 3 weeks. When the did not come in 3 weeks I called and was told it would be more like 9 weeks. Well of course I freaked out. So I called about 3-4 times until I got someone who was sympathetic to my case. I just spoke with whoever answered the phone. Let me know if you still don't have them back when you get home from vacation.
ReplyDelete