What we've done so far...
To chronicle a journey, it seems appropriate to begin at the beginning.
Around mid-February, we decided that we wanted to start the adoption process. As an idea, it had been bopping around our heads for a long time and now the time felt right. I started researching and learned very quickly that international adoption is no easy feat! When I discovered the various fees and how they added up, we had another big talk and decided that this was still what we wanted to do.
We got in contact with American Adoption Professionals Abroad, a home study agency here in Germany. They helped me lots by asking the right questions; this focused us on some things that helped refine the research process. We talked and talked and decided that we want to adopt a boy younger than Marisa from an East European country. This narrowed down to Ukraine after even more research. It was liberating to have this much figured out!
Next we set about deciding on an agency. I talked to anyone and everyone I knew who had adopted or even people I didn't know. I joined several groups on Yahoo and another chat on Families for Russian and Ukrainian Adoption. There's lots of good information to be had from these sources - but there's also plenty of misleading and downright mean information out there. Finally, we decided on About a Child. I can't say exactly what led us to choose them - it just felt right.
At the end of April, we had our official home study meeting. We had already done the hard part when we completed the home study questionnaire. It seemed to take forever! So by the time the meeting at home happened, it felt easy. I always say that we're not interesting enough to have anything to hide, so I wasn't nervous. I didn't even dust.
So, this is where we are. We've still got a couple forms to submit for the home study and we've begun to pull things together for the dossier. I hope to get our I600A submitted to CIS this week.
