Adoption

Thinking about adopting from Colombia?  I wish I could tell you it was easy, but it’s not.  It’s frustrating, sometimes humiliating and definitely annoying but the good news is that you will mostly forget about it when you meet your amazing child.  Here’s what you need to do to get started.

1) Find and agency that is both Hague and ICBF certified.  You can find a list of them at www.icbf.gov

2) If you are Colombian you should definitely join the group Colombians Adopt Colombians, they are lifesavers.

Here’s how our timeline went.  Keep in mind that we got preferential treatment on the wait-list because Arnold is a Colombian citizen.  Wait times are significantly longer for non-Colombians unless you are adopting a sibling group, older children or a child with special needs.

“First Trimester” Paperwork - Home study

December, 2008 Made our final decision to adopt.  Spent the month in Colombia visiting family and cooing over children.

January 2009 Started the adoption process.  Gathered documents, did pre-adopt classes and started home study.

April 2009 Home study complete!

“Second Trimester” Paperwork – CIS (Immigration approval)

May 2009 Turned in paperwork to CIS

July 2009 Received CIS Approval Woo-hoo!

July 6 2009 Sent dossier to Colombia for translation and review.

“Third Trimester” Paperwork – Colombia approval and wait list

August 25, 2009-Approved as an adoptive family.  On the wait list

September 9, 2009-Sent to Committee

September 18, 2009 – Received Referral

October 18, 2009 – Formally Accepted Referral

December 22, 2009-ENCUENTRO!

December 28, 2009 – Integracion Meeting

January 25, 2010-Sentencia – Holy crap -Adoption is final!

January 30, 2010 – Back Home.  Casa Perez will never be the same again!

To read more about the process without having to learn all about our daily mishaps, family reunions and pop culture like and dislikes hit all the posts in the “Adoption Category” or hit the “Adoption” link in tag cloud.  If you are in process already and need a Facilitator or Lawyer we highly recommend our facilitator Helena de Olea and our lawyer Oscar Abril.  We cannot say enough about what a good job they did.  Their expertise saved us from many a bureaucratic obstacle and got us home on time!