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武科霞

Above is how to write our daughters Chinese name....Wu Kexia (pronounced woo kuh sha)  And thanks to this neat website ( http://www.yellowbridge.com/chinese/chinese-dictionary.php ) I found out that her Chinese name means "rosy cloud".  We thought that was pretty neat since her new middle name will be Rose. :)

We also found this neat website that will allow us to write out a letter to her foster family and then have it translated so they can read it.  We plan on sending her a care package as soon as we can. http://www.worldlingo.com/en/products_services/worldlingo_translator.html

So we are ALMOST DONE with our home study! woohoo!  Next Saturday is our last visit with our social worker. We will just be waiting on our child abuse clearances to come in and just in case you are wondering our next steps in the adoption paperwork is listed out below.  I know it still seems like alot and it is but the home study is usually the most time consuming thing.  Some of these things will only take a week or two and some can be done simultaneous with other things.  AND the good thing is that alot of the paperwork are things we have already done for our home study.  Its just a matter of making copies of some of them to send in.

1) Finish Home study and start collecting all your dossier documents. During this time, you will want to begin notarizing, state certifying, and authenticating your dossier.

2) Submit LOI Letter of Intent to China

3) Receive PA pre approval to adopt from China

4) Send in I-800A to USCIS (United States Citizenship & Immigration Services) to be approved by the United States to Adopt from China in general

Documents Needed with I-800A form:

I-1800A form

Notarized home study

Copies of both parents birth certificates

G-1145 form for text & email notification

5) Finish and send in DOSSIER:  Certify and authenticate your USCIS approval, then send your dossier to your agency. You are now DTC (Dossier to China!) If you work quickly, you can compile your dossier and send it to China in 3-4 months.

What is included in your dossier:

• A completed home study
• Certified birth certificates for both parents
• Marriage License
• Medical statement of good health for both parents
• Letter of Employment for both parents
• Financial Statement
• Police Reports for both parents
• I-800A Approval
• 6 photos of your family life
• 3 copies of each parent's passport
• 2 passport photos of each parent
• Adoption Application Letter (or Letter of Intent)

Step 1: Gather all the documents needed. File for I-800A approval with your completed home study.

Step 2: Notarize, state certify, and authenticate the documents in your dossier, including your I-800A once it arrives.

Step 3: Send your dossier to your agency!

6)  Receive LID-Log In Date-date your info is logged into the CCAA (China Center for Adoption Affairs) system

7)  Receive LOA Letter of Acceptance from China (takes usually 50 days after LID)

8)  Send in I-1800 approval to adopt specific child- It will take approximately 3 weeks to receive I-800 approval

Documents included with I-1800:

• Form I-800
• Form I-864W (even if only one parent is traveling, you STILL file this form along with your I-800)
• A copy of your original signed Letter of Acceptance (LOA)
• A copy of your child's medical/referral info in English and Chinese (get this from your agency)
• A letter from your adoption agency stating that you have completed the required Hague training
• A letter from your agency stating that all the medical information translated into English is true and accurate.

9)  NV- National Visa Center…will be notified that your I-800 is approved the NVC will then cable (email) the U.S. Embassy in Guangzhou, China. This is approval of your visa petition. NVC should email this same letter to your agency

10)  Once you receive the NVC letter, send it to your agency immediately! They will deliver this letter to the US consulate in China.

11) Once the consulate has your NVC letter, they will issue your Article 5 in 2-3 weeks. The Article 5 is the consulate pre-approving your child for an immigrant visa. Your agency will have a courier pick up the Article 5 and take it to the CCAA.

12)  Once the CCAA receives the Article 5, the Travel Approval will then be issued. This takes around 2-4 weeks. At this point, your agency will make travel arrangements for you to go to China and adopt your child! When we travel we will probably fly straight to Beiijing. Stay there for 2 days and then fly to Lanzhou (the capital of Gansu) which is a 2 hour flight.  The next day we will probably get to meet our daughter.  WuWei is about a four hour drive from Lanzhou. The adoption will then finalized the next day. 

This what another family that adopted from Wuwei, Gansu province said about the area:

"Lanzhou is real China.  You will probably be the only western family there.  There are some stares, but it's not bad.  Everyone was really interested and friendly.  There are few English speakers outside of the hotel so it can be a bit isolating.  It would be good to have some idea of places to eat/things to see before you go and to have your guide or the hotel staff make up cards ahead of time so that you can show taxi drivers where you want to go."

We will then fly to Guangzhou where we will meet back with our group and see their new additions and have our swearing in at after our Consulate Appointment.  Then a couple days later we will bringing Charlotte home! YIPPEE! :)