Tag: process

Jan 20 2014 0Commentby writekara@gmail.com

Dossier out the door

Posted in Adoption, Fundraiser

In the midst of a all the snow Friday, our family made the trek to Columbus to get all of our dossier documents state sealed. This is a HUGE step in adoption.

What is a dossier?

The dossier is a set of documents used to describe our family to the foreign courts. Our homestudy is part of the dossier but there are around 19 other pieces!

What’s in a dossier?

Our dossier included birth certificates, our marriage certificate, letters from our employers, financial forms, police clearances, medical forms, our homestudy, passport pictures, additional pictures of our home, our immigration approval, and a letter of our intent to adopt Eli.

How is a dossier prepared?

Completing a dossier is yet another reminder that it takes a village to adopt! Several parts of the dossier required us to rely on someone else to help us with its completion. Small hiccups can be pretty nerve wracking because Eli is on our minds day and night. We don’t want him to miss out on any more opportunities. We know a school year is ticking by and we’re just….eager. Collaborating with so many through the process has also reminded us how grateful we are for others time and attention. We know paperwork isn’t fun…for anyone. These forms are generally more complicated too because most have to be notarized-or signed in front of a notary. After this step, Adam took every document to (3!) different county offices to confirm our notaries were the real deal. AFTER that, we headed to Columbus for our state seals. None of this can be done in too much advance because some documents must be no more than three months old by the time they are processed in China.

After we admired our shiny, gold state seals, we headed STRAIGHT to the post office and overnighted our dossier to our agency. They will help us obtain federal seals and then, it will be off to China!

What’s next?

Adoption is alphabet soup. There’s always a new acronym to look forward to….Right now, we are waiting to officially be DTC (Dossier to China). After that, we’ll be waiting to hear our dossier has been translated. The entire 40+ page document has to be translated into Mandarin. THEN, we’ll be waiting for the ever-coveted Letter of Approval (LOA)…there are many more steps, but we are making progress!

While we wait and wait…we’re reminded that Eli has been waiting much longer…for a family, for a home, and for a future. Other orphans-especially those with disabilities-are doing the same. I found a quote today from Helen Keller that was perfect timing…We hope Eli remains brave and we’ll work on the patient part.

Introducing another next step…

Bravelet red bracelent with inscription Be Brave

In celebration of completing our dossier, we’re launching a new fundraiser. You can now purchase Bravelets to help us bring Eli home. Bravelets are bracelets, rings, and necklaces with the inscription “Be Brave”. Everyone can use the reminder and we loved having the opportunity to select colors specific to our cause. The support and love that so many have shared as we fundraise has been incredible. In the next few months, we’ll try to offer some options where you, too, can get something awesome in return for your support. Bravelets are the first of a couple things we have in mind!

We’ll receive $10 for each Bravelet purchased from the Bravelet page we created. We have several options. Just make sure you are within our page if you’d like to support our cause. Here’s what your page should look like and here’s the link: https://bravelets.com/bravepage/ayers-adoption

Please share our Bravelets page with your village. We appreciate your help, support, and purchases. So much!

Bravelet website for Ayers adoption

 

BeBrave


Jan 03 2014 0Commentby writekara@gmail.com
finding ad page

Building a History

Posted in Adoption

It’s amazing to me that Eli lives almost exactly on the other side of the world. Yet, our weather is shockingly similar. Right now, it feels like just 1 degree here in Cincinnati. In Eli’s province, it’s also freezing-just a tad colder (at -1). I’m starting to understand the sentiment “living in two time zones” as I frequently find myself checking the weather where Eli lives and thinking about what he might be doing. Does he have warm clothes? Is he giggling with friends? Sleeping well? Eating something he loves (which we’re told is nearly everything)?

At this point, we are somewhat used to not knowing…there are so many things we will never know. Harder yet, there are pieces of Eli’s history that he will never know. What would it be like to know nothing of where you truly came from? What would it be like to know even your birthday was very unlikely your actual date of birth? We feel it’s our obligation to track down everything we can so that someday-we can give Eli each and every bit of knowledge we know about his past. Many other adopting families share this desire and one of them pointed me in the direction of a man who locates the finding ads of abandoned children.

What are finding ads?

Since around 1999, China has been placing pages of finding ads for children who have been abandoned. It is illegal to place a child for adoption in finding ad pageChina so families often desperately enact plans to leave their children in a very public place-in hopes they will be found as quickly as possible. Some children are left with notes, money, or even family momentos. Due to the threat of legal action, there are typically no ties to the birth parents. The finding ads are intended to give family members one final chance to come forward and reunite with the child. After the ads have run, the child is issued a certificate of abandonment and can then be adopted. This single piece of paper seals their status as an orphan while opening their future to the possibility of adoption.

Was an ad placed for Eli?

Just a few hours after submitting my request, I received a response from the man who locates these newspaper ads. Eli’s ad has been found! It will include what we believe will be the earliest picture to date (and likely that we will ever have) of him. Even in our 6 inches of snow, we’ll definitely be checking the mailbox diligently because we can’t wait to see his sweet face. Most importantly, I’m excited to have this bit of Eli’s past to share with him. In scanning his files for the necessary information, I also located the public place in which Eli was found on a google map. We’re not permitted to share his province or finding location. The spot is just about an hour from his orphanage though so I’m hopeful we’ll be able to visit (or may even have to for paperwork) when we travel.

It’s hard to admire a bustling, urban area from the pixelated screens of Google Maps. Still, it’s so easy to see that Eli’s homeland is beautiful. Even in populated areas, there are rounded green areas with twisting sidewalks and smooth lines of waterways. There are tall buildings and long rows of smaller houses. I plan to take as many pictures as I can but I have a feeling even Eli will appreciate my aerial Google view of his homeland someday…at least I hope so.