Adoption Update

Well, we are again facing another unwanted interruption in our adoption process. This one seems minor compared to all the other things that have happened, but it is still going to tack on more time nonetheless. On April 8 the U.S. Embassy in Accra, Ghana changed the processing procedure of their international adoptions. Here is an excerpt of the full page notice we received late last week:

The U.S. Embassy in Accra, Ghana wishes to advise adoptive parents of procedural changes that may increase the processing time for some adoption cases. Adoptive parents should be aware that an I-604 (Determination on Child for Adoption, sometimes referred to as “orphan investigation”) must be completed in connection with every I-600 application. Depending on the circumstances of the case, this investigation may take up to several weeks or even months to complete. Therefore, adoptive parents should not plan to travel to Ghana until they have confirmed with the U.S. Embassy that their visa interview appointment has been confirmed.

Prospective adoptive parents and adoption service providers are reminded that a consular officer is required, by law, to complete a Form I-604 (determination of orphan status) before issuing a visa in all IR-3 and IR-4 adoption cases. In some cases this may require only a conversation with the birth parent, but in others it may require a full field investigation possibly lasting several weeks. Since verifying the parent-child relationships in Ghana is difficult, we also expect that in some cases where the child was relinquished by the birth parent, DNA testing will be recommended in order to establish a blood relationship between the adopted child and claimed birth parent (s).

Of course something like this would happen right when we are at the very end! It’s hard to believe that they need to do yet another investigation into orphan status when this has already been done numerous other times throughout our process. I kind of just feel like S C R E A M I N G!!!!!!!!!!! But, I think if there is a positive in this, it is that Samuel’s mother is easily accessible should they need to interview her (again) as stated above. Sometimes as in the case of a child being relinquished by the birth parent to an orphanage, it is hard to locate the birth parent, but this will not be the case for us, thankfully. So, here I go again filling out another form. My excitement of what I thought was just getting to wait until we got our I-600 approval in the mail has been completely crushed. Now we will also be awaiting this approval. I am again reminded to keep my perspective in that I am not putting my hope in people to get this adoption done. My hope is in God. And I can trust that He has the timing of this all worked out, even when I don’t understand. Please pray for our adoption…that both our I-600 and now this I-604 would be processed efficiently and that we would not experience any unnecessary delays while they are being processed.

Yesterday as JJ rode his bike alongside of me while we walked to the park we talked about how Samuel will soon be able to come to the park with us and ride JJ’s other bike (the scary bike as JJ put it). Then JJ said, “I can’t wait until my brother Samuel comes. And you can’t wait until he comes, and Daddy can’t wait until he comes. And Yaw will have fun with Samuel too. And Esi too. Everyone, everyone, everyone can’t wait until Samuel comes.” Pretty sure I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Hang on sweet Samuel. I hope someone is telling you that we are coming back for you. We haven’t forgotten you. We think about you every day and we pray for you every day. God-willing, we are coming soon.