Argh!

So we got the stats from our agency for their referrals this year. There have been a whopping 3 referrals of girl, 2 were under 12 months. With that average, and we are number 30 on the girl list, maybe we will get a referral in 2009. Sorry, just venting, the lack of girl referrals is frustrating.

Another write to the government request

I am posting this from a yahoogroup I am part of. The requests/comments need to be posted by April 2nd. If you're willing to, the more voices the better, thanks. I have already filed the I600a and done the biometrics once. Since it only lasts 18 months currently I will almost definitely be doing these again some time next year. Both are scheduled to increase in price. The other two forms are for after we bring our daughter home, for her.

Fees are increasing at USCIS, and there is very little time left to voice our objection. The following is an outline on how the increase affects adoption and what we can do to stop the increase.
Fee Increase Proposal. On February 1, 2007, USCIS published a Notice of Proposed Rule Making in the Federal Register that would substantially raise filing fees for most types of cases. If the proposed rule is adopted, filing fees would increase by an average of 66% over current fees. The proposed rule is subject to a 60-day comment period that ends on April 2, 2007. At the end of the comment period, USCIS will review and consider the comments it has received on itsproposed rule.
Adoption-Related Petitions Affected by the Proposed IncreaseForm and Petition Type
Current Fee and Proposed Fee
I-600/600A Petition to Classify Orphan as an Immediate Relative
$ 545$ 670N
565 Application for Replacement of Certificate of Citizenship (used for namechanges)
$ 220 $ 380
N-600 Application for Certificate of Citizenship
$ 255$ 460
Biometric Services (fingerprints)
$ 70$ 80

Together, Let's Make a Difference!Adoption is expensive enough already, and it is unconscionable to raise feesby up to 66% for adoption-related petitions. This can be fought, but itneeds action by everyone in the adoption community. Please submit your comments to USCIS by April 2, 2007. Anyone may comment on the proposed regulation. Those interested in commenting should take time to review the proposed regulation and formulatelogical, potentially persuasive statements. Comments will be made public,as they will be posted as submitted at http://www.regulations.gov/. One should NOT include any personal detail unless s/he is willing to share it freely.While no one likes prices to go up, simply complaining about the increase incosts is unlikely to have an impact. Comments must reference the agency name (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services), as well as the docketnumber (USCIS-2006-0044). Comments may be submitted at http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/component/main, the Federale Rulemaking Portal, or via mail or courier to:Director, Management DivisionU.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Department of Homeland Security111 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, 3rd Floor Washington D.C. 20529

The child we sponsored

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone. Blue Dragon sent us a photo and some info about the girl we sponsored to go to school for a year and I wanted to share. She is ten and lives 40km north of Hanoi.

another update and 4 months down now

Well we skipped out on the last parent education meeting on the 12th, it was on culture, which we are interested in, but have been doing a lot of research on our own, and we had just arrived home from being out of town that afternoon at 3pm so it was a lot to do and a long day for Shawn.

Then the 14th was our 4th month of waiting on the list. I asked Nikki what our number was on the list. She said 30, but this is for the 'girl' list. They get 1-3 girls a month, so if they average 2 a month maybe 15 months =) We can hope.

Here is a picture our social worker took of us at the Tet party.