Journey to Claire
A China Adoption Story
July 2005
July 2 - Sent initial application & fees to CAWLI
July 7 - Obtained certified copies of our birth certificates, marriage license & old divorce decrees
July 12 - Received intake package from CAWLI
July 14 - Went to local informational meeting for CAWLI
July 21 - Gerald's physical exam
July 28 - Requested criminal records from State of Maine
July 29 - Obtained employment verification from Spang Builders for Deb
July 30 - Asked Bev, Kay & Roberta to be our personal references; sent them the necessary form
August 2005
August 8 - Received notarized criminal records (and yes, they was nothing on them)
August 10 - Received Bev's personal reference
August 12 - Intake meeting at CAWLI's Brookline office
August 15 - Completed autobiographies for home study; copied last three years of tax returns
August 16 - First meeting for home study with social worker, Jeff Levy; gave him signed service agreement, notice of appeal process, information release authorization, eligibility requirement form & financial statement
August 19 - Notarized documents for CAWLI; received employment verification letter from Verizon for Gerald
August 20 - Received guardianship statement from Celeste & Greg
August 21 - Had passport pictures taken
August 23 - Deb has her one-on-one with social worker
August 26 - Deb had her passport picture taken again (long story
)
September 2005
Sept 2 - Gerald has one-on-one with social worker
Sept 5 - Received Kay's personal reference
Sept 6 - Deb's physical exam
Sept 7 - Filed passport applications
Sept 13 - Mailed water sample to State of Maine lab
October 2005
October 3 - Final meeting for home study
October 4 - Received the last personal reference from Roberta
October 5 - Social worker speaks directly to Bev to complete home study
October 7 - Received passports (Gerald's was approved Sep 27, Deb's on Oct 3)
October 11 - Finally received water test results - we failed due to high arsenic (.001 mg/L over legal limit!) 
October 19 - Water filtration system installed to remove arsenic from water
October 24 - Sent water sample to lab
October 27 - We passed the water test! Our arsenic level is now .012 mg/L, well below the legal limit.
October 28 - Rush to social worker's office to pick up our completed home study; FedEx to USCIS/Homeland Security with I-600A, Application for Advance Processing of Orphan Petition
November 2005
November 2 - USCIS has received our paperwork & payment
November 7 - Received fingerprint notification
November 28 - Fingerprinting day (surreal to say the least)
December 2005
December 10 - We received our I-171!
December 12 - FedEx'd I-171, administrative fee & CCAA application fee to CAWLI
December 28 - We are DTC (dossier to China)!!!!!!!!!!
December 29 - The wait from LID to referral is now 8 months
January 2006
January 16 - We are officially logged in CCAA. And now we wait.....
January 26 - Our agency received 14 referrals this month. The wait from log in (LID) to referral is now 9 months.
February 2006
February 22 - We FINALLY received our LID (log in date); it's January 16. I can update the January timeline now
February 27 - Our agency received two referrals this month. The time from LID to referral has now stretched to 10 months.
April 2006
May 2006
May 6 - Went to CAWLI's Brookline office for PTAG session (Parent Travel Advisory Group)
May 26 - CAWLI received 4 referrals this month; the girls ranged in age from 8-12 months. The wait from LID to referral is now hovering between 11 & 12 months.
June 2006
August 2006
September 2006
Sept 20 - Sent in questionnaire & fees to update our homestudy
Sept 21 - Requested criminal records & DHS reports for homestudy update (more fees 
)
Sept 26 - CAWLI received 8 referrals from the Hunan province this month. The girl's ages ranged from 8-15 months. And the wait has now stretched to 14 months from LID to referral (i.e. our LID is 1/16/06 which would put our referral in March 2007 )
November 2006
November 2 - Referrals finally arrived! 
CAWLI received 6 referrals from Hunan (ages 8-11 months); and we are now expecting a wait of at least 15 months from LID (that now pushes us to April 2007)
November 3 - We are FINALLY out of the review room - and no questions asked! Now we wait in the matching room.
December 2006
December 1 - Referral Update: Our agency received 8 referrals from the Anhui Province; the wait still stands at 15 months for the time being
December 28 - Sent letter & fees to be re-fingerprinted (our fingerprints "expire" in February)
January 2007
January 4 - Our agency received 8 referrals today, including one set of twins! They were all from the Hunan province and range in age form 7 months to 18 months. The wait now stand at 15 months from LID.
January 24 - Requested the "Re-filing USCIS I-600A" package from CAWLI