Bring him by Wuhan for a homebrew or three!
Adoption Question
- Thread starter drainbamage
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Bring him by Wuhan for a homebrew or three!
OP
OP
drainbamage
Keep HBT weird.
We'll be traveling to Luoyang to get him, which--by China standards--isn't all that far away from you. But from the sound of it, we'll be in a group with other adoptive couples and guides/translators, so even our sightseeing will likely be done on a schedule. I'm not sure we'd have any opportunities to roam, otherwise I'd totally take you up on that!
OP
OP
drainbamage
Keep HBT weird.
The fingerprinting appointment yesterday went less than stellar. Well, mine was fine, but my wife had all kinds of issues. They had two techs (or whatever you want to call them) doing the screening, a man and a woman. My wife got called back first, and went to the woman's workstation. From the waiting area, I could hear the woman talking in an annoyed tone, but I couldn't really catch all of the conversation. The male tech called me back and ran through my screening. Pretty straightforward, took maybe 10 minutes. I finished up and walked out, but my wife was still in the screening room. Odd.
I sat and waited another several minutes until she came out front, obviously agitated. Once we got outside, she told me the female tech was extremely rude and when she could not get a set of reliable prints from my wife, she got even nastier, jerking her hands around and trying to reposition them on the scanner.
Backstory: after a childhood accident, my wife lost part of the tip of her right ring finger, so that finger is slightly shorter than normal and has an irregular print. Her right pinky is also a little irregular. She said she tried to explain this to the tech, who kept saying stuff like "oh, you think you know how to do my job?" and "I hope they reject your prints."
Once I finished up, the tech had the man come over and do her scans, which he did without issue. The female tech, apparently still not satisfied with the results, went back and redid half the scans, although she never got good ones on SWMBO's right ring and pinky fingers.
So, my wife's beside herself, afraid this miserable woman is either going to either submit a bad set of prints, or not submit them at all out of spite, and her background check is going to fail. Not only that, but she came home from work yesterday to show me that her right wrist was sore and swollen from getting worked over by the tech. I told her she should consider filing a complaint of unprofessional conduct, but she's afraid that doing so might also jeopardize her application. "Snitches get stitches," and all that.
I sat and waited another several minutes until she came out front, obviously agitated. Once we got outside, she told me the female tech was extremely rude and when she could not get a set of reliable prints from my wife, she got even nastier, jerking her hands around and trying to reposition them on the scanner.
Backstory: after a childhood accident, my wife lost part of the tip of her right ring finger, so that finger is slightly shorter than normal and has an irregular print. Her right pinky is also a little irregular. She said she tried to explain this to the tech, who kept saying stuff like "oh, you think you know how to do my job?" and "I hope they reject your prints."
Once I finished up, the tech had the man come over and do her scans, which he did without issue. The female tech, apparently still not satisfied with the results, went back and redid half the scans, although she never got good ones on SWMBO's right ring and pinky fingers.
So, my wife's beside herself, afraid this miserable woman is either going to either submit a bad set of prints, or not submit them at all out of spite, and her background check is going to fail. Not only that, but she came home from work yesterday to show me that her right wrist was sore and swollen from getting worked over by the tech. I told her she should consider filing a complaint of unprofessional conduct, but she's afraid that doing so might also jeopardize her application. "Snitches get stitches," and all that.
applescrap
Be the ball!
Im so sorry to hear. Are they part of the adoption agency? I dont think they can screw you over. Worse thing is they can make you do them again, because your state cant run them, would be my guess. You guys were probably right to let it go. I am sick of stuff like that and as you all know I won't put up with any of it. Too often though I think it just leads to me being the bad guy. I don't know what happened to being cool and nice and respectful. A lot of times you ask to speak to a manager and the manager acts just like them. She has probably been given permission to be a jerk from somewhere. Keep on course though because it sounds like you are getting close. How long do you have to stay in china?
OP
OP
drainbamage
Keep HBT weird.
They were Customs & Immigration (aka Federal) employees, so no affiliation with the adoption agency. Funny thing was, the first time we had to get fingerprinted for the FBI, we had to go over to this little Kinko's-type print shop in Uptown Cincinnati, and that guy got a clean set of prints with no undue hardship. He had take take 2nd scans of a couple, but still nothing like this ordeal.
We'll be in China for about 2 weeks once it gets to that point.
We'll be in China for about 2 weeks once it gets to that point.
OP
OP
drainbamage
Keep HBT weird.
Despite the fingerprint tech's best efforts, our last background check came through fine (and ahead of schedule!). Now, for one last round of notarization, authentication, re-authentication, and re-re-authentication, and we can send the whole shebang off to Beijing fo' realz. At that point, they project about 3 months until we actually travel. Of course, most of the other steps have turned around faster than expected. I'm told part of that is because not much happens policy-wise with these government agencies (on our end) in an election year, so the paperwork gets completed quicker.
On another positive note, my parents seem to be warming up to the whole idea. They've been asking more questions about the process and about him, and they appear to be genuinely interested. My mom has also been working on making some sensory stimulation toys for him to play with once he gets here, which the social worker said would be very important on catching him up developmentally. I know it's still early, but maybe they've come to accept that he's the only grandchild they'll have until my sister decides to have kids. Which, she and her husband are both looking at switching jobs, so I don't think babby is on their radar right now.
On another positive note, my parents seem to be warming up to the whole idea. They've been asking more questions about the process and about him, and they appear to be genuinely interested. My mom has also been working on making some sensory stimulation toys for him to play with once he gets here, which the social worker said would be very important on catching him up developmentally. I know it's still early, but maybe they've come to accept that he's the only grandchild they'll have until my sister decides to have kids. Which, she and her husband are both looking at switching jobs, so I don't think babby is on their radar right now.
OP
OP
drainbamage
Keep HBT weird.
Well, I'm properly licensed, so...
OP
OP
drainbamage
Keep HBT weird.
Quick update: our dossier is completed and arrived in Beijing earlier this week. It will probably be another week before we hear something back, at which time we'll begin finalizing the immigration forms.
applescrap
Be the ball!
So how long until travel, finalization? Excited for you.
OP
OP
drainbamage
Keep HBT weird.
Depends on how quickly we can get his visa processed, get a US birth certificate, etc. Most steps to date have gone slightly quicker than expected. We're expecting to travel late fall.
OP
OP
drainbamage
Keep HBT weird.
Winner gets all the crappy rice lagers I can bring home!
Not a bad idea though. Stay tuned.
OP
OP
drainbamage
Keep HBT weird.
Our Letter of Approval (LOA) should be arriving any day now, which means we are formally matched with the child, and everything beyond that point is just a formality of coordinating the visas and travel plans.
Also, one of SWMBO's coworkers has a friend that was getting rid of a kid's bed. When she heard about us, she offered it free of charge, so we picked that up over the weekend. Now I guess it's time to stock up on car seats and diapers and all that other stuff.
View attachment 1473252973100.jpg
Also, one of SWMBO's coworkers has a friend that was getting rid of a kid's bed. When she heard about us, she offered it free of charge, so we picked that up over the weekend. Now I guess it's time to stock up on car seats and diapers and all that other stuff.
View attachment 1473252973100.jpg
Man, why didn't I think of putting the kid in the garage and the brewery upstairs... you sir are a genius.
OP
OP
drainbamage
Keep HBT weird.
The beer is a lot less forgiving on temperature control.
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