June 1, 2007
For those of you who are pretending to be interested in the mundane paper-slave aspect of our adoption process, this one’s for you!
We successfully switched our Domestic Home Study over to an International Home Study and we took the fully executed and notarized documents along with our I600A application down to our local USCIS office today.
“I don’t do adoption-speak, break it down for me please Jamie.”
I surely will.
The home study process includes social workers coming out to your home to make sure your cleaners are not in the toy box and that you put new batteries in the smoke alarms after that ill-fated night last winter when they all simultaneously started beeping, causing their alarm innards to be unjustly ripped out by a crazed undie-wearing madman. They also ask you if you like eachother and if you will be nice to an adopted child, they ask how much money you make and what books you are reading, what you favorite color is and if you tivo SuperNanny. If you perform correctly, they write up a favorable home study for you and give you a stamp of approval.
The other form I mentioned is the I600A application. This you send in to the government (USCIS office, or United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) and ask for permission to bring children back to the US to be American Citizens.
So, after stopping by my bank to get my personal money order for the I600A fees, in which 3 tellers, myself and some dude in line could not remember how to spell Citizenship, we were off to the USCIS office.
I truly hate visiting government offices. Something about the color scheme, the metal detectors and the “no smiling” policy gives me an instant wedgie and makes my hands sweat. I get fidgety and clumsy and really apologetic, sorry I stood in the wrong spot, sorry I dropped my papers, sorry I thought my number was called, sorry I am here, sorry I am wasting your time, sorry. And it’s like they take that and really cuddle it and stroke it and roll around in it, until they feel really super great about themselves, that they made another friendly civilian look like a freakin guilty clumstard.
I totally made that word up just then. That was awesome. It worked too, didn’t it? Clumstard. sweet.
So, anyway, we had the pleasure of visiting the USCIS office and were able to turn in our app, our homestudy and get fingerprinted all within an hour (they’re cold-hearted wenches but they’re smooth operators, I’ll give them that). I was even able to get the fingerprinting guru to crack his outer jerk-wad exterior for a minute and indulge me with some fun fingerprint stories where apparently last week a guy went in who had no fingers. Kinda fun, somewhat interesting, or at least it seemed interesting at the time, while we were in government office warp time mode.
The most interesting part of the whole experience was the one other lady who was in the office at the same time we were there.
She was Hispanic, spoke very little English and was clearly being shuffled from employee to employee. She was dressed extremely nice, with nylons and heels, a nice blouse and long skirt. Her hair was done up with several bows and she looked to be in her late 40’s. She was so quiet and still that you hardly even noticed her.
But I did.
Here we were, straggling in unannounced, Mike with his Cords and unshaven jaw and Me with my flip flops and shorts, not to mention our screaming banshee of a child and there we were, so full of expectancy and there with every intention to complete our task and leave.
And there she was, so opposite. I don’t even know how to explain it. I mean, can you imagine trying to get citizenship in our Country? Really, I cannot. What kind of uphill battle would that be? What kind of disdain and uninterest would you be confronted with on your journey?
I watched her watch the American flag in the room. And then I watched her watch the large picture of President Bush in the room. And just by the way she was holding her posture and her face, you could tell she was still fighting.
I don’t know how long her fight will be, but I hope she wins.
AND.., I didn’t mean to turn this into an open invitation to discuss Immigration Reform, but I guess it happened! That’s how it works here at the Battle Station. You never really know what you’re gonna get, it’s a fly by the seat of your pants type place. Wedgies and Immigration Reform and Adoption all within the same post. I had been meaning to discuss all three of those things, so I’m glad I got that done today.
Posted by Jamie @ 1:37 am • adoption schmaloption, random goodness
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June 1st, 2007 at 4:45 am, Blaine @ 5mcckids Says:
I hope she wins too. It’s amazing how much this whole adoption journey has changed my way of thinking. My husband loves to tease me by telling me I have turned into a liberal. AHhh!!! But seriously, I have a heart for the underdogs. Heck! If she went to all the trouble of looking nice for the grumpy folks at the USCIS office, the least they could do is grant her citizenship, right?!?!
Congrats on the adoption progress. You are definitely on your way!
June 1st, 2007 at 8:32 am, dcrmom Says:
Jamie, I love how you can make a post like this entertaining! Congrats on the progress you’ve made!!!
June 1st, 2007 at 10:37 am, rachel setliffe Says:
Hey! I saw your comment on my blog so I came over to check out your blog. That’s a lot of blog…anyways, I’ve really enjoyed reading about your family & everything. We are also in the adoption process…to El Salvador. We are hoping to turn in our homestudy application by next Friday so we can begin our visits with our social worker & then get our USCIS application turned in soon (especially b/c the fees are about to go up!) Hope all goes well with you guys! Nice to meet you in this blogosphere
June 1st, 2007 at 11:16 am, owlhaven Says:
We take a lot for granted, don’t we?
Mary, mom to many, including two waiting immigrants
June 1st, 2007 at 12:35 pm, Tam Says:
Congrats and welcome to the world of IA! May your journey be a smooth one!
June 1st, 2007 at 10:33 pm, Jennifer Says:
I never thought that I would enjoy reading about someone’s USCIS experience! Thanks for constantly making my day just a little bit more enjoyable… you are like my very own cup of coffee every morning! And congratulations on being done with the 1600A part. I am so excited to watch your journey!
June 2nd, 2007 at 12:20 pm, JustEnjoyHim/Judy Says:
Wow, this takes me back. Sort of. I mean, I remember the home study stuff fairly well. The governmental type stuff? — not so much, most of it, so I think either had large black-outs, they implanted some chip in my brain that erased those parts of my memory, or for a short time I developed an alternate personality named Bipsy who took over due to the stress of the whole thing and she remembers those times with excruciating detail, but I hate her so I refuse to talk to her. Well, wouldn’t you automatically hate someone named Bipsy who’s taken over part of your brain?
June 2nd, 2007 at 10:43 pm, Shannon Says:
It is truly amazing how you can make a post about your USCIS visit entertaining and thought-provoking. I am impressed you were done in an hour, that is awesome!
My husband became a citizen about a year ago, and it was an uphill battle–and he is from Germany. We were made to feel like criminals at every interview. I cannot even imagine how immigrants from Latin American countries are treated. Of course it was worth it and we had a huge party to celebrate. He is very proud to be an American.
And I debated about saying anything, because I have loved reading your blog and don’t want to be a jerk, but I owe it to my kid to speak up about clumstard. I totally would have cracked up before I knew how much “retard” and variations of it hurt those who are actually diagnosed with mental retardation. I wish someone had told me before, but no one did–now I know. And you seem like the kind of person who would want to know also.
June 2nd, 2007 at 11:29 pm, Erin_d_a Says:
For a “quick” update, that was a long blog LOL
You KILL me
June 3rd, 2007 at 9:59 pm, abebech Says:
Hey, just wait until they make a typographical error on your next child’s IR-3/4 and it takes five months to get it straightened out by two US Citizen parents so you can apply for said child to have more identifying docs (SSN, COC, Passport)and then you’ll really be amazed that anyone makes it through the maze to citizenship!!!
Congratulations on making it through those steps and further along the way!
June 6th, 2007 at 11:37 pm, Carrie Says:
Glad to hear (read?) everything is cruisin’ right along for ya’! We are having our counselor gal coming over on Monday for our homestudy interview and official dust bunny inspection.
I can’t wait to hear about your referral!
Talk to ya’ soon!
June 8th, 2007 at 8:33 pm, Jennifer Says:
I have had that same surreal sort of feeling in foreign countries - my passport and the color of my skin give me the trump card in every situation. So unjust but reality.