Haiti Themed Necklaces

This summer I discovered the love of jewelry making-- necklaces/pendants, bracelets and earrings.  It has been a wonderful creative outlet for me!  I am also blessed to say that I have sold several pieces and continue to have custom orders.  And interest in my jewelry continues to grow!  It seems I may have the start of a good Adoption Fundraiser to help bring our son home from Haiti.  {Thank you, Jesus!}

This is a sampling of my Haiti-themed necklaces, using several different techniques and components. 

Designed and Handmade by Jennifer

Please visit our FaceBook page and click on "photos" to see a few other styles.  I also have many more designs on my personal page.  If you are interested in making a purchase or have a custom request, please post a comment here and I will contact you privately. :)

W's First Care Package

This is one of several very sweet photos we received of W with his care package

In early December, a group of adoptive parents traveled to the Chances for Children (C4C) creche in Haiti to visit their children.  As my hubby and I were unable to go, we asked another C4C adoptive mama who was going on the trip to take down our first care package and some creche donations with her on the trip.  She actually lives in the same city as us, so it worked out great!  We were so excited and greatly anticipated the news of his response.  This would be the first time he would see our faces and learn about his future family!

We included several small gifts, including a local t-shirt and a very special Christmas book.  It's one of those Hallmark books that records your voice reading the story.  Eric and I and our girls all got involved in reading the story.  We also introduced ourselves in the beginning and sang "Jesus Loves Me" at the end.  We have received two videos of him singing "Jesus Loves Me", so we thought this would be the perfect song for him to have in his book.

We were later thrilled to hear about his response to our package and the big news of a forever family. Our local friend who delivered the care package and another adoptive friend (who lives in the same state, only a couple hours away) took W aside to a quiet place to present him with the package.  One sat with him and explained each item and the photos.  The other took photos of his response.  He was quite shy at first--I can only imagine!  What huge news for a child who has always been an orphan to suddenly see the faces of the people who will become his FAMILY!  He did seem to love the gifts and was so proud to have photos of us and his two sisters, his future kitty cats and his house.  He hurried off to show all his friends, and he showed anyone who would look, the pictures of his new family!  We are told that he made sure, however, to keep a careful hold on them when people looked. :)  The book also turned out to be a huge hit...with all the kiddos at the creche.  Apparently it got passed around all day!

Another fun part of the story is this.  The C4C creche has a large map of the world in one of the hallways.  Each child has a sticker where his adoptive family lives.  W several times proudly showed our local friend where his sticker was--on the state of Tennessee--nearly on top of his buddy D's sticker!  And close by to A's sticker (our other friend's son--who is now home!).  What an awesome connection these boys have!  They are all born in Haiti, get placed in the same creche, and out of any place in the world they could end up, their families are all close together in Tennessee!

Thank you Lord Jesus, for your wonderful blessings, your wonderful plans. :-)

W's November Update

A few days ago we were excited to receive new photos and a report about how W is doing.  It is always such an encouragement to hear that he is healthy and is continuing to grow and learn.  We love these bi-monthly updates, but in some ways it makes the longing for him even stronger.  We are just so anxious to have our boy home with us!

Here are a few highlights from the report:

W is one of the most good-natured boys in the crèche. He always wants to help and loves to play with his friends. Wisly responds positively to adult attention and interactions. W almost always has a smile on his face. He is focused in his school work, but also loves rough-housing and playing.  He speaks clearly and is learning English.  He is intent on learning new English words. He is a quick and patient learner.

WE ENTERED IBESR!!!

Awesome pre-Christmas gift---being told that our dossier entered IBESR on December 3rd!  What an answer to prayer!  Our agency coordinator emailed the above receipt to us.  Such a lovely piece of paper. :)

So practically speaking, what does this mean for our adoption?

It means that we have now begun the Haiti side of our adoption process.  IBESR is the social services department that reviews our dossier documents and W's documents.  They are the ones who decide whether to allow us to adopt a child from Haiti.  And they will decide whether to allow us to adopt W, specifically.  W's file has still not entered IBESR.  It still needs his official birth certificate to be issued by the court.  Once this occurs (our creche thinks it will be soon...), his file will enter IBESR. 

Getting his birth certificate has been quite a lengthy process.  Please pray with us that very soon, the judge (?) will sign the certificate and allow it to be issued.  We can't go any further in this adoption without that one document.  I am praying that God moves upon the proper officials' hearts that they will get this done!  Thank you for praying with us. :)

The Haiti Adoption Process

Updated 12/26/13

This post should help give everyone an idea of the steps in our adoption journey.
That way, when we post on facebook or make an announcement at church something like this-- "We exited IBESR!" or "We cleared the 1st stage of Parquet!" or "We are now in MOI!"--you will know what we are talking about! :-)

Many people have asked how the Haitian adoption process works.  Unfortunately, that question has no simple answer.  The adoption policies and procedures in Haiti actually changed during our process (implementation began January 2013).  Adoption agencies and creches (orphanages) are waiting and watching to see how the new procedures, and soon new adoption laws, play out for families early in the process (like us).  One big change is that creches and adoption agencies will no longer be allowed to match children available for adoption with adoptive parents.  IBESR (Haitian social services) will be making the matches.  They will look at an approved family's file (dossier) and look at files of available children and then make a match (referral) for the family.

In our case, the creche we are working with and our adoption agency already approved us to adopt W.  There is some risk to this, since the new adoption laws will soon be going into effect.  When all of our paperwork (dossier) and W's paperwork is ready to enter IBESR, a letter written by our agency/creche will accompany it.  This letter requests that IBESR will honor/allow our match to a particular child--W.  Please pray with us that they will!!!

What happens to our dossier once it reaches Haiti? 
Note:  Since W's family and his background are unknown, the adoption steps below that refer to the Biological Parents do not apply.  Currently, his adoption file needs only one more document, his official birth certificate from court, and then it will enter IBESR.

Also Note:  President Martelly signed Haiti's New Adoption Law in November, so the new procedures are officially in effect.  This does alter some of the steps outlined below.  To my knowledge, no "New Process Families" have made it through Step 4.  This is a "watch, wait and see" time as things unfold.  And I guess you could say that our family gets to be one of the guinea pigs as the new procedures are ironed out.  Another exciting adoption ADVENTURE! ;-)

Step one
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) - Authenticating the dossier documents:  

It is the first legal step for your dossier and can take 2-4 weeks.

Step two
Preparation of the parents' dossier for IBESR (Haitian Social Services Department)

When your paperwork is at Foreign Affairs, it must be prepared to enter IBESR.

Documents will also be collected into a file for the child you are adopting:

-passport pictures

-Birth Certificate (and attestation of signature on the birth certificate, or extract from the National Archives (??)

-Legal relinquishment of custody from the biological family to the orphanage from the local judge

-Psychological evaluation

-Medical evaluation

-Laboratory tests

-Social History

Step 4:   (We entered this step in December--praise God!)
IBESR

IBESR officials will look over your documents and decide whether or not to approve your request to adopt from Haiti.

The adoptive parents are now being required by IBESR to travel to Haiti for a 2 week bonding visit with the child they have a proposed match to.  "Once the express approval of the adoptive parents has been received [once they have agreed in writing to adopt the child they are matched with], the Haiti Central Authority authorizes a socialization period between the adoptive parents and the child. This socialization period is mandatory; it can be less than 2 weeks, for domestic or for international adoption." (Article 52)

 A social worker from IBESR will observe the child and adoptive parents interactions and will write a report.  It is my understanding that the social worker from the child's creche will also make observations and write a report to submit to IBESR.  Then..."The Central Authority, within the 10 days after the socialization period, delivers or rejects authorization for the adoption based upon an evaluation rapport." (Article 53) 

To gain final IBESR approval, you must gain approval signatures from the:

IBESR director, IBESR lawyer, IBESR head of adoption services and the IBESR social worker.

Step 5
Parquet - The "Court Phase":

1. The attorney for your child's creche submits a Request for Judgement to the Chief of Parquet Court

2. Birth parents are interviewed, if alive

3. Parquet Court signs off on "approval judgement for adoption"

4. Adoption facilitator takes the approval document to the DGI (Director General of Taxes) for his stamp of approval

5. Back to Parquet for enforcement of approval

6. Civil Registrar Officer authorizes and redacts (pulls all the information together) and readies the paperwork for the legal adoption decree

7. Civil Registrar Verifies all the adoption documents

8. Civil registrar signs the Adoption Decree!

9. FIRST LEGALIZATION of the Adoption Decree in Parquet Court

10. SECOND LEGALIZATION of the Adoption Decree at the Ministry of Justice

11. THIRD LEGALIZATION of the Adoption Decree in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

12. The Adoption Decree goes to the National Archives to be registered.  Once it has been registered, you can retrieve a copy of it (or your adoption worker can). Send the copy to be added to your USCIS paperwork to file with your I-600 paperwork for your return trip home with your child.

Note:  The adoptive parents may or may not be required to come to the Second Court stage. 

Step 7
Ministry of the Interior (MOI) - the Passport application process; the child's passport is issued with the adoptive parents' last name

-The adoption facilitator collects and submits the following:

Four passport sized pictures

Birth Certificate

Attestation of Birth Certificate

Extract from the National Achives for the Birth Certifcate

Relinquishment

Proces Verbal of Adoption

Adoption Approval Judgement

Adoption Decree

Attestation of the Adoption Decree

Power of Attorney for Creche Director and/or attorney

Stamp from DGI

Notary Letter for the Passport

Identification card for the facilitator and/or attorney

Biological parents identification cards

Adoptive parents MOI form, identification and passport photos

-The Ministry of Interior grants authorization to submit the dossier to Haitian Immigration for a passport.

Step 8
Passports:

Your Haitian adoption facilitator (from the creche) submits the authorization from MOI to Haitian Immigration.  Haitian Immigration prints and issues your child's passport.

Step 9
Visa Medical Examination:

The child is taken to have a medical exam which is required as part of the U.S. Visa application process. 

Step 10

The 1-600 U.S Immigration form - The I-600 petitions to bring the named child home to the U.S.:
An I-600 form is filed with USCIS (U.S. Immigration).  You will receive updates on where you are in this process. Your provisionally approved I-600 will then be sent to the Embassy in Port Au Prince for the biological parents to be interviewed.

Once approved by USCIS, you will receive the I-171 form, which classifies an orphan as an immediate relative of yours (the adopted child as your child).

Step 11   
The U.S. Consulate:

Following completion of all USCIS investigations and adjudication of the I-600 for the child, the case is forwarded to the U.S. Department of State for issuance of the travel visa.  Adoptive parents may or may not need to be present for the visa appointment in Port Au Prince, Haiti.
During this process, the adoption facilitator submits several legalized adoption documents to the Consulate for review. 

Step 12
Receive date of Visa Appointment:
Some adoptive parents travel to Port Au Prince for the visa interview, otherwise their Power of Attorney (the adoption facilitator) goes.  The child is be taken to the Embassy for the final immigration visa interview.

Step 13
Visa Appointment:
Parents who can prove that they visited their child prior to the issuance of the Adoption Decree by Parquet Court will be issued an IR-3 Visa. Their children will be automatically granted full US Citizenship upon arrival in the US

Families who did not visit their children prior to the date of the Adoption Decree must file for citizenship for their children. Failure to file for citizenship will leave the child as a legal immigrant and unprotected by the rights of full citizenship. Please refer to the USCIS website for form N-600 and instructions on how to file

Step 14
Receive exit letter from IBESR

This step is a formality and allows IBESR to track which of the adoptions they have approved have actually received visas to leave Haiti.

Step 15
Pick up your child and fly home!!!


**For a more detailed explanation of these steps, go here:  http://kashaiti.blogspot.com/p/hatian-adoption-process.html

First Update from the Creche!

In September, we were thrilled to receive our first update on W from his creche...and a couple new photos.  He is adorable and amazing!  We are soooo excited for the day we get to actually meet him in person and experience the fun personality that so many people have been describing to us these past several months. :-)

Here are a few of the highlights.

1) Development:

• W is very enthusiastic, smiling and laughing

• Lost his first tooth and seems to be getting his first molars

• Very expressive with his words

• Can write certain letters and numbers, and his name

• Seems fearless and dives into activities and interactions with no hesitation

• Loves to play with visitors

• Frequently plays with a group of boys around his age but is open to playing with anyone

• Very mild-tempered and has a good sense of humor

• Is very active and has strong motor skills, maintains good balance, speed and agility


2) Health:

W has been in good health for the past couple of months

3) Legal:

The family’s dossier is in the legalization process while we finish gathering W’s documents. In his particular case, many steps are required through the court, IBESR and government officials to generate all his necessary paperwork. We hope to have his birth certificate soon, which is the biggest hurdle.

Some of the Kiddos at the Creche

An adoptive family from W's creche recently picked up their 2 children to bring them home (yay!!) and took several photos of the children at the creche.  Here is one that includes W.  Our guy always seems to be covered in dirt/dust from playing outside.  That's our boy!

Tabs Updated

...at the top of the blog.  Prayer Partners and Get Involved have both been updated...and Timeline is currently in the works.  Hope you check them out. :)

Thanks for stopping by our blog!

~Blessings,
Jennifer

DTH (Dossier to Haiti), and What Comes Next

 

Here are all of our dossier documents (minus the I-171H which hadn't arrived yet) before we shipped it to our adoption agency.

So after we received our completed home study from our social worker and signed adoption contracts with the creche, we got busy finishing up The Dossier.

We prepared a letter to IBESR  (Institut du BienEtre Social et de Recherches), which is basically Haiti's Child and Family Services.  It is our official and personal request to adopt a child from Haiti.  Every family writes a letter like this to accompany their dossier.  In the letter, we explain why we want to adopt from Haiti and we share about our family.  Writing this letter took quite a bit of time and thought, but I think (I hope) it leaves the officials with a good impression of us.  Along with the letter we prepared a 3 page photo album of family photos with captions.  This will also help those reviewing our paperwork and idea of who we are.  A Power of Attorney document is also prepared so the agency/creche's attorney in Haiti can act on our behalf during the adoption process.

The last piece of the dossier is the Immigration Approval letter.  We filed the Form I-600A, Application for Advance Processing of Orphan Petition (July 9th) to bring a foreign-born (Haiti) orphan (W) into the U.S. as our child.  Then we got fingerprinted at our closest immigration office (on July 26th--2 weeks before our appointment--we just showed up early and they let us get printed!) and waited to receive our approval letter, the Form I-171H, Notice of Favorable Determination.  I stalked the mailbox for days and days, and it finally arrived on August 22nd!  Happy dance time!!

Someone at the post office spilled coffee??

This unremarkable looking form is our approval letter!

Once everything was gathered, we FedEx'ed our entire dossier to our adoption agency to be translated into French (this step was actually done when we scanned and emailed our documents to our agency for a first review), a final review, and authentication at the Haitian Embassy in Washington D.C.  On August 28th, our adoption coordinator FedEx'd it to Haiti, and on August 30th it was picked up by one of the staff at W.'s creche!!!  Oh my word, what an amazing feeling, to have our part of the process complete; to have the culmination of months of hard work (and roller-coaster emotions) in the hands of our adoption workers in Haiti.  THIS is where the process really begins.  We saw W's sweet face for the first time in February and by the end of August, our paperwork was in Haiti! :-D

So what next???
Our dossier has one final step before it enters IBESR and starts the review process.  It is currently being "legalized" by Haiti's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (I think that's correct), which can take a few weeks.  Then it will enter IBESR.

...IF...

IF W's file is complete.  Since W is a "true orphan", and as such has no birth certificate and his background is unknown, an adoption file has to be created for him.  The staff from his creche has to track down various people in various places and collect a variety of documents and get a variety of signatures.  Then he will have a file for adoption.  THEN his file and our file, along with a letter from our agency requesting we be matched, will be submitted to IBESR.   

This is a huge prayer request.  Creating a history for a child and gathering the documentation can be very difficult and time consuming.  Please pray with us that the creche is able to get W's file complete and correct and ready to go by the time our file is finished with legalization.  Thank you so much for praying!!!

It's Been 3 Months Since My Last Confession...uh 'Post'

I must admit I'm a little embarrassed at how far behind I am at telling W's adoption story.  This is my attempt to catch everyone up on the last 3+ months (eek!) because SO MUCH has happened!

By the way, I have added several dates so that other Haiti adoptive families can get an idea of our timeframe (yeah, I do that comparison thing too.. ;-)).  I have also divided the post with topic headings,,,if you prefer to skip to the juicy parts! ha!

The Home Study process begins...
In mid-April we got into contact with our home study social worker - a wonderful local lady who we've used for several home studies and home study updates.  On May 3rd my hubby, Eric, and I had our first official meeting in her office to discuss how to proceed and to set a goal for completing the home study.  Our goal?  May 31st.  Because our family was scheduled to be out of town the first two weeks of June, we hoped to have our notarized home study document in-hand before we left for our trip.  This was going to be a challenge.  I should add...there was a bigger reason for rushing to get our home study finished.  The notarized home study would be emailed to the crèche in Haiti where W lives.  It would be reviewed by the director / adoption staff.  If it met their approval, they would officially match our family to W and send us adoption contracts to sign!!  And the sooner we got that done, the sooner we could complete our dossier for the Haitian government to review and *Officially Match* us to W.

So began a flurry of collecting documents, filling out forms, having meetings, getting exams, visiting the notary, visiting FedEx, driving all around our city with 2 kiddos, collecting more documents, etc.  The checklist was 2 pages long!!  Fortunately many of the documents would also be used in our dossier.  On May 29th our social worker came to our home for the final interview and home inspection.  This was painless, enjoyable actually, since we know and love her well.  By the end of that week, we had submitted to her every item on the checklist.  Woohoo!  We didn't quite meet the goal of having it written, but now she could do that while we were out of town.  We could email revisions and corrections back and forth with her and our adoption agency worker to come up with a completed home study. 

Home Study or Comedy of Errors?
For those of you who are just now embarking on your international adoption journey, please don't let me scare you away from diving into the paperwork.  Knowing about possible pitfalls will help you immensely in getting your paperwork completed error-free.  You can do it!  I promise!  Those who have already completed an international adoption, you know what I'm talking about!  And you look back and chuckle, maybe roll your eyes...now that your child is home. ;-)  What am I referring to?  Notarized Documents.  Getting that Notary Signature and Seal.  Official documents going to a foreign country must be notarized in an absolutely precise way, with specific legal language, a commission that won't expire before one year, matching dates, and more.  Each document is certified by several levels of government in the U.S. as well as in the foreign country, so precision matters.

Let me give you one example where things can go seriously awry.  The Medicals.  Oh, those dern' little medical forms--the great hurdle of every repeat international adoptive parent.  This document is required for your home study and dossier and gives the foreign government some assurance that you won't suddenly keel over after you bring your kiddo home.  So you and your spouse get thoroughly examined by your medical doctor and tested for a multitude of diseases and conditions.  You wait for results.  You give the doctor 2 forms (for each of you) that he must fill out, sign and notarize.  Additionally the doctor writes 2 letters (for each of you) on his letterhead stating you've been tested and examined and are healthy, you are able to raise an adoptive child, blah blah blah...and he signs and notarizes.  For Eric and me, this meant our doctor was responsible for 8 documents.  In the end, it took several conversations, new forms, and a couple additional visits to the doctor before we had 8 correctly notarized documents in hand.  I almost cried with relief and had to purchase an extra box of Clairol Nice n Easy to cover the new gray hairs... ;-)

There were several other blips along "the home study way", but it's all part of the adoptive journey.  These little inconveniences mean nothing when you consider that every moment of every step is bringing you closer to a child.  A child who will someday be your son.

A Big "Glitch"...
In June something pretty big that happened, unrelated to our adoption, is that my husband donated a kidney to his brother-in-law.  The first 2 weeks of June our family was out of town for the surgery and with my sister-in-law and brother-in-law.  We stayed in a hotel suite together (well the guys spent several days in the hospital and we girls had the suite) and spent precious days together and had wonderful talks and times of connection.  When Eric was released to return home, he was on bed rest for a couple weeks.  This is the reason we wanted to get the home study completed by the end of May. 

While we were gone, we planned on emailing back and forth with our home study social worker and our adoption agency worker to get a finalized version of the home study.  We thought this would be fairly low key and not a big deal.  We would get the home study finalized, emailed to the crèche and be matched to W.  However, a glitch arose 2 days before we left on our trip.  We learned that another family with another adoption agency had started to pursue the adoption of W!  We had no idea how far along they were in their home study process, so suddenly we found ourselves racing to finish our home study.  We were passionately convinced that God had led us to this particular boy and we already felt he was our son.  We, with lots of family/friends prayed for God's leading and for His will to be done in this situation.  We frantically edited the home study via emails back and forth with our 2 adoption workers.  It would have been heart wrenching if we "lost" W, but we trusted God to put W in the family that was of His choosing. 

So what happened?  We got our home study finalized and submitted to the crèche shortly after we returned from our trip.  And a few days later, on our anniversary, we received the official match from the crèche to adopt to W!  We received his referral file with photos and the adoption contracts to sign.  Best anniversary gift ever!  And some other really great news-- the other family is now happily pursuing the adoption of another child, and are thrilled that W has a family too.  God took care of it all!!

God Provides...
With this adoption process, as with the others before it, we promised God that we would not borrow money to pay the adoption fees and travel expenses.  With W, He gave us an open door to walk through and promised to provide ALL that was needed to bring this little boy home.  His faithful provision has been evident in many miraculous ways!  God has provided through several means, including creative fundraisers:  our puzzle piece fundraiser;  an online jewelry auction;
selling Restaurant.com vouchers;  Thirty-One totes sales;  donation jar at the coffee shop where I work; and a large yard sale at our church.  We also had many friends, family members, and even strangers donate to our adoption fund.  Some of those were large donations that simply knocked our socks off!  We started with an adoption fund that totaled zero, but in 4 months, God provided nearly $11,000 towards our adoption!!!


---Ok wow.  That was a looooong post.  If you made it this far, I say like we do in the south, "Well bless your little heart!" ;-)  I'm pooped out from writing it, and I'm sure your eyes are worn out reading it; thus I will push pause in the story.  I will continue the update...with CURRENT ADOPTION NEWS...in my next post!