So for the crudity of the title, but if you had had to jump through as many piddly hoops as we did the last 2 weeks, you would be screaming it from the rooftops as well.
About that long ago, we got the notice form USCIS telling us that our home study had not received approval from the state of SC for our I-800A extension. We were dumbfounded because our social worker (who has been doing these for many years) had told us the state didn't require it so we didn't think about it. Lina did ask us if SC needed to approve the home study- don't even get me started on the fact she should know these things instead of us and should have guided us appropriately...but I digress! Anyway, we said we had checked with our SW and she said no so we thought we were good to go.
Then the pink letter from USCIS...
Needless to say, I was ticked! And very ticked at our SW especially who we really trusted! It appears she truly did not know you needed to get the state's approval (SC is only one of a very few who still require this) and as you can imagine, the officer at the state DSS was NOT happy with her when she found out she had told us we did not need it. I'm thinking some re-training and words will be exchanged there.
Luckily- and I will spare you most of the details here- we were able to contact our USCIS officer who is AWESOME and the state official in the DSS who was equally AWESOME and they both expedited getting the approval done quickly so things could keeping moving along. The two officers emailed back and forth and cc'ed us on everything (better than the adoption agency most times). These two amazing ladies totally devoted themselves to helping us out and getting this cleared up as fast as possible and we will be eternally grateful to them!
Our USCIS officer was extra awesome too because she continued working on our I-800 and I-864 paperwork we had sent in while waiting for the paper copy of the state's approval (they sent an electronic copy that allowed her to do this). As a result, our paperwork was not delayed for the I-800 and we got our provisional approval in the same time frame would have originally! In fact, IT ARRIVED TODAY!!! What could be better than that? Well, I'll tell ya!
Not only did we get things timely, our officer also sent it in the Fed Ex Overnight envelope we had sent with our I-800 application (something that had not happened before). But the package was bigger than just a letter and when I looked inside, I found the other two Fed Ex Overnight envelopes we had sent to USCIS previously that had never been used to send things back by our first officer. What a fabulous surprise! Even if we don't use them again, I was super impressed at our officer's thoroughness in handling our case and ensuring everything was complete, right down to returning these envelopes.
So, we have filled out our DS-230 forms and have the provisional approval all ready to go to Magda tomorrow Fed Ex International ASAP (not even going to look at the cost when I sign the receipt). Then we are desperately hoping to be in Poland soon after that with a short bonding period so we can make it back for school to start.
On the home front, we have been skyping with A every two weeks and everything has been going great. He called us Mama and Tato and asks every time when we are coming to get him. So cute! The foster family also just got two other smaller children there so I think A feels crowded a bit, lol. He has been very talkative and especially loves seeing the dogs on Skype. We have completed his room and just re-did his closet with some drawers, shelves, and hanger rods to make it look nicer and customize it for his use.
So we are hoping to hear about dates soon and will update when we know!
Take care all!
**congrats to Krystyna! She is reunited with her girls for their bonding period that just started!
**congrats to Kara and Tom who just turned in their dossier to China!
****UPDATE: I-800 and DS-230 forms sent out this am (Mon) international overnight (which basically means Wednesday). Still, woo-freaking-hoo!!!!
