Any news?

I wish I have better news to post, but we are kind of stuck. Our homestudy report is almost ready. We already got the draft from our fabulous social worker Charlotte. We reviewed and sent it back to her. So, it should be ready, right?
Nope, our home study cannot be completed until all our clearances have been received by the agency. The government of US wants to make sure that we have not commited a crime or abuse any child in any place in the world (or at least on the places where we have lived) since we were 18 years old. What does it mean? That we need to wait for a background check back from Venezuela for me (Nancy). Any problem with that? Think about any burocracy possible in a country and you will find it in Venezuela.
Neither of our agencies have the power to request this document there. So we ‘hired’ somebody to request it in my behalf. I had up and downs with this person, but it looks like finally he will send the documents to our house next Monday 10/27. If this really happen, we may have the background check here at the end of the week! If not, well, plan B. I will have my cousin to find them. If the documents show up at the end of the week, it will be a miracle!

On the other hand, we are changing the age of the child we want to adopt. Talley was listening a show in NPR and he understood how important is the influence of the parents in the first years of age. Well, the same guy who wanted a potty trained child at the beginning of the process is now more inclined to get a younger child. Amazing! Talley surprises me everyday! Thank you NPR!

Also, we are getting close to decide which way to adopt in Colombia. There are two posibilities. One with the government (ICBF, free) and the second is with a private house (kind of orphanages: casa privada, donations highly welcome). The casas privadas provide very good care of their children, ICBF place children in foster care. We don’t doubt that either way the child will be taken care of. But with casas privadas we have a bigger chance to get a younger child (almost newborn!), but it is more expensive. Also, with ICBF we understand that our wait could be between 24 and 30 months. With the private organization, we don’t know the length of the wait. We are requesting counseling from our placement agency, but at the end we have the last word. Lets pray we make the right decision!

BTW, Halloween is coming up and we will dress up!!!