Matched!

anniess · May 2014

DH and I were just matched with three kids (two boys, one girl) last week!!!! We are so so so excited! We did not think we would be matched so early. Now, of course, we still have to apply for official orphan status for them before we can start the next portion if the process. It is a long, bumpy road ahead of us, and we are praying hard that we get to keep these three, we love them already. #1(boy) is about 7, #2(boy)is about 3, #3(girl) is about 5 months. #2 and #3 are siblings, #1 is their cousin. I can't stop crying, I just feel so excited and scared all at the same time!!!

Mrslovingheart44 · May 2014

Congrats! So exciting!

CaptainSerious · May 2014

How wonderful and exciting! You will never forget this day.

How long does the process to have them legally declared orphans take? I'm assuming that's a determination in Uganda and not the US, correct? Or are you talking about having the US approve the match according to USCIS adoption guidelines? I'm always interested in how the process works from other countries, especially non-Hague countries (only because they can vary so much from the Hague regulations, and I'm fascinated by the different ways to arrive at the same burden of proof required by the US).

You are adopting from Uganda, right? I know that in many parts of Africa, many of the children available for adoption do not have complete documentation of their past, especially birth records. If any of the children you were matched with are in this situation, please take the last year of my life as a cautionary tale, and try to be as precise as possible when having birth certificates issued. My son (adopted from Peru) did have a valid birth certificate registered by his birth mother, and still it came under scrutiny because it wasn't registered until about two years after his birth. If this applies to you at all, please let me know, and I will share a wealth of information with you that may help you in establishing their birth dates in such a way that you will be able to have confidence in their validity going forward. If not, than rock on!