The other day when I was looking for my Citizenship Day Papers, I happened to come across the booklet that was given to my parents when they were adopting me.
I enjoyed reading about the adoption process back in the "old days". Most of the paperwork is very similar to what we have filled out such as autobiography, copies of different certificates, photographs, etc... There are also some differences such as you need a letter from your bank, letter of recommendation from your minister, if your child is under 2 1/2 years old it specifically says that the wife will not work more than 25 hours per week outside of the home, and there is more emphasis in how much the husband's salary is over the wife's.
Travel is different, too. Currently, families have the option to have the baby escorted or you can travel to Korea to pick up your child. If you travel, like we plan on doing, from the time you get a call from your agency you must travel within a week to get your baby. When my parents adopted me, escorting was the only option allowed, and according to this booklet you would get 2 or 3 days advance notice of when your baby was arriving and it looks like the baby wasn't necessarily flown to the nearest airport to you. For example my parents were living in Racine, WI at the time and they had to pick me up in Minneapolis, MN.
The one item that I do chuckle at that has not changed one iota says "patience is required, a very important factor in the whole adoptive process is the family's ability to have adequate patience throughout the adoptive process..." And, I must say that most families' patience is put through the test.
We are definitely in a waiting stage at this point in time. I've mentioned it before that in order for Baby Parker to travel to the United States he will need an Emigration Permit from Korea, and that is what most families are patiently waiting for. Best case scenario (and this is our own prediction) is that we will be able to travel by February 2012 to bring him home. However, there are a lot of things happening in Korea to reform adoption (which is a good thing) that could possibly affect our time of travel. So...we wait. :-)
We want to say thank you for the love and support that our friends and family have provided along the way, especially during this long stretch of time as we wait to get the magical telephone call telling us it's time to travel!
A special thank you goes out to my mom and dad who started the adoption journey for all of us when they brought me home...and thank you for all of your love and support through Baby Parker's adoption...we would not be bringing our sweet baby home without you. Love you!!!
