Who we are You've entered the site for the Haddock family; Keith, Risa, and Justin. During the summer of 2004, we will be adding a new Haddock member - Alayna. The remainder of this site will offer you a glimpse into our adoption journey. Currently, our family of 3 resides in Lee's Summit, Missouri. Keith and Risa are both clinical health psychologists and teach at the unversity level. Justin is in third grade. We have two dogs, a German Shepherd - Ally, and a mixed breed - Skinner. Justin also has a hermit crab. During the summer of 2003, we embarked on a journey to adopt a daughter from China. We would like to provide our families and friends with a little background regarding the adoption process. Check out our links for additional information and photos. Beginning the Adoption Process In June, 2003, during Risa's high school class reunion, we made the decision to welcome another child into our family. We have been blessed with Justin, an absolutely wonderful, loving, intelligent, creative, funny, and beautiful child. Having Justin and watching him grow and mature had us yearning to do the same with a daughter. We ultimately decided to adopt a child from China. You may ask, "Why China"? There are many reason. First, the girls from China are bright, resilient, beautiful, and intelligent. Second, we had encountered great difficulty in a domestic adoption attempt undertaken a few years ago. Moreover, the greater Kansas City area provides a wealth of resources and support groups to the many families with Chinese daughters. Once we returned home to Lee's Summit, Risa made several calls and inquired from multiple agencies about their adoption programs. We decided to go with a Missouri-based agency, Children's Hope International, a well-respected agency with a branch office in Kansas City. Four years earlier a good friend of Risa's adopted her daughter from China through this same agency. Once the decision was made, the vast paper chase began... The Paper Chase In order to adopt from China, the family must collect a plethora of paperwork. In addition to the application materials and letters of recommendation, a collection of government documents must be assembled. Such documents include marriage certificate, birth certificates, financial statements, physician reports, and criminal background checks. A social worker must also conduct a thorough home study in which the parents are interviewed separately and together and every aspect of their lives and home are scrutinized. Once the home study is completed, a "petition to adopt a foreign child" is filed with the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (formerly INS). It typically takes several weeks before approval is received. Once all the documents have been received they must all be notarized. Then the documents must be sent to the Secretary of State for the state from which they originated. Once they have been received back from the Sec. of State, with a form stating that the notary was indeed a notary, they are sent on to the embassy governing each state for additional validation. Since we had documents from New Jersey, Tennessee, Georgia, and Missouri, we had to send our documents, via courier, to three of the five embassies. Finally, in a record breaking two months time, all of our paper work was completed and was then submitted to our agency. The Children's Hope International personnel reviewed the packet, officially called a "dossier", deemed it complete, and sent it to their St. Louis office. There, the St. Louis personnel reviewed it and batched it with the dossiers received from other families that week and mailed it out on September 5th, 2003. Once our dossier was mailed to China, it was again reviewed by the CHI personnel in China and hand delivered to the China Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA) where it was officially logged-in to their office on September 19th, 2003 (considered our LID - log-in date). I believe it was no coincidence that Risa's paternal grandmother passed away on September 17th (NOTE: Alayna was born on Sept. 16th). Surely, all of Keith's and Risa's grandparents are serving as guardian angels to make certain we receive the little girl destined to be a part of our family. CCAA Once our dossier was logged in to the CCAA, we waited until it was our turn to move into the "Review Room". Once in the review room, the entire month's worth of dossiers (in our case we were with all the other dossiers logged in during the month of September) are reviewed by the CCAA personnel. They ensure that the parents meet all the qualifications and that all the paperwork is in order. Then the folders move into the "Matching Room". The matching room is where the magic takes place. Folders, similar to the parents dossiers, are prepared for each baby available for adoption. Approximately 95% of the babies are female. Sometimes there are twins and they generally go to childless couples. The CCAA personnel match babies to parents. There is great speculation as how this is accomplished. Rumors have it that babies are matched to parents by birthdates or anniversaries that are in close proximity. It may be the case that a family has requested a baby with certain traits, such as musical abilities, and a certain baby's folder suggests that she enjoys singing to herself or banging on drums. The most dreaded form of matching (on the parents part) speculates that the CCAA matches the baby according to physical similarities between the baby's photo and the parents passport snapshots. Yikes! However, the matching process may simply be based upon the baby on the top of the stack being matched with the family on the top of the stack. Once the matches are made for the entire month, the CCAA sends out information about the baby. This information is received, again, in batches, by the adoption agencies. Once the agencies receive the information, they inform the parents that a referral has been made (NOTE: Our call came at 3:15 on April 30th, 2004). When this packet of information is translated, the parents usually receive information regarding the baby's gender, birthdate, which province and orphanage (known as a Social Welfare Institute - SWI) the baby is from, and some outdated generic health information. Sometimes there is scant information pertaining to the baby's personality and abilities. Usually this information is approximately 4-6 months old. Most importantly, however, the parents typically receive 1-3 pictures of their baby. The ages of the referred babies ranges anywhere from 6 months to 2 years (unless a parent asks for an older child), with most babies between 9 and 13 months of age at referral. Travel to China After the referral has been received, the parents sign that they accept the baby and the acceptance papers are sent back to China. Then the CCAA informs the agency that they have received these papers. Parents are granted permission to travel to receive their babies. This comes in the form of Travel Approval (or TAs). Typically, the TA is received about 3 weeks after the referral. Once the agency receives the TA, they call the American Consulate in Guangzhou to make an appointment for the baby to become an official US citizen. When the appointment has been set, the agency can tell the families their travel dates. Since the consulate appointment is usually the last task checked off the paperwork and appointment list, families generally travel about 10 - 12 days prior to their appointment times. Thus, a family usually has only 10 days or so to make travel arrangements to China. When we go to China we plan to fly into Hong Kong and spend the night before traveling on to Nanjing. After we receive Alayna, we will fly down to Guangzhou for a few days and meet up with other families from our agency whose babies are in other orphanages, before heading home. Fortunately, there is always plenty of time for sightseeing and shopping. Unfortunately, Nanjing is considered one of China's three "furnaces" and their rainy season is from late June to mid July. Well, when will we likely travel you ask? Oh, late June to mid-July. China is 13 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time during the winter months and 12 hours ahead during the summer months. Alayna Lian Haddock Chinese Name: Lian Ren Ci Translation: Lian = the surname, from the city of Lianyungang (pronounced, Lee - yahn); Ren = the 9th of the celestial spheres, September (our original translation was incorrect); Ci = giving, kind, and loving. Born on September 16th, 2003 in the town of Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province in the Peoples Republic of China, Alayna was 7.5 pounds and 19 inches. At 4.5 months, Alayna weighed 14 pounds and was 24.4 inches long. This is average to above average for Chinese girls. At 4.5 months (our most recent information) she was described as having very fair skin with "swift and energetic" eyes. It is reported that she is in very good health and rarely falls ill. Her caregivers report that she smiles a lot and gets along well with her little friends. As much as one can tell from a 4.5 month old, Alayna is described as "quick-witted". She gets very excited when she sees her bottle, has a healthy appetite, and laughs when she plays with her toys. It is also reported that "her face looks like an apple". Apparently this is quite the compliment coming from the Chinese people. The children from the Lianyungang Social Welfare Institute (the orphanage) are known to be well cared for, healthy, and beautiful. They are generally of average size (usually even by American standards). I have heard that the Director of the SWI, Madame Li, is a physical therapist by training and that the children are all reaching physical developmental milestones at appropriate times. The city of Lianyungang is on the eastern seaboard of China above Shanghai. Along with the other 6 Children's Hope families in our SWI group, we will stay in Nanjing, the capitol of the Jiangsu province, for the first few days of our trip. Nanjing is approximately 5 hours from the orphanage. It is known as one of the more scenic cities in China. The babies will be brought to our hotel by their "aunties" and orphanage personnel. We are thrilled beyond belief to have been entrusted and blessed with such a wonderful gift. Now go to our links page and see her beautiful photos on our DTC group family page!!!!! Travel Itinerary June 22......................Fly to San Francisco June 23......................Fly to Hong Kong June 24......................Arrive in Hong Kong (lose a day over the international date line) June 25......................Sight see in Hong Kong June 26......................Fly to Nanjing June 27......................MEET ALAYNA!!! June 28 - July 2.......Complete paperwork, sight see, and shop July 3..........................Fly to Guangzhou and meet up with the rest of our travel group July 4 - July 6...........Complete paperwork, sight see, and shop July 7..........................Fly to Hong Kong July 8..........................Fly home - YEA!!!