Our adoption timeline


  • October, 2010: felt called to adopt
  • November, 2010: researched adoption, agencies, countries
  • December, 2010: sent our application to WACAP's Ethiopia program
  • January, 2011: received application approval, sent in background check and fingerprints for homestudy approval
  • February, 2011: began long process of collecting Dossier paperwork
  • March, 2011: began homestudy with Lutheran Family Services
  • April, 2011: completed 24 hours of parenting classes with LFS, realized we were capable of parenting an "older" child
  • April 2011: found out that Ethiopia was slowing adoption court cases -- from 50 a day to 5 a day, so began looking into other countries once again
  • April 2011: found out that Haiti program was accepting new applications
  • April 2011: applied to All Blessings International's Haiti program; closed our case with WACAP's Ethiopia program
  • May, 2011: begin dossier process again for Haiti; Home study completed
  • June, 2011: homestudy sent to state for approval; Dossier paperwork sent to ABI
  • July, 2011: homestudy and dossier sent to Haitian consulate for authentication, then to France for translation
  • July, 2011: referral phone interview with ABI 
  • August, 2011: referred to a child in Haiti, received medical form, background and pictures of a little girl
  • August, 2011: officially accepted the referral for Christina
  • September, 2011: Dossier sent to Haiti to begin legalization process
  • November, 2011: Visit Christina and orphanage; appear before "Dean" for approval
  • November 22, 2011: Entered the "Black Hole" that is IBESR, file # 19853!!  Told not to expect to hear anything about our case for 6 months.
  • March, 2012: Second visit with Christina, this time taking our 11 year old daughter with us.
  • April, 2012: Still awaiting Presidential Dispensation.  No one knows when this might happen...
  • June 29, 2012:  Got the call that we received Presidential Dispensation!
  • July 4, 2012: Out of IBESR and waiting for paperwork to enter Parquet Court.
  • July, 2012: In Parquet Court awaiting signature from Judge who is on a month's vacation.  But we are in the last half of this long journey!  Timeline could be as soon as 12 weeks, as long as 7 months...
  • September 16, 2012: Out of Parquet Court (we have our adoption decree!  Christina's last name is Baur!) and awaiting MOI
  • September 27, 2012: Into MOI (Ministry of Interior) for passport approval.  Should be about 12 weeks from here...