September 3, 2007
It's been a long waiting process with little to update you on, but we are happy to announce that accredidation has officially completed, and America World, our Adoption organization, is currently able to perform adoptions in Russia again! It has been a process fraught with frustration for many and a test of faith, but all things work in God's timing and not ours so what can we say. We are currently finishing up the redo of all of our paperwork, as it is only good for one year and that time frame has come and gone. Hopefully by the end of September, we will have completed our part of it, and our documents will be back on their way to Russia. It is really starting to feel close now, and the excitement grows with each day as we hear of families from the Russia chat group finally getting referrals (kids picked out for them). We are still fundraising, and the generous support continues to come in. People can currently give tax -deductible donations to America World's "Eternal Families" Adoption Assistance Program, where the funds will go into an account for us to use for expenses. Please e-mail us at parkjsibe@sbcglobal.net if you have any questions on how to get involved with that. Also, we are currently accepting donations for another garage sale happening this fall. This is mostly for those that missed out on the first one, or anyone who has any junk to get rid of. We made over $1200 at our last garage sale. We can't begin to tell you what an amazing blessing this was! We will try to update you all more often now that the process is moving forward again. Keep us in your prayers. Thanks.
The Park Family
March 19, 2007
Sorry it has been so long without updating you all, but that is due mostly to the fact that there is not much to update. Russia is still attempting to reaccredit all of the Adoption agencies, and it has taken much longer than expected. We have experienced a new delay that will push things back another 3 months most likely. We are not losing heart though and are continuing to stay faithful during this process. We are anxious to move on, but we know that it is not in our timing to do so. What we would greatly appreciate is prayer during this time, especially for those families who have children already in Russia who are just waiting to go home with them. Many of these children and their American families have been delayed for over a year, and are greatly saddened that there is nothing they can do. We will continue to update you as we have new information. In the meantime, we are continuing to raise funds for the adoption. As of this date, we have raised nearly $21,000 towards the adoption. Praise God for that! We are over the hump, and need about $19,000 more to finish the process. But this delay has allowed us time to continue to raise funds. Even though we had to close the Park Adoption Foundation, we are still able to receive donations on our behalf to the America World Adoption Association. It is called the Eternal Family Program, and donations can be made through that and go directly to our adoption expenses. These donations are also 501c3 tax-deductible. If you are interested, please e-mail us at parkjsibe@sbcglobal.net and we can e-mail you the form. Thanks again for your support.
The Park Family
***January 7, 2007***
MISHA CELEBRATES HIS FIRST BIRTHDAY
November 12, 2006
Park Adoption officially opens its blog
(We wanted to create a blog to share our adoption experience with friends, and anyone else who might be interested. This entry details our process up to this point, including our fundraising efforts through the Park Adoption Foundation. Our prayer is that you will see God’s hand in this process and you will find it inspirational, especially to those contemplating adoption themselves. We promise that future entries will be much shorter than this one.)
October 26, 2006
Received “Wait Mailing” from AWAA,
(This packet details cost breakdown for remaining expenses, as well as outlines procedures for the referral process. It confirmed the $40,000 total amount for the adoption process. It seems at times like we are never going to get there, but we know that God will see it through in His timing. He has taken us this far, and He will take us the rest of the way.)
October 10, 2006
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Approval
(We have received final approval from the U.S Government to bring a child into the country!)
September 25, 2006
AWAA Holds 2nd Prayer Vigil for re-accreditation
(Never doubt the power of prayer!)
September 7, 2006
Dossier Sent to Russia to be translated into Russian
(This is definitely a big step. Now we just wait for a referral. In the meantime, we are continuing to raise money. We know that God has the right boy picked for us, and we look forward to seeing him for the first time.)
September 6, 2006
AWAA Receives NGO Status!
(Receiving NGO Status means we are now one significant step closer to re-accreditation. There is still no timeframe on re-accreditation. Just trusting the Lord’s timing.)
September 6, 2006
Complete Corrected Dossier Received at AWAA!
(It’s about time! 2 ½ months after completing the homestudy, it is finally done correctly. As soon as they approve it, it’s off to Russia with it!)
September 1, 2006
AWAA Holds 1st prayer Vigil for Re-Accreditation
August 30, 2006
Another problem with Dossier
Homestudy correction to be notarized and apostilled a third time
(Now its just getting silly. It’s been over 2 months since the homestudy was completed. Hopefully this will be the last time for corrections.)
August 20, 2006
President Bush signs bill limiting scope of “donor advised” funds like our foundation.
(Unfortunately, as of January of next year we will no longer be able to disburse funds from our foundation for the purpose of adoption expenses. All we will be able to do is disburse funds to other charities for non-specific purposes. This is a big blow to us, as we were able to give tax deductions before, and many of our donations came as a result of this. But we trust God has a plan in all of this. We have greatly appreciated everyone’s donations up to this point, and we look forward to seeing the new, amazing ways God is going to provide for us from January 1 on.)
August 15, 2006
Problems with Dossier
Homestudy doc. needs to be printed on FCCA Letterhead, Notarized and apostilled a second time.
(Two of the forms were dated incorrectly by the notary. FCCA cannot backdate the originals, so the documents need to be redone. These documents need to be notarized and appostilled a second time. A frustrating setback, but minor in the grand scheme of things.)
August 9, 2006
Dossier Received at AWAA
2nd Payment to AWAA: $2,200.40
Translation Fee: $1,700.00
Post Placement Fee: $2000.00
July 27, 2006
All Dossier Documents Apostilled
(Yeah!!! Now they get sent to AWAA to get approval.)
July 17, 2006
All Dossier Documents Notarized
(All dossier documents must be notarized prior to receiving an apostille. Now we can send them to Sacramento. Let’s hope they don’t get lost along the way!)
June 21, 2006
Homestudy is Complete!
Post Placement Fee: $1,270.36
(Finally! We have been approved from a social worker standpoint, and everything looks good from our end. Time to send it off to get notarized and apostilled. We’re crossing our fingers…..)
May 28, 2006
Lemonade Stand: $600.00!!!!
(The boys put on a lemonade stand outside of our house to raise money for the adoption, giving out flyers to friends and putting up signs. We had a great turnout, with many friends coming by and hanging out a while. We were blown away by people’s generosity. And the boys even squeezed the lemons themselves. It’s a great fundraiser idea if you need one!)
May 26, 2006
Donations to Park Adoption Foundation: $125.00
Tested again and results sent to FCCA
(Sara gets her blood test redone and the test results come back. Off we go again!)
May 19, 2006
HIV Test Missing
(Found out that Sara’s blood test was incomplete, so she has to redo the blood test. Another set back time-wise, but again it’s all part of the process.)
May 18, 2006
Russian Government Requires NGO Status Before Re-Accreditation
NGO (Non-Governmental Organization)
(All Adoption agencies are to be considered as NGO’s and must pass through registration as an NGO via the Ministry of Justice in Russia. The office is still being created, but the office has already prepared a list of documents that will be required of agencies for this registration. AWAA is working to complete these documents required to obtain NGO status. No word on how long the delay will be. We’ll just keep waiting. Foreign governments are all a little different, and you basically have to follow their rules and their timing. We are just continuing to raise money.)
April 27, 2006
Russian Re-Accreditation Process Begins
In order to process adoptions in Russia all agencies received accreditation from the Ministry of Education. Each year agencies must renew their accreditation with this ministry. In years past agencies have been re-accredited with great ease usually only receiving a few weeks delay. However, last year several abuse case came to light where Russian adopted children were abused and/or murdered. Thus, the Ministry of Education decided to tighten down on the agencies. This caused many agencies to lose their accreditation, reducing the number from approximately fifty agencies to approximately twenty-five agencies. This year, they are still tightening down on agencies and instituting more requirements to be accredited. There are two stages in the re-accreditation process:
1st stage: Agencies must register with Ministry of Justice as NGO (non-governmental Organization). This is a new and hard process and the officials have no experience with this and no policies have been laid out yet.
2nd Stage: The Ministry of Justice delivers the documents to the Ministry of Education in Russia.
(AWAA is not currently accredited but partners with other agencies that are accredited. AWAA is currently working on becoming accredited. Just part of the process, and we are waiting on the Lord.)
April 11, 2006
Homestudy Visit
Homestudy Visit Fee: $1,400.00
Homestudy Mileage Fee: $17.59
(This is when the social worker came to the house to check everything out. Needless to say, we were quite nervous for this part of the process, and of course we went against recommendations and killed ourselves to get the house looking perfect. The visit was quick and painless, with most of the time spent talking to the kids and getting their take on the adoption process. They did great! One more step down…..)
March 28, 2006
I-600A Sent to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
I-600A Form Fee: $545.00
Fingerprint Fee: $140.00
(This is the form that approves us through the USCIS that we are legal U.S. Citizens in good standing and capable of adopting.)
March 23, 2006
Begin Collecting Dossier Documents
Dossier – A Collection of documents notarized and apostilled to complete the adoption process.
(Once our documents have been notarized, they need to be sent to the Secretary of State’s office in Sacramento, CA to be authenticated or apostilled. An apostille is a form of certification by a participating country verifying the authenticity of the signatures, the authority of the persons signing, and the authenticity of the seals and stamps. Hopefully we can get this done as quickly as possible. We have heard horror stories about difficulties tracking down the correct documents and losing important documents in the mail, so we hope this process will be relatively painless for us.)
March 20, 2006
Medical Appointments for Homestudy
(We get to be poked and prodded to make sure we are healthy enough to adopt. Just a basic physical and some blood tests. We don’t foresee any problems here.)
March 8, 2006
Agreements sent to AWAA
First payment to AWAA: $2,000.00
(We are committed to using AWAA now and adopting from Russia. A little scary, but we are confident.)
March 7, 2006
Donations to Park Adoption Foundation: $10,000.00
(We received the first donations into the foundation, and we were floored! God is so amazing!!! Any doubts we had about whether or not this is what we were supposed to do have been seriously calmed. May God receive all the glory in this process!)
February 25, 2006
Adoption Prep. Class 2 & 3
(Got into more details about the adoption process. It all seems a bit overwhelming right now, but we know through God’s help we are going to see this to its end. Now just waiting to receive some donations to make the first payment to AWAA and get the oversees procedure rolling.)
February 24, 2006
Adoption Prep. Class 1
(Had a chance to meet some amazing people who are just starting as well and got to hear some interesting stories about their process thus far and what prompted them to adopt themselves. It almost feels like joining another family itself.)
February 22, 2006
Intake Appointment at FCCA
(The two of us meet with the Adoption Coordinator to discuss what the homestudy is going to entail, and for her to interview us to determine if we are fit to be an adopting family. Let’s hope it went well!)
February 14, 2006
Self Study started
(An arduous 25-page document we must fill out where we give a complete synopsis of our lives up to this point, detailing our childhood and upbringing as well as our personal relationships, parenting styles and philosophies. We were warned about this part. It’s a pain, but we hope to learn a lot about ourselves and our family in the process.)
February 6, 2006
Park Adoption Foundation is started
Foundation Start-up Fee: $185.00
Umbrella Organization National Heritage Foundation
(The National Heritage Foundation (www.nhf.org) is an umbrella foundation under which smaller foundations can be set up for a variety of purposes related directly to the support and benefit of our national heritage. One of those purposes is specifically to raise money for adoptions from underprivileged countries. By setting up the Park Adoption Foundation, we can now accept tax-deductible donations, benefiting both us in our adoption process and others by giving them a tax write-off for supporting a worthy cause. We can’t wait to see how God uses this!)
January 13, 2006
Begin Homestudy Process
Apply to FCCA (Family Connections Christian Adoptions in Oceanside, CA)
Adoption Prep. Fee Payment: $50.00
FCCA Inter-country Application Fee: $500.00
Homestudy – A homestudy is a document created by a social worker giving a snapshot summary of your life. This summary is based on interviews with you and the family, as well as from other documents that you provide.
January 12, 2006
AWAA Application Approval
“Congratulations on your application approval and welcome to AWAA!”
(America World tells us to begin our homestudy process and collect documents for our dossier. The dossier is basically the sum total of all the documents necessary for both U.S. and Russian governments to gain adoption approval. This can be a time consuming procedure, but we’re ready to get started.)
*** January 7, 2006***
MISHA IS BORN (How’s that for timing)
January 4, 2006
AWAA (America World Adoption Association) Online Application filled out.
$225.00 Application Fee
(We’re taking the first step. Here we go!)
Park Family Adoption Story
Hello! We thought we would start this blog by introducing you to our family and telling you about our decision to adopt a young boy from Russia. We are Jeremy and Sara Park. We have been blessed with three boys Isaac, Benjamin, and Ethan, all our biological children. We live in Escondido, CA in a humble house where our main goal is to glorify God in everything we do. Jeremy owns a personal fitness and pilates facility in Encinitas, just north of San Diego, while Sara home-schools the boys. Our family philosophy comes from Deuteronomy 6:6-9 “And these words which I am commanding you today shall be on your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” These are the truths our family lives by and will be passed on to any that enter our household. Home-schooling the boys is truly an amazing and eye-opening experience that God has blessed us with. The boys continue to amaze us everyday with their compassion and their love for Christ. They challenge us to constantly think outside of what is comfortable and daily remind us that we are on this earth for one purpose: to serve our creator and to answer to his call. For the past few years God has laid it heavy on our hearts to adopt a boy. We are so excited to start this next phase of our life. Many people think we are crazy, considering we already have three boys of our own. But we recognize the importance of raising a Godly family in a stable and loving home, and we feel that God is revealing a very special plan for our family. When we heard about the orphan situation in Russia, we both immediately felt a call to help. There are over 1 million children living in orphanages in Russia, many of which don’t have the proper staff or facilities to meet the most basic of human needs. While it is impossible to remedy the entire situation, we feel like if we can give at least one child a family and a lot of love, it would make all the difference in the world to that one child. But this process is not one that we can complete on our own. The first thing we would ask for is your support. We ask that you keep our family in your thoughts and prayers as we proceed down this long road. Secondly, the cost of our adoption process is estimated at $40,000. This cost goes well beyond our own financial capabilities. For those of you that feel a call to help us in this matter, we would greatly appreciate any donations that you could give to support our cause. We have been blessed with many donations from our friends and family. We have currently raised about $16,000, which has been nothing short of an amazing blessing from God. We have about $27,000 to go to complete this process. We are confident in our decision to do adopt this boy into our family, and we have faith that God will supply all of our needs through this process. Jesus calls all of us to take care of the “least of these”. In this case it only requires a family and a lot of love. We feel our family is ready for this call.
We have chosen America World Adoption Association (AWAA) as our main adoption agency. This is their mission statement: America World is committed to helping America’s families and the world’s orphans experience the love of Jesus through the spirit of adoption. We are a Christ centered organization that values the right of every child to have a family and believes adoption is a God ordained way to build a family. America World is also devoted to actively supporting orphan awareness ministries and hopes to spread the spirit of adoption within the Christian community.
America World Adoption Association
6723 Whittier Avenue Suite 202
McLean, VA 22101
1-888-ONE-CHILD
www.awaa.org
We have chosen Family Connections Christian Adoptions (FCCA) as our homestudy agency. This is their mission statement. FCCA exists to assist the waiting children of the world into permanent, loving families. It is our belief that God’s love is best expressed in the family. The work of FCCA is a living expression of our love for Christ and the homeless children throughout the world. FCCA is a fully licensed, private, non-profit Christian adoption agency that provides adoption services for California families who wish to adopt waiting children.
Family Connections Christian Adoptions
2191 El Camino Real, Suite 202
Oceanside CA. 92054
760-966-0531
www.fcadoptions.org
In our next entry we will update you to where we are in our process. Check back often as things in adoption processes can change very quickly!
