I-171H (I600A approval)

It's not a huge step but it is a step and every step gets us a little closer right now.  We received this little piece of paper today with these words:

NOTICE OF FAVORABLE DETERMINATION CONCERNING

APPLICATION FOR ADVANCE PROCESSING OF ORPHAN PETITION

Number of Children 1-2  (good thing because we adopted 2)

Gender - Either  (good thing because we got one of each)

Age - 0-11  (that'll work they are 7 & 8)

There is this great letter attached that explains to "Whom It May Concern"  all the fingerprinting (yep twice) that was done, the check against the Child Abuse Registry, the home study (yep 4 home visits, 8 classes, 10 more hours of parent training, and mounds and mounds of paperwork), a series of background investigations (yep sure was) and more. 

It ends with this little papragraph:

"In light of these requirements, if presented with form I-171H indicating that USCIS has approved a U.S. citizen's application to proceed with an intercountry adoption, the proper authority of another country may properly infer that USCIS has carefully considered the facts of the citizen's case, and that USCIS has concluded that the citizen's household is suitable for intercountry adoption."

Yeah......we could have told you that!! 

Come on adoption decree!!!!!  We need you next so I can high tail it back to Ghana and file the next piece of paper!!