Roller Coaster to DTC

Friends told us we had to blog this so we would not forget the ride we had in obtaining our I-171 and then getting all the paperwork submitted to USAA so we could become DTC in February 2005. So here it is…

We came home from a family desert trip over the New Year’s weekend to find that our much awaited completed Home Study report from Vista Del Mar (VDM) had arrived. Bright and early Monday morning (Jan 3rd) I called the number for the San Diego office of the BCIS (aka INS) only to find the number disconnected. So I got on the phone to VDM to ask them if they had a telephone number or contact information that might assist me in reaching the BCIS in San Diego. They had the same telephone number I did but they also had the email address for the head officer in charge of that office. So I emailed the officer and asked where I might hand-deliver the home study report. Susana Bolanos replied back on Tuesday with directions and so off I went to downtown San Diego.

On Wednesday morning I got back from my morning walk to find out that Susanna had both called and emailed us regarding an error in the home study that required corrections. So I called Vista Del Mar and advised the need to get this corrected ASAP as our deadline with USAA is in 1 week (Jan 11th). They called our social worker to have her make the corrections and overnight it to them. That evening we called our social worker to make sure everything got sent out okay – but found out that she did not get it out that day but that it would go out on Thursday. This was not good in our opinion as it messed with the perfectly planned schedule of VDM receiving overnighted paperwork from her on Thursday, they notarize and overnight it back out to us for receipt on Friday, we hand deliver it to BCIS on Monday and then turn around and overnight it along with the I-171 to USAA. So now the paperwork won’t arrive to VDM until Friday. Not all is lost – thank goodness for Saturday delivery by Fed Ex! VDM agreed to overnight out the paperwork on Friday with a Saturday delivery. So mid-day Thursday I send out another email to Susanna at the BCIS advising that the paperwork is due to arrive at the end of the week and could we schedule the appointment for me to drop off the corrected papers on Monday. She replies back Friday morning that there’s a problem in that their offices are being moved starting that weekend and she wouldn’t be able to see me till the following Wednesday!!! Nooooooooooooo! Ahh, but she is willing to work with us as she doesn’t want our file to remain on her desk through this move and so is open to receiving a fax of the corrected documents and have the originals mailed later so that we could receive our I-171 prior to their office move. So back to calling VDM and explaining the delicate situation and requesting they fax the documents ASAP! So Friday morning rolls along and still no fax from VDM. Then Susanna calls and asks if we are still going to do this today – I said YES but I’m waiting for the fax still from VDM. She says go ahead and start driving down since their offices are starting to close up earlier than she expected and she will call VDM to find out the status of the fax. So I start to make my way to downtown San Diego once again not knowing what’s going to happen once I get there. In the meantime I call Alan at work and ask him to contact our social worker to get the tracking number of the package to find out where it’s at. He calls me back and the heavy rains we’ve had all week have delayed the package! Arghhhhhh! So about 30 minutes later I walk into the building where the BCIS office is and make my way through the security checkpoint. I put my purse on the conveyor to go through the x-ray machine and wouldn’t you know it my cell phone starts to ring. Then the guy wants to scan my purse again because he needs to confirm something. Then he asks to see something in my purse that looks like a film canister – I open it up to show him it’s got my quarters for parking in it. Meanwhile I’ve missed the phone call. I finally get cleared to go on my way and I check to see who called. It was VDM but decided to go in to the BCIS office without calling them back. It was strange to enter the BCIS office which on Tuesday had been packed with people and now was completely empty. The gal behind the check-in desk must have thought I was a little off my rocker cause I’m mumbling to myself that I needed to call Susanna to let her know I was there. At this point, the gal asked if I was Amanda – now I’m in the INS office and haven’t announced who I was and she’s asking if I’m Amanda – I figured it was best to say yes! She then hands me an envelope and says this is for you. I take the envelope and ask “is this my I-171?” She smiled and said yes. I just about started to cry and could only reply with “thank you so much – this is my daughter!”. At that point I joyously walked out the door and called Alan. I asked him if he was standing up or sitting down and then told him I had the I-171. So we celebrated on the phone for a couple minutes and then called back VDM. They advised that the paperwork still hadn’t arrived from our social worker but that they devised something that would work for the BCIS to release the I-171. I thanked them profusely. So even though we have the I-171 at this point we are still under the gun to get the corrected home study report originals sent off to USAA. So I ask VDM if they could overnight the corrected originals that USAA needs directly to USAA and then the originals I need for the BCIS sent out to me separately. They said yes they could do that for us. So I make my way back home feeling a huge weight off my shoulders. Well they didn’t get the package sent out on Friday but they did on Monday. A call to USAA on Tuesday morning confirmed that they received the corrected originals of the Home Study and the I-171 that I had sent out to them and that they’d start translating and authenticating everything and we’d be DTC in February. AHHHHHHHHHH… what a roller coaster ride and now we’ve landed back on solid ground again. Now it’s on to the waiting period of this adoption process.