Home Study Approved by DHR

Yesterday morning I received a call from our social worker telling us our home study had been approved by the Alabama Department of Human Resources. This process can often take as long as six weeks but ours was processed in just one week. This was an answer to many prayers! The home study has now been passed on to CIS for their approval. The social worker said the current time line for CIS is 45 days.

Dawn spoke with our agency this morning regarding some paperwork questions and one form we forgot to send. If all goes well, our paperwork will be sent to Russia next Friday. She said we should expect to travel no later than mid October. I have had the last week in September as my target for several months now. A couple of weeks may not sound like a big deal, but the Russians have an extended holiday season in January and the government shuts down. For that reason, I had hoped to have court in late December in order to avoid the government shut down. It's all in God's time . . .

Home Study Completed and Mailed

This afternoon, I received a call from our social worker - she had finished our home study! I picked up our copy for the dossier and she sent a copy to the Alabama Dept of Human Resources for approval. There is the possibility that DHR could kick the home study because our new bedroom is not finished. It will be ready by the end of August, but they may not like the idea that it wasn't completed at the time the home study was submitted. According to the social worker, the worst case scenario would be they would place a hold on their approval until she confirmed the new room was completed.

DHR could take one to six weeks to review our case. We are praying they give us approval within a three week period. After we receive DHR approval, the home study is submitted to the CIS (Immigration Services) for approval. CIS approval is taking about 6-7 weeks.