What is next?

A few people have asked recently what happens next as far as paperwork for Claire is concerned, and what her citizenship status is at the moment, so I thought I'd explain for those interested. Right now Claire is here on a visa through her Korean passport. She is considered a resident alien (just like Dave still is). She has a green card which we received in the mail a few weeks ago. Korea requires that we have custody of Claire for at least three months before we may finalize the adoption in Indiana. So, technically we are Claire's foster family/guardians still. We have hired an adoption attorney to begin the proceedings for finalization. We are required to have two visits with our social worker before she can submit her final recommendation to the courts that we be allowed to finalize. We have had our first visit and our second one will be in early November. We hope to get a court date prior to the end of the year so that we can claim Claire on our taxes for this year.

Once we finalize the adoption Claire will be a naturalized US citizen. We have to formally apply for her Certificate of Citizenship but it will be issued once we provide the adoption decree. We then will apply for her social security number and US passport. Once her adoption is finalized our agency will notify the Korean Ministry and they will cancel Claire's Korean citizenship. This part makes me sad, but hopefully someday the laws will change and it will allow her Korean citizenship if she wants it. In Korea there is a law that requires citizens to serve a year of military service when they are 18. If Claire's citizenship wasn't renounced then she would eventually be required to serve. If she didn't serve then if she tried to enter Korea it could pose problems for her. There is a bill trying to be passed in Korea now that would allow Korean adoptees to be exempt from military service and to allow them dual citizenship should they choose to obtain it.

As for us, we are still tired, but some nights are getting better. Jack has gone back to sleeping well again, which helps enormously. Claire is hit and miss. Some nights she doesn't wake up till closer to 5am, but last night she was up from 2-3 and again at 5:30. She is a really sweet little girl though and she has been a lot of fun to have home. I'll try to get some more photos posted soon. We went to Conner Prairie this weekend (living history folk village type place for our UK friends reading) as it was their country fair weekend. Jack had a great time looking at all the tractors, taking a hayride, and just running around taking it all in. It was a beautiful warm day too. I think there are some good photos on the camera I'll upload later.