London Calling: Final Hurdles

This is Baba Sundi, checking in during my London layover on the way back to the US. It was so hard leaving Kim and the kids, not to mention leaving everyone that we have come to love in Kenya. However, we rejoice in the knowledge that within a couple more months we will be together permanently, and are grateful for all that God has done to bring us this far. And of course we hope to return to Kenya often in the future!

We dropped off our paperwork at the US Embassy on Tuesday-- adoption certificate, adoption orders, adoption judgment, and court proceedings. Yeah! These are the formal Kenyan documents needed to complete the back-end of our kid's US immigration approval. All of the official Kenyan docs were ready within 7 business days of receiving our ruling, which was great news!!!

From this point, we need to focus on the US paperwork. It takes 30-60 days to review our paperwork for the I-600 to make sure it is all there and is valid. (Our I-600a and corresponding I-797-C are current.) It is our hope that this process goes faster than the norm, because we are anxious to all be together again! :-) US immigration law does not allow us to have the kids' mandatory medical examinations done until this paperwork is completed. Then the medical approval, then a US VISA cannot be issued until our kids are medically approved.

As with any law, there is always a reason. The reason that we were given for the delayed medical exam is that it takes awhile for the US government to approve our kids after Kenya gives the adoption orders. The specific example given was that if I were to get the official medical exams done today, then the medical exam might expire before the Embassy can finish processing our I-600. In that case the kids would need to be re-examined again before Kim leaves and we would have to pay two fees.

The medical exam is somewhat confusing. There are only a couple doctors who are approved by the US government to do the medical exam required for entry into the United States. Unfortunately, these doctors are not allowed to see us yet, even with our official adoption orders and certificate. They have a list of vaccinations that our kids will need, but it is also against policy to give an official list of which vaccinations are needed until the I-600 is approved. The other thing that is not published at all is a price list for the vaccinations-- these prices also can't be obtained until you receive your final bill upon medical examination. So even budgeting is a bit challenging.

We have also been told that it is against policy to accept vaccinations from other clinics within Nairobi, unless those vaccines were given before we took "foster" custody of the children. Even with knowing which ones are needed you are limited to one per child per week in nearly all Kenyan clinics. This is due to concerns that the children might react negatively to multiple simultaneous vaccines.

This is where the timing becomes tricky. Suppose 7 vaccinations are needed. That means that we wait 30-60 days for our I-600 paperwork to be approved, then we get a file number from the Embassy, then we are allowed to schedule a doctor's appointment, then we are officially allowed to get our kids vaccinated, etc. So, for 7 vaccinations you are looking at almost 2 months past the 30-60 days. So the worst-case scenario would put Kim home in September or October. Fortunately, the US Embassy doctors have the technology to give a half-dozen or more vaccinations at the same time without risking harm to the kids. Nevertheless, with the other steps we still may be looking at several weeks past the 30-60 days before the kids can come home...so maybe late August or early September. But the lady at the Embassy yesterday was empathetic and really wants to help, so we were encouraged by that.

Perhaps the most difficult part is that since the process is so new, there is no checklist to ensure that everything gets done. Bottom line is that this is still a very new/revised process and many of the kinks are still being worked out. But in the meantime there will still be some unavoidable confusion as the adoption program experiences "growing pains".

So, please pray for Kim as she flies solo and navigates the remainder of the paperwork process. We also pray that the kids will be home in time to enjoy at least part of the summer break with the various teachers in their lives, before school starts (especially Bibi!). We also want Sundi to have some time to adjust to America before school starts. Asante sana for all of your prayers and support.

Baba Sundi