12/5/12 – Sent adoption application to Lifeline Children’s Services in Birmingham, AL
12/11/12 – Application accepted by Lifeline!
12/28/12 – Fingerprinted for background checks
1/2/13 – Mailed orientation paperwork and first agency fee to Lifeline. Mailed fingerprint cards and background check paperwork to SBCN (Security Biometrics Clearing Network)
1/4/13 – One-hour orientation phone call with Lifeline. (1st home study interview)
1/11/13 – Second home study interview. (In our home)
1/14/13 – Released the adoption song Kevin wrote (Love Collides) as a fundraiser
2/7/13 – Third home study interview. (In our home. Individual interviews. Layla at 9:30am, Kevin at 11:00am)
2/13/13 – Physicals at our doctor’s office
3/22/13 – Fourth and fifth home study interviews. (At the Lifeline Children’s Services office in Birmingham, AL)
3/22-3/23/13 – Crossings seminar at Lifeline Children’s Services office
4/30/13 – Switched to Lifeline’s Haiti program
6/24/13 – Finished home study!
7/2/13 – Mailed our I-600A form
7/9/13 – One hour phone call with the International Adoption Clinic in Birmingham, Alabama
7/17/13 – Psychological evaluations in Montgomery, Alabama
8/13/13 – Biometric fingerprint appointment in Birmingham, Alabama
9/6/13 – Spent this day getting our paperwork authenticate at the county and state levels
9/9/13 – All paperwork sent to Haitian Consulate in Miami, Florida to get authenticated at the national level
9/20/13 – Dossier arrived at Three Angels Children’s Relief in Haiti
11/25/13 – Entered IBESR (Dossier submitted into Haiti’s adoption system!)
12/11/13 – The dossier of a 2 year old boy was accepted into IBESR along with ours
2/14/14 – Referral letter from IBESR is ready to go, but (as of this week) we must receive a Consentment letter before traveling for our 2-week socialization trip. :-/
4/4/14 – Received information about our son via email from Lifeline. It included 3 photos, a little info about how he ended up at Three Angels, how he’s doing developmentally and some medical information
5/23/14 – Received our Consentment letter which states our son is legally adoptable
9/24/14 – Received word that our son’s paperwork has been accepted by the (recently appointed) Judge of the (newly created) Children’s Court
11/13/14 – Received word that the Judge has called the Mayor of our son’s district (Delmas). They both need to sign his paperwork before it will be released back to IBESR so that we can get our referral letter
12/29/14 – Judge and Mayor have both signed our son’s paperwork
1/30/15 – Received word that our referral letter is ready for pick up
2/13/15 – Received word that our referral letter has been picked up by Lifeline’s rep in Haiti
2/17/15 – Received our referral letter!
2/18/15 – Booked our two-week socialization trip
2/21/15 – Flew to Haiti to meet our son!
3/4/15 – Appointment at the US Embassy in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti
3/5/15 – Observed/interviewed by a Haitian social worker employed by IBESR
3/7/15 – Flew home to Alabama
5/2015 Central Authority delivered authorization for the adoption based on the Haitian social workers evaluation report.
6/24-15 – 6/27/15 – Bonding trip #2 (of 3)
7/30/15 – Our son’s Authorization is printed
9/18/15 – Our son’s Authorization is signed
9/24/15 – Exit IBESR (Haitian Social Services)
10/14/15 – Entered Parquet Court
The Parquet court ‘step’ is actually a very complex series of (12) steps and processes involving multiple offices and repeated trips between them.
11/23/15 – 11/27/15 – Bonding Trip #3
12/11/15 – Exequature (In-country Power of Attorney fills out and submits an application for our Adoption Decree)
2/26/2016 -Adoption Decree!
3/4/16 – Typo was fixed on our Adoption Decree. It showed our son’s new full name (Steevenson Chevalier Palmer) and that our adoption was final in Haiti!
3/15/16- Biometric Fingerprint Update #3 in Birmingham, AL
4/21/16 – Legalizations- First Legalization of the Adoption Decree, in Parquet Court; Second Legalization of the Adoption Decree, in Ministry of Justice; and Third Legalization of the Adoption Decree, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
5/12/16 – The Ministry of Interior (MOI) granted authorization to submit our dossier to Haitian Immigrations for a passport.
6/2/16 – Our in-country rep signed for our passport.
6/17/16 – Received Steevenson’s passport!
6/21/16 – Entered USCIS
7/29/16 – I-600 approval
8/5/16 – Medical exam of Steevenson by US Embassy approved doctor
8/16/16 – Visa Appointment
8/16/16 – Exit Letter from IBESR
8/19/16 – Travel to USA (Gotcha Day!)