Wednesday, January 09, 2013

Adoption Update: The Arrest Record

Hey folks.  We get questions periodically regarding the adoption process, and some things have happened and I thought I should update.  Just a brief history in case you don't have a clue what is going on.

We are in the process of adopting BabyJ from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  If you want to know more about that process or where we are in it, please check out Help the Scotts Adopt, our adoption website.  Brandon has kept that up to date and you can get all kinds of info there.

So, we get a letter sent to my mom's house from the USCIS (the government body responsible for granting a visa to our adopted child and approving us to adopt internationally) that says that they can't complete our request until they receive some paper work.  What they need is an arrest record.

You see, Brandon was arrested when he was in high school.  He was 17 and we out in the middle of the night with some friends.  They decided it would be a good idea to steal a flag that was hanging outside of a model home.  Well, they did it, and there just happened to be a police officer sitting in the dark watching the whole thing.  He also had some fireworks (illegal) in his trunk as well as some sort of illegal weapon.  So, he went to jail.  He spent the night in jail and his parents had to come and get him out.  No charges were filled, but he still has an arrest record.  We had told this story to our social worker and the story went in our home study.  We were advised by many that leaving something like that out is a sure way to get denied.  The problem was that we didn't include the arrest record in the home study.  Why the social worker didn't request it is unknown, but now everything with the USCIS is on hold until we can provide it.  We also have to provide a written statement about the circumstances of the incident, any rehabilitation that took place, etc.

My job today is to call the Flower Mound police and our home study social worker to get all this worked out.  You can pray about this for us!

Apart from this, we are waiting for a Congolese judge to make a judgement on whether or not we can adopt BabyJ.  Pray for that, too, please.  Our whole family is ready to get this little man home to us!  :)

1 comment:

Natalie said...

Thanks for sharing the update! We are praying for you guys! The surprises that pop up while adopting can make things frustrating and as we have experienced, daunting! Thanks for persevering for that sweet little boy that needs a home filled with unconditional love! You guys are pretty amazing people!