It was so difficult for me to capture Tamarah's smile with the digital camera that I brought. She would smile, but because the camera took so long, most of the time her facial expression had changed. 
Most of the time in Haiti, Tamarah and I spent in the back seat of Barbara's truck with Johny driving and Barbara in the front seat. I did not want to be in the way of their daily routine, so Tamarah and I just tagged along.Most days, we spent downtown Port au Prince where Barbara and her assistants were checking on adoption files. It takes a lot of checking and pushing files to get adoptions through. The adoption files have to go from one office to the next and spend considerable time inside the IBSER office. Something that most adoptive parents know. Different adoptions are in different stages and checking on the files is the daily priority of Mirland's. She takes a tap-tap (Haitian "taxi") into town on a daily basis and for about 6-8 hours checks on files. Barbara and Johny come downtown around 9:00 a.m. and are on the go until about 4:30 p.m.
When I had initially wanted to adopt, I had checked into Haiti, but it was 2004 and Haitian adoptions were not moving. Thus, I decided to adopt elsewhere. So, when I decided to adopt again, I learned that Haiti was open. I got a lot of good feedback regarding Barbara Walker and "Reach out to Haiti" and decided to do a facilitated adoption with her assistance. One of the important things was that I be allowed to visit during the often lengthy Haitian adoption process. Not many orphanages allow these visits. I only know of two others that allow adoptive parents to come during the process.
There were several reasons for me wanting to be able to visit. One of them was that if an adoptive parent has met the child in person prior to the adoption being final, then the child gets U.S. citizenship automatically. I do not have to re-adopt and apply for citizenship after she gets to come home. Re-adoption in California is a real hassle and expensive. Other states have different requirements.
Also, I wanted to be able to spend time with Tamarah. She is only a baby, but I hope that this will help us with bonding. With my other adoption, my children were older and my introduction to them happened at the U.S. Embassy in the visa department. "Here, this is your new mom." And, the children were dropped off with me, one day prior to leaving the country. My children did not even know that they were being adopted or had been adopted. This took a big toll on my daughter who struggled with homesickness for a long time. My son was a little younger and he was happy as long as he got food. I did not want to go through a similar traumatic experience. Nonetheless, I am adopting a baby this time around...what memory does she have of the time of being one year old? I do not know.
Anyway, I contacted Barbara in March 2006 and she told me of Tamarah. I decided to adopt her without much information aside from a newborn photo, a birth date and a name. My grandmother died in March, so I had to spend some time in Europe (that is where she lived) and could not start on my homestudy or dossier. I worked on my dossier from mid-April through mid-June. It takes a lot to gather all the documents, get them translated into French and get them certified, and certified some more...and certified some more.
Also, the psychology letter is a challenge to get. Most psychologists are not familiar with the letter and its format. Luckily, I found one who had done a letter before for a Haitian adoption.
I sent my dossier and five copies to Haiti in the beginning of July 2006. By time it went through the first legalization process and was entered into IBSER, it was August 2006.
In the meantime, every three weeks I received updated photos of Tamarah from Barbara. She is so good about taking photos of the children who are being adopted and mailing them to the adoptive parents. (Note to myself - it may easier to email photos. Next time, I am going to see if I can teach Barbara to email photos, instead of printing them out, addressing an envelope, finding out who is going to the US so that they can take the envelope and mail it.) I have an entire photo album of Tamarah's photos through the months, from newborn to almost one year old.
My understanding of the process is that before the file can go into IBSER all the child's paperwork has to be in order. This includes medical, blood lab and psychological/developmental reports. Also, a social worker meets with the parents (in my case the birth mother) and interviews her and makes sure that she understands relinquishment and adoption.
Once all that is done and first legalization is done, the file goes into IBSER. Mine took exactly six months inside of IBSER. It just came out a couple of days ago. That was an emotional moment for me. It makes the adoption so much more real.
Now, our file has to go through the courts and another legalization process. For some families, this part has taken a long time recently, but things seem to be moving a bit faster now.
I utilized the pre-approval process for the I-600 and orphan investigation. I cannot remember what it is called right now, but it can be requested by the adoptive parent prior to the adoption being final. While I was in Haiti, the US immigration office in Haiti did the orphan investigation and approved Tamarah's status as an orphan. This will cut out time at the end when all the Haitian paperwork is done. A friend of mine waited almost three months for that part of her adoption after the Haitian paperwork was done and her daughter had her passport already.
Maybe I get to bring Tamarah back with me when I return from my next scheduled visit, March 28th through April 7th. That would be so exciting!
Tamarah turned one while I was in Haiti. Developmentally, she is about where a 9-month old baby would be in the U.S. Haitian babies are known to walk late. I think that is because they are not encouraged to do so and get carried around? I do not know the answer to that.
While I was with her, I taught her many different things and she learned fast. Once she got over her initial quietness, she turned out to be very lively and rambunctious. She has two teeth in the bottom and she is growing some teeth on the top. A couple of times, she bit me! (She had to try out her teeth somewhere.) She was definitely teething while I was there. Again, most babies in the U.S. have more than two teeth when they turn one.
I taught her how to hold her own bottle, how to stand up, how to blow bubbles with her spit (lovely, I know), how to clap her hands and how to use her hand to make noises with her mouth. She picked up on things really fast.
She did not crawl much, but she scooted around. She kept wanting to stand up by the end of the week. She was really strengthening her legs. She also tried to grab everything close enough, so I really had to watch out for that.
I cannot wait to get back on March 28th and to hold my baby girl again.
