Search Results for: blog much ado about a passport

DIY Passport Pictures

From the post office to Kinko’s, AAA to local camera supply stores, there are dozens of places that’ll be happy to snap your passport photo-—for a fee. If you are looking to save money on the travel expense you could take the picture yourself; however, know that there are several important guidelines that must be followed in order for your image to be accepted by the government. According to the U.S. Department of State, proper passport pictures must: *Be color photos only with a plain white or off-white background *Measure exactly 2 x 2 inches *Feature a full head shot … Continue reading →

For Families Adopting from Haiti, Quake Brings Devastating Uncertainty

Only now is information about the 254 Haitian children who are being adopted by U.S. citizens beginning to trickle out of Haiti. Some of these children have already been legally adopted by U.S. citizens and are just waiting for their passports and travel visas. Some of them have been known by their adoptive families for months or years. Almost all have been visited by their adoptive parents at least once. A Washington State couple appeared on Thursday morning’s Today Show and spoke with Meredith Viera about the eight-year-old girl and six-year-old boy they are adopting. The adoption has been completed … Continue reading →

Mercy for Madonna

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Madonna will be allowed to adopt four-year-old Chifundo (in English the name means “Mercy”) James after all, Malawian judges have decided. The three judges of Malawi’s highest court, in a June 12 session, overruled a lower court’s denial of Madonna’s adoption petition. Malawian law says that an adopting parent must have been a resident of Malawi for eighteen months. This requirement was waived when Madonna adopted her son David. She was allowed to take David home in 2006, and a Malawian court gave her and her then-husband Guy Ritchie permanent custody in May 2008 following an evaluation by social welfare … Continue reading →

April Fools: Three Things You Thought You Knew About Adoption

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There are some things that “everybody knows” about adoption. This “knowledge” is so well-known, of course, that facts and first-person testimonies, even the evidence of one’s own eyes, apparently aren’t effective. One couple was showing off their new baby, whom they had adopted at birth here in the U.S., at at a large family-and-friends picnic last summer. When the new parents told the story of their recent adoption, another guest asserted “Well-Known Fact Number One” confidently: “That’s impossible. There are no babies to adopt in the United States.” April Fools! The truth: In the U.S., in-country adoptions outnumbered international adoptions … Continue reading →

Our Adoption Story – The Wait Gets Long

Laney’s agency originally told us that she would be home by Christmas 2006. Now it was Spring 2007 and still no Laney – and no real news either. Then we received the news that our agency had decided to pull out immediately and stop working on adoptions. Naturally, everyone panicked and for several days we thought Laney was not coming home. When I got the email from our agency I turned to my husband and said “That’s it. We just lost Laney.” My husband, being much more practical and balanced than I am, encouraged me not to give up hope … Continue reading →

Certificate of Citizenship: Why Isn’t a Passport Good Enough?

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My last blog talked about the importance of ensuring your adopted child’s US citizenship. This blog talks about the importance of being able to prove it. When our daughters’ adoptions were finalized, we immediately obtained passports for them. A passport, I had always been told, was the ultimate proof of citizenship—better than a birth certificate, better than a social security card, better than just about anything. Our older daughter’s adoption was finalized in 2001, just after the Child Citizenship Act took effect. We were told we could apply for a Certificate of Citizenship. None of us really knew what that … Continue reading →

Much Ado About a Passport

Thousands of miles away I have a daughter waiting for me. Her name is Laney. She is legally my daughter; she even has my last name. However, I can’t bring her home, at least not yet. The reason seems really simple to an American – all we need is a passport. However, in Liberia, Laney’s country, nothing is simple. Everyone is focused on getting through each day. “Unimportant” things like paperwork often fall to the wayside when people are focused on the basics. Food, water, shelter, safety – these things take precedence. One day, probably in a few months, someone … Continue reading →

May I See Your Passport Please

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The rules for leaving and entering this country will become stricter for many travelers in a few days. In the past, most United States citizens did not need a passport to leave and enter many Caribbean nations, as well as Mexico and Canada. If you plan to travel to those destinations by air, you will need a passport. You can find out how to get a new one or renew one that has expired by typing “passport” into any search engine. Before I retired, I traveled to many international destinations. I have seen travelers make really stupid mistakes with their … Continue reading →

Katherine Heigl and Josh Kelley’s Bundle of Joy

With apologies to our fearless Popular Culture bloggers, I must admit that I am usually woefully ignorant of TV and music personalities. Nor am I usually a reader of People magazine. I just had to purchase the October 5 issue, however, when I saw the cover featuring actress Katherine Heigl and her musician husband, Josh Kelley, with their ten-month-old daughter Naleigh, newly arrived from Korea. I’m so out of the TV scene that it took me several paragraphs to realize that Katherine Heigl wasn’t Kate Hudson, but her story sounded very familiar to me. Although the cover teaser talks about … Continue reading →

Lesser-Known Programs with Shorter Timeframes: Europe, the Caribbean, Latin America

My last blog offered some general information, thoughts and cautions about adopting from countries with lesser-known, perhaps newer adoption programs with shorter wait times than many other country programs. It also profiled two Asian countries with such programs. This blog presents countries in the Caribbean, Latin America and Eastern Europe which have relatively short timeframes for adoption. Jamaica is a very new program begun in October 2008. It is offered through the adoption agency Hands Across the Water (you can also contact this agency, and agencies working in all the countries described here, through the contact wizard at RainbowKids.com, described … Continue reading →