Retina scans might be more appealing

Have I mentioned the fact that I REALLY don't like dealing with fingerprints? I mean, seriously. How obnoxious can these things honestly be? Apparently, I haven't yet found out the depths to which fingerprinting can freeze my shorts. So the latest is this: Two days ago, I had some time in the middle of the day and used it to go to the Clermont County Sheriff's office to get my state and federal fingerprinting done. I did have a bit of a complicated request. I needed a set to go to our homestudy agency. I needed a set to go to the agency for whom I am about to start doing homestudies. Finally, I needed a letter to be notarized, signed by two witnesses, OR sealed with the police seal on department letterhead to be given to me for our international dossier. Not exactly straightforward, I know. But explainable. So I explained it. The first two requests were no problem, but the third was impossible. I will get to that explanation in a minute, because first I have to note that I had to leave there after waiting in line and talking to the nice people so that I could go get exact cash...no checks accepted. Ok, so I am back at the sheriff's department now. I talk to my fourth person about what I needed to do. By the way, I must add that all four people were genuinely very nice and patient. Anyway, the fourth person was able to explain some of what they could not process my request for a written letter. She told me I would need to go to my local department to get the document. So, says I...If I am here getting a fingerprint check on the state and the federal level, why wouldn't those capture any crime I might commit in my home county? All she could really tell me is that there might be things in their handwritten files that are not entered into any computer system. I pointed out that the sample document I had listed the "Texas Department of Corrections" as the sample department that it came from. I noted that Texas was a state and that I was pretty sure my agency is just trying to determine that I have not committed any crimes anywhere in the state (or nation for that matter). I also pointed out that Maren was able to go to a different county (Warren County) and get the same document I was requesting even though she didn't live in that county. No dice. They were unwilling to produce such a thing. So now I get to go to my THIRD locale to get yet more fingerprints taken. Oh yeah. For all of you keeping score, I still have to go at least one more time past that to the federal building in downtown Cincinnati to get more federal fingerprinting done. Apparently there are federal fingerprints and then there are federal fingerprints. Makes sense to me. Perhaps what I really need to do is to go to one location per digit. Does anyone have a stamp pad at their house. I can get some from you too!

Disappointing, but meaningless

We got word back from our adoption agency thay they are content with the way our former homestudy agency conducted themselves. This is disappointing and somewhat confusing, but ultimately, it doesn't mean anything for us. From what I can tell from the email we received back, this former agency misconstrued some of their actions and the events. For example, they apparently said there was no signed contract (wrong) and an imcomplete application (wrong again). I will send one final email stating that I disagree with the former agency's characterization of things and request again that Holt consider partnering with another agency in Southwest Ohio to give adoptive parents more than one option to consider. I will also state that I accept the results and appreciate their looking into it. Really, how much can Holt do with a Dayton agency while being located in Eugene, Oregon? I am impressed with the speed with which they addressed the complaint (Holt, that is).

The latest paperwork update is that Maren has obtained her local and federal fingerprinting. I have to do mine still. We also both got our physicals last Thursday (both alive, well, and kicking).

More government fun

We are in the process of readopting Elijah in the United States. He has always been officially and legally ours, but by readopting him here, he will be able to have a United States birth certificate created for him. Then in the future, getting a new original will be a piece of cake compared to trying to track down his original in China.

Maren diligently completed a 21 page form last night so that we could take it to the Probate Court today to get our hearing scheduled. We were almost turned away because an address area was left blank. Maren offered to write it in, but was denied because it needed to be typed. Yep. A trip to another city was almost wasted because they were not going to let her handwrite in an address. It had to be typed. Even now, I am not quite sure I understand why the woman relented and set us up for a pre-court hearing. And, she didn't even have the address added at all. If government were a private business, it would have gone under long ago. But the good news is that government just keeps getting bigger and bigger, and lately it is getting bigger by leaps and bounds. What a good good thing for our country.

Fingerprints: The Dark Stain

There is much about the adoption process that is a pain. At least the second time through, much of the process makes more sense. We can see better how some things go together. And yet, much of the process only reveals the ineffeciency, idiocy, and ridiculousness of the government. And doggone it, a similar issue really has my craw again. Fingerprints. Yeah, fingerprints. Those simple things on your hands that you forever hear are unique to you. You can watch 5 shows per night in which some bad guy is captured as the result of his fingerprints being left somewhere incriminating. And yet, for some reason if you are going to adopt a child, the dumb things EXPIRE in 18 months. Yep, you got it. Some how, if you need them for an adoption, after 18 months...POOF, they just aren't any good anymore. Oh yeah, and when they do expire, you have to pay a bunch more money to get them done again. Gee, can you say "racket"?

So that was our experience last time. They expired so we had to get them again. This time, our fingerprints are causing a bit of a different issue. I took some time off work today and Maren passed on Bible study so that we could go get our FBI fingerprints and our BCII fingerprints. Amazingly, since we did this the last time, it now appears that you can get them in the same spot whereas before, we had to go to two different locations to get our fingerprints taken twice. Nevermind the fact that they take the prints digitally now rather than the old ink format. It would be waaaaaaaay to easy to simply email the things to the other organization like the rest of the world does. But, alas, it seemed as if things became more efficient. Bravo government. So we get to the Clerk of Courts in Butler County who proceeds to tell us that they can only send the fingerprints to one location. We needed them to go to three. They repeatedly assured me that this was not possible. For $57, they could only send them to one location. I then asked if they could just give them to us. No way could that happen. We are not permitted to have our own fingerprints apparently. We can carry the original but not a copy. Ok, got it. Anyway, after going round and round with the lady explaining why we needed three copies, she kept insisting that it was not possible. I was flabbergasted. For real? How hard is it to hit "print" three times and address 3 envelopes. She finally called over a supervisor (not because I was belligerent...I wasn't but because she didn't understand). The supervisor assured us that it was in fact possible to send them to three places. It would just cost us $57 EACH TIME!!!!!! Arrrrrrggggghhh.

Finally though, she gave us a bit of good news. She told us that the sheriff's office does them for about $30 cheaper. Ok great, can you direct us there? Well, I can she says but they only do fingerprints Monday-Thursday from 8am-3pm. And, of course, today is Friday. HOW IS IT POSSIBLE THAT THE SHERIFF'S OFFICE ONLY DOES FINGERPRINTS DURING THAT TIME FRAME???? If I ever commit a crime, I have made a mental note that I am only going to do it at night when they can't fingerprint me. Heck, I can keep good criminal hours. Perhaps I will commit the crime at 4pm and then get away free since they can't fingerprint me. I wondered out loud if I pulled into the sheriff's parking lot and kicked one of the patrol cars if while they were fingerprinting me if I could simply ask them to forward it onto our needed addresses. I was told that would probably hurt our chances to adopt.

So now we wait again until we can arrange time during ridiculous hours. Seriously though. Think about that. We CAN'T get fingerprinted at the sheriff's office except during normal working hours. In other words, if you are a contributing member of society on day shift, you have to take personal time from work to get fingerprinted. But, if you are a criminal, you can get fingerprinted at any time. Heck, they will probably even come to your home to accomodate you. Good grief.

Starting Over Again

We did the homestudy thing once for Elijah. Then, we started over on a new homestudy for our next child only to have to fire that agency. Now, we get to start over again. We received our homestudy packet from our new agency today. Maren has already gotten a leaping start on it. Pretty impressive actually. Several of our friends who have adopted have husbands who say something like, "My wife was amazing. She did everything and did it quickly." I must admit that the selfish side of me would love to be able to say that, but honestly, I do not want her to have to complete all of the work. I am interested in getting it done as quickly as possible, but my reasons are perhaps a bit different than many adopting folks. I am interested in bringing our daughter home, and I know the paperwork is part of the process to accomplish that, but basically, I can't stand it all. It is just so much, and I get tired of it.