Re-adoption Process

It occurs to me that some of the readers of this blog are not friends
and family interested necessarily in the minutiae of Jada's life or
constant pictures of her oh-so-cute mug, but others who have adopted
from China or are in process or thinking about it. For their benefit,
let me talk a little bit about the process of re-adopting Jada.

Pennsylvania does legally accept foreign adoptions, but not all states
do. So we are in the middle of re-adopting her here in Pennsylvania,
as an adoption executed in one state is recognized by all the other
states. What that looks like is hiring a lawyer and compiling for
them a ton of paperwork – criminal and child abuse clearances, birth
certificate, abandonment certificate, etc. They take that paperwork
and schedule a hearing for us in front of a county judge, who approves
the adoption.

Compared to the long and costly process for adopting outside the US,
the re-adoption process isn't too bad: maybe three to six months and
well under $1000. We are still compiling the paperwork and I'm
guessing our hearing will be in the late spring. If any other
interesting things happen along the way, I'll be sure to post them
here.