Letter to Congresswoman, Jean Schmidt

This is the letter that we've asked Family and Friends to send in the hopes that they will extend our paperwork expiration dates during the increased wait times. Adoptive families throughout the US are lobbying their individual states.

Dear Congresswoman Schmidt,

This letter is to voice my concern over the expiration timing of form I-171H (Notice of Favorable Determination Concerning Application for Advance Processing of an Orphan Petition) and the fingerprints associated with this form's approval process. Currently, parents applying to adopt are required to resubmit to fingerprinting after 15 months, and resubmit the entire application after 18 months from date of initial approval.

There is significant cost and time burden associated with both of these steps. In recent months it has become clear that processing time for international adoption, from China specifically, is likely to exceed the 18-month expiration window. This means that as many as 12,000families involved in China adoption per year will need to reprocess paperwork if there are no changes to the current expiration dates. Increasing the period of validity of this document to at least 24 months (preferably 36 months) would benefit both the adoptive families and the USCIS offices that are required to process numerous applications per year.

We realize your time is limited so we deeply appreciate any attention you can give to this issue and any results you may be able to prompt on our behalf.

Sincerely,
Jennifer Todd

* Currently waiting 7 months to be referred a child and expect to be waiting at least 10 more months
* Fingerprint expiration 5/14/2007
* I-171H expiration 10/14/2007