U.S.A, Italy and now France!

U.S.A, Italy and now France! Apparently, three little girls were referred to their families in France late last week. We have been keeping one another up to date on the newest referrals and it appears that Nepal sent out another 20 referrals. We know the highest legal number is 25 and all of the children referred are little girls.

One of the agency reps informed their families that they can expect to travel to Nepal at the end of July or beginning of August (approximately 2 1/2 to 3 months from referral to travel time). The interesting news is that they (we) will need to plan to be in Nepal for 15 business days, so a total of 3 to 4 weeks in country. If this is true, it is going to be an interesting -- and complicated – travel situation.

Everyone keeps asking what you are expected to do in Kathmandu for that length of time. Apparently, once a person travels to pick up their child the following must be done: Collect adoption decree, visit your child's orphanage, apply for travel documents, visit the US embassy to make an appointment for the exit interview, get a final medical check-up, collect necessary documents (referral info) to translate for the embassy, submit documents to the embassy, participate in an exit interview with the embassy, pick up your child's visa and then … fly home. In this case, the travel time looks like about 36 hours. I can’t imagine anything more fun than traveling with an infant and a seven year old for a day and a half!

This should be an interesting week full of news for many waiting families.