Journey of Faith:Our Little Guy From China

This just in from the PEAR (Parents for Ethical Adoption Reform):

US Embassy in Kathmandu Not Conducting Preinvestigations

On September 29, 2009, the DOS issued an Adoption Notice for Nepal that contained the following statement:
"As part of required processing for orphan adoption cases, the Embassy conducts a thorough investigation of each case. Prospective adoptive parents should be aware that the investigation process may take several months, which could mean that prospective adoptive parents who travel to Nepal before the investigation is completed will need to spend a significant amount of time in country."
Some US adoption agencies and prospective adoptive parents interpreted this statement to mean that the Embassy would be conducting pre-investigations and completing the investigation prior to the family traveling to Nepal. PEAR contacted both the US Department of State, Office of Children's Issues and US Embassy in Nepal for clarification on the statement. According to both the Office of Children's Issues at the Department of State and the Adoption Unit at the US Embassy in Nepal, visa investigations commence after the final adoption decree and no pre-investigations are occurring at this time.
PEAR has been in continued discussions with the DOS to change the Adoption Notice to correctly reflect the process in order to avoid confusion and misinterpretation. At this point, the DOS and US Embassy are consulting on the proper wording for the Notice.We will update with any further information as we receive it.

I am a little bummed by this news. I just pray that when our time comes to travel that the investigation for our child goes smoothly and there are no issues to be found. I wish we could travel after the investigation is over but it sounds like that will not be the cast. It is not that I would not like to spend more time in the country of my son's birth, but Tim will need to get back to work right away. The 2-3 weeks is going to be tough enough on his job so we hope that this is all the time we will need to be in country at this time.