Surprisingly we received the information release forms from Commonwealth after the conference call with Gladney. We mailed those this morning. Now we just wait for Gladney's return from Taiwan. They should be back by August 31st and after that we will find out more.
Shane and Misty
Monday, August 25, 2008
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Looks promising
The conference call with Gladney was an overdue dose of assurance for us. The upper level group from Gladney is leaving for their trip to Taiwan tomorrow to visit with the orphanages and to work out the details of their nearly developed Taiwan program. Gladney's initial plan was to make the trip to Taiwan first and then have the conference call with us but had a change of heart and decided to communicate with us their plans and to fill us in on the transition details. They did not want us to worry another day about what is happening with our adoption...which we are very appreciative of.
The Senior VP of Gladney himself announced that we will not have to pay another dime to continue our adoption through them! Nada! Not through email...not through a letter....we actually heard it from his mouth. Which is way more than I can say about Commonwealth. We were lucky to get an email from them. It will cost Gladney an estimated $100,000 to cover the expenses that Commonwealth was supposed to pay to the orphanages. Gladney sees this as an investment opportunity and with their track record I'm sure it will pay off. And another bonus is that they have been in business for 120 years, starting with domestic adoptions only for the first 100 years and have since added international programs. We are so relieved to receive this news.
Their trip to Taiwan is to work out the operational details with them and to close the deal on their adoption partnership with the orphanages. While they are in Taiwan we (the clients) have to fill out an information release form for Commonwealth in order for Commonwealth to release our files to Gladney. Gladney is not allowed to contact us until they have our files in their hand. Until then it is our responsibility to contact Gladney if we have any questions or concerns. They are expected to return from Taiwan on August 31st and will have a follow up conference call to answer the operational questions. Hopefully they will have our file by then. If they do we will then be assigned a case worker. Oh and another thing we learned about Commonwealth today. Their case workers were contract workers...Gladney's are actual employees of Gladney. That would explain why we had 3 different case workers within a 1 1/2 year time frame.
We are very thankful of the outcome so far. This has been a huge learning experience for us... we have learned so much about how the international adoption process works as well as trusting God when the road to get where we need to be is not what we envisioned. Thank you so much for your thoughts, prayers and support. More to come!
God bless,
Shane and Misty
P.S. I have added the link to Gladney in the Personal Link section if you want to check out their website.
The Senior VP of Gladney himself announced that we will not have to pay another dime to continue our adoption through them! Nada! Not through email...not through a letter....we actually heard it from his mouth. Which is way more than I can say about Commonwealth. We were lucky to get an email from them. It will cost Gladney an estimated $100,000 to cover the expenses that Commonwealth was supposed to pay to the orphanages. Gladney sees this as an investment opportunity and with their track record I'm sure it will pay off. And another bonus is that they have been in business for 120 years, starting with domestic adoptions only for the first 100 years and have since added international programs. We are so relieved to receive this news.
Their trip to Taiwan is to work out the operational details with them and to close the deal on their adoption partnership with the orphanages. While they are in Taiwan we (the clients) have to fill out an information release form for Commonwealth in order for Commonwealth to release our files to Gladney. Gladney is not allowed to contact us until they have our files in their hand. Until then it is our responsibility to contact Gladney if we have any questions or concerns. They are expected to return from Taiwan on August 31st and will have a follow up conference call to answer the operational questions. Hopefully they will have our file by then. If they do we will then be assigned a case worker. Oh and another thing we learned about Commonwealth today. Their case workers were contract workers...Gladney's are actual employees of Gladney. That would explain why we had 3 different case workers within a 1 1/2 year time frame.
We are very thankful of the outcome so far. This has been a huge learning experience for us... we have learned so much about how the international adoption process works as well as trusting God when the road to get where we need to be is not what we envisioned. Thank you so much for your thoughts, prayers and support. More to come!
God bless,
Shane and Misty
P.S. I have added the link to Gladney in the Personal Link section if you want to check out their website.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Conference Call with Gladney
We got an email today from Commonwealth stating that we are having the conference call this Thursday, August 21st at 4:00 pm with Gladney. This is our opportunity to ask any questions we have about the transition to Gladney. We were instructed to email the topics we would like to discuss. Of course I'm sure the #1 topic regards the money aspect of it...additional fees, whether they will cover the foreign fee we have already paid, etc. I assume the Taiwan program is a go. I guess we will find out on Thursday. I'll let you know how it goes!
Misty
Misty
Monday, August 18, 2008
Still waiting
Sorry we don't have anything new to report. We have decided to see what options Gladney gives us and go from there. We're just praying they will be able to cover the foreign fees that we have already paid; although, I am expecting them to charge us agency/processing fees which could end up to be a few thousand dollars.
Please keep us in your prayers!
Shane and Misty
Please keep us in your prayers!
Shane and Misty
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Something else to focus on...
I think I posted a few months ago about going back to school. I took a class at a local community college during the summer to get into the medical field. At the time I was debating between Medical Coding or Medical Transcription and signed up for the medical terminology class which is needed for both programs. BTW - I made a B in the class! I am thrilled none the less because it was a tough course. Anyway, I have chosen Medical Transcription.
"Assistance with job placement is included. In fact, you receive 1 full year of follow-up and assistance with resumes, job leads, etc."
Not a bad deal if you ask me. I will also get to work from home and the pay is not bad.
We'll see....I'll give updates when I sign up for the program. This will keep me busy for a year. :)
Misty
"Assistance with job placement is included. In fact, you receive 1 full year of follow-up and assistance with resumes, job leads, etc."
Not a bad deal if you ask me. I will also get to work from home and the pay is not bad.
We'll see....I'll give updates when I sign up for the program. This will keep me busy for a year. :)
Misty
Monday, August 11, 2008
Trying to find good in bad news
Although this has been a horrific experience with Commonwealth I will again reiterate that I have met some awesome people while traveling along this winding road. God is great! :)
With that being said I found out through a yahoo group that Cathwel (the orphanage we are working with in Taiwan) requires a $10,000 fee to be paid to them when a referral is accepted. *For those of you who don't know (or forgot) what a referral is, it is basically when the birth mother chooses your family as the adoptive parents of her child. You have a choice on whether or not to accept that referral.*
Well, we paid 1/2 of that fee ($5000) to Commonwealth and assumed that the fee was being paid to Cathwel. Surprise! Apparently it wasn't. I guess Commonwealth was 'holding' the money for us. Oh yes, and now the money is gone and they are unable to refund it. BUT on the bright side of the situation, Gladney is supposedly going to cover that fee for us. We're praying they will!
So now we wait (some more) for Gladney to make the trip to Taiwan. What's another 3 or 4 weeks compared to 7 months, right? :)
To be continued!
Blessings,
Shane and Misty
With that being said I found out through a yahoo group that Cathwel (the orphanage we are working with in Taiwan) requires a $10,000 fee to be paid to them when a referral is accepted. *For those of you who don't know (or forgot) what a referral is, it is basically when the birth mother chooses your family as the adoptive parents of her child. You have a choice on whether or not to accept that referral.*
Well, we paid 1/2 of that fee ($5000) to Commonwealth and assumed that the fee was being paid to Cathwel. Surprise! Apparently it wasn't. I guess Commonwealth was 'holding' the money for us. Oh yes, and now the money is gone and they are unable to refund it. BUT on the bright side of the situation, Gladney is supposedly going to cover that fee for us. We're praying they will!
So now we wait (some more) for Gladney to make the trip to Taiwan. What's another 3 or 4 weeks compared to 7 months, right? :)
To be continued!
Blessings,
Shane and Misty
Friday, August 8, 2008
Thanks everyone
We just want to take time to show appreciation for every one's support and encouragement during this rough spot in the adoption.
I have kept myself busy with researching domestic adoptions and fostering...and I have also met some really awesome people who have inspired me to keep fighting for what I believe God wants us to do. Some of them have been down this road before and have offered great advice. I admire their courage and faithfulness.
Of course we have not made a final decision as to what we will do. I guess it all depends on the director of Gladney and their trip to Taiwan. It is all in God's hands...
Blessings,
Shane and Misty
I have kept myself busy with researching domestic adoptions and fostering...and I have also met some really awesome people who have inspired me to keep fighting for what I believe God wants us to do. Some of them have been down this road before and have offered great advice. I admire their courage and faithfulness.
Of course we have not made a final decision as to what we will do. I guess it all depends on the director of Gladney and their trip to Taiwan. It is all in God's hands...
Blessings,
Shane and Misty
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