[moelladeville]

I was approved for ONLY one child on my I171H when I accepted my daughter's referral. I had used the document for my son's adoption, and it was valid for three months after I accepted the referral (although my fingerprints, which had been done obviously before receiving the I171H, expired first). I got DNA, preapproval, and went in and out of Family Court on my old I171H. I had filed for the new one immediately when I knew I'd be adopting my daughter, and in Philly, it takes 90 days, so I got the new one three days before the old one expired. I didn't want to take any chances, especially since I was en route to PGN.

Also, I pulled my ENTIRE dossier, including home study update, together in about 10 days. I explained to my social worker the situation in Guate, which at the time was pending legislation to ban singles (I am single) in Sept. of last year, and she came over the weekend and did my update in a day (there wasn't much to add).

Good luck to you, and feel free to PM me if you have any more specific questions. With the exception of a bad agency selection and still-missing-but-hopefully-en-route documents, my adoption went fine. Since I had done two previous dossiers, I did the dossier completely on my own, even advising my agency about what is acceptable on one of the documents!

Good luck and keep us posted. Your daughter is a doll!