Please Pray!

I posted a while back about the trouble we were having in getting a needed report from the State of Texas. We requested this report in September 2011 and were told it would take 6 -12 months to receive it. We tried contacting a lawyer to subpoena the record (no go) and even contacted our state senator to see if they could expedite the process. We were told in December by TX DFPS that there was no way that they could expedite our report, regardless of the situation, so we decided to wait in the hopes that we would receive it in about 6 months which would have been the beginning of March.

Yesterday we received a formal "Request for Evidence" from USCIS requesting that report (among other things). If they do not receive all of the required documents by March 31 they will deny our application to adopt. I spent about 3 hours on the phone yesterday trying to get this one piece of paperwork that we need to get our little man home.

• I talked to the Records Management Office of TX DFPS and was told that even if we have an official request from the Federal Government for this document, they cannot expedite the processing unless they have a Texas court order! Seriously? Oh, and by the way, the processing time is now a minimum of 12 months so don't even expect to get your record before the end of 2012.
• I talked to the Consumer Affairs Office of TX DFPS and was told that "the regulations are the regulations" and that there is nothing they can do.
• I talked to the San Marcos office of  TX DFPS to try to speak with the social worker who completed the paperwork back in 2009. She no longer works there. And guess what? None of the supervisors who were there at that time work there any more either.
• I talked to the Hays County Court of Law to try to find out if there was any possible way to get a local court order based on a request from the federal government. They referred me to the District Clerk's Office.
• I left a message with the District Clerk's Office and sent them an e-mail, but I never got to talk to a real person. I am still waiting to hear back from them.
• I e-mailed and called the district assistant for Senator Wentworth, who tried to help us back in December. I am still waiting to hear back from her.
• I contacted the family practice lawyer who tried to find a legal reason to subpoena the record for us to see if she could legally make this request based on the request we received from USCIS. She is still researching it.
• I have letters ready to go to our US Senator and Representative to enlist their assistance.

To say that I am angry and frustrated would be an understatement. The fact that a state agency thinks that they can just ignore a request from the federal government is mind boggling. Not to mention the inherent problems with a system that takes over a year to mail a document. Add to this the fact that without this one piece of paper our son will most likely die in an orphanage at a young age without ever having known the love of a family, and I am fit to be tied (as my Granny would say).

I simply do not know what else we can do at this point, other than trust Him. It is truly going to take a miracle to get this document in time to submit it to USCIS by March 31. Please pray that mountains will move and we will have a certified copy in our hands in time!!