(Originally published in "Adoption Nation: How The Adoption Revolution is Transforming America," by Adam Pertman)
© Dan Wasserman
THE ACCIDENTAL ADOPTION
Have you ever noticed that you hear all the time about "accidental" pregnancies, but never about couples who experience "accidental" adoptions? Can you imagine:
Honey, sit down. I have some news for you.
What is it?
Well, I don't know how to say this, so I'll just come out with it. I went out to the mailbox today and ... well, we got an I-171H.
A what?!?! An I-171H? As in, we're going to have another baby?!?
It looks that way.
But how? We've been so careful! I put away all the blank 1-600A forms. Didn't you hide our homestudy update?
Of course I did. But don't forget, there was that one night ...
What night? (pauses) Ohhh, that night. But it was only once. We were just messing around. I didn't print clearly. I didn't even use black ink! (pauses again) But it was kind of fun. (giggles)
It was, wasn't it? I'll never forget how cute you looked getting your fingerprints.
So now we've got our I171H, eh? But that doesn't always mean you'll adopt, does it? I mean, shouldn't you see the agency or something, make sure everything's okay?
I already did.
And?
I'm five documents along.
Five documents!
And they're all notarized, certified and authenticated, okay?
Just great.
There was one small scare when the agency couldn't see the notary's middle initial, but it showed up just fine under the magnifying glass.
Thank God. And you, honey? Are you feeling okay?
I'm feeling fine. As long as I know you're happy about this.
Happy? I'm thrilled! It's always a shock at first when something like this happens, but of course I'm happy.
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