Paperwork

We mailed off our last piece of paperwork for Zanna's adoption today (again) ($545.00). Keep in mind this is the second time I have sent this same piece of paperwork to Immigration ($545 + $545). The first piece of paper expired as have many of our other documents. The US is very good at making sure adoptive parents don't have any criminal records. In fact they are so thorough in their checking that you have to be fingerprinted in two different offices ($140 + $66) and obtain clearance at 2 other local police stations ($26). You have to do this every 18 months. The thing that I find disturbing about this is that it is clear that all 4 of these agencies aren't communicating with each other. How efficient is that? Could you commit a local crime, and have it only show up at your local sheriff's office? If you commit a federal crime, your local sheriff has no record of it? I'm starting to see why they have a hard time locating and catching pedophiles and terrorists. There is no shared information. Anyway, until we apply for visas to go to the PRC, we don't have to send any more money for awhile. We are still waiting on Calla's passport, but that may take awhile too. Because of new travel rules, there are more passport applications than they can handle.