What NOT to take to a Federal Building

The WACAP rep contacted me for an update on the homestudy process. I told her the paperwork phase is nearly done, so I should be able to start meeting with the social worker soon to start getting the interviews done.

Then she asked if I had turned in the I-600a. This is the form that gets filed with immigration to allow an orphan to enter the US as an immediate relative and a US citizen. (Once I get my adoption decree in Russian court, Sergey will be a US citizen as soon as we set foot inside the US consulate over there.) This form also sparks the fingerprinting that is done at the federal level--and my social worker had requested that we not submit for that until she advises us to, because the fingerprinting is only good for a certain amount of time and then would have to be redone. She likes to give her clients as long as possible.

I told the WACAP rep that I was waiting for the social worker to give the go-ahead on that form. NO, NO, NO!!! Apparently since this is a waiting child adoption, it is being fast-tracked and she expects my whole process to be done within 7-9 months at most. Get this done now, if not sooner! They need me to be ready to go as soon as Russia approves me for the first trip.

So I filled out the I-600a and, instead of mailing it in, made an on-line appointment to turn it in personally, because I am told that if you take it in personally, they will fingerprint you on the spot instead of issuing you an appointment by mail.

Our appointment was yesterday. Left work early, drove all the way home to pick Rick up from school, and then drove all the way back to the city. The parking garage was about a few minutes' walk from the Federal building we needed to go to, but we had plenty of time. We were 15 minutes early.

Then we got to the front door. Let me mention at this point that Rick is wearing the black leather duster coat he got for Christmas (what his friends have referred to as his Matrix coat or his Columbine coat) and had on sunglasses. He's looking very cool.

What does one see immediately upon entering a federal building these days? Yeah, you guessed it--METAL DETECTORS. Well, I can't go through them because of the defibrillator (they could turn it off). So, I start digging through my wallet to get out the card that tells security I have to have a manual search. Meanwhile, Rick is standing there frozen, and when I look up at him, all the color has just drained from his face. He hisses at me, "Mom, I didn't know about this--I still have my pocket knife in my pocket!"

Now all the color has drained from MY face. We are inside a federal building and my son has a knife. I immediately went to the first guard I saw and explained that my son had forgotten his Swiss Army knife was in his pocket, asking if he could leave it with a guard until our appointment was over, since there was not enough time to walk all the way back to the car and still make the appointment on time.

The guard said in a very loud voice, "Ma'am, please have your son leave the building immediately." And she said it loudly enough that every other guard nearby turned and looked, their hands dropping casually to their sides, where I would assume they have firearms.
So I turned to my son and hissed, "Get out!"

Since we didn't have time to go all the way back to the car, I wanted him to bury it in a flower bed. Have you ever tried to get a guy to part with a Swiss Army knife? That scenario just wasn't gonna happen.

We ended up finding some very nice front desk guards in an adjacent building who were willing to hold the knife until our appointment was over. By the time we got back to the federal building, they still remembered us. They let me around the detector because of my handy-dandy little ID card for the debrillator, but they basically made Rick strip down. Seemed like it anyway--he had to empty out his pockets AND take off his belt, since it had metal on it. Y'know how kids buy their pants so baggy these days that they NEED a belt to hold them up? Well, by the time he got through the metal detectors, his pants had fallen down just about to his knees and he was muttering some very bad words under his breath as he tried to put himself all back together.

But we made it to our appointment still with 3 minutes to spare, and we did indeed get our fingerprinting done on the spot, everything in one fell swoop.

What NOT to take to a federal building? An 18-year-old!!! (Y'all thought I was going to say a knife, didn't ya?)

I am now done except for getting two of my reference letters back and having the home inspection. (Playing voice-mail tag with the department of health inspector I was assigned to.) We're almost there!