More fingerprint frustrations

      If you would have told me that one day I would be frustrated almost to tears trying to get a legal fingerprint clearance, I would have thought you were crazy. My fingerprint fiasco continues, and I have learned something: no one, not NO ONE, in my state actually knows the details of when, where, and how I can get this taken care of. Let me explain:


       I talked about stages 1 and 2 of my fingerprint fiasco here and here. One detail that I had left out is that I had called our state's Department of Public Safety, who runs the checks and issues the fingerprint clearances, when I was having so many problems. Their building is less than 20 minutes from my house, so I thought the easiest way to get this settled would be to just go there in person and have them do my prints-- you know, remove all those middle points that tend to get a process messed up. After being on hold for about 20 minutes (I wish I was exaggerating), I was told that this was not possible, as only those who were applying for positions with the FBI were allowed to actually get their printing done in the building. It was a convenience offered "by special invitation only."
       Last Monday (10 days ago), I mailed my fingerprint reprint. There is no way the address was written wrong, as they sent me a special pre-addressed envelope in which to mail my card to them. I was getting worried after not seeing my status updated in their system since they should have gotten the packet the next day, two days at most. They hadn't gotten it, and were trying to tell me that sometimes the mail gets held up in our state and be patient and yada yada. I said that it shouldn't affect this situation that much, as I live just a few miles away. Well, then, she says this: "Oh, well if you only live a few minutes a way, you should have just come here. We would have taken care of it for you for free and processed it the same day. Anyone needing a reprint can just swing by our office any time during business hours." Let's absorb this for a second. The employees in this government office that is IN CHARGE OF this very important process for the ENTIRE STATE can't agree on whether or not I am allowed to come to their office. I don't even know what to say about this.
       My husband actually gets a day off work Friday (glory hallelujah), so I think I will drive over there and deal with this. And Lord help the person who tries to tell me that I am not allowed to be there.
       In summary, I have no real updates today, just venting. And I haven't had time to read any more articles this week, things have just been crazy and in my free time I am working on sewing a quilt for my momma. She is coming to visit a week from tomorrow (happy dance!) and I want to have it done by the time she gets here.

Have you experienced any frustrations yet in your adoption journey? Let's vent together.... share in the comments!