Out of Office Autoreply

That's what I got just now when I emailed USCIS again (read the post below for this morning's USCIS drama). Apparently, the reason I haven't heard back from the Chicago USCIS officer is because she's out of the office - from DEC 3rd to DEC 20th!!!! Not that she got back to me before the 3rd either, but that explains this latest round of silence. In her out of office email, she gives a number to call if you need to contact someone in her absence - Ironically, the number she gives is her own office number - the number I've been calling for more than a week with no answer. Obviously, no one is listening to her messages or handling her workload. That's three weeks where no one is even attempting to solve the problems that this officer has created. I know - I'm starting to sound spiteful. I just can't help it at this point.

Before I received the news about the officer's vacation, I called Senator Durbin's office again. I decided that it was just ridiculous that in two weeks my case hadn't even been assigned to anyone and I begged to just talk to someone who could help me. I did end up speaking to the person who handles international adoption cases. She said that she corresponds with the officer via email and would let me know when she hears back. I was feeling hopeful that I might at least hear something when I decided to email the office myself as well. That's when I got the out of office reply. I had to decide whether to scream or cry - I chose cry. It's looking like nothing will be done on my file until after the holidays. I guess we might not have Noah home in January after all.