**This is a very long post and was written mainly for my family & friends who
aren't familiar with the adoption process**
I've been wanting to write this blog post for a while now, but not quite sure how to go about it. Even though this is our 2nd adoption, I'm realizing that this process is not that well known. I find that when I tell people that we're collecting documents for our homestudy and dossier, they don't really know what that means in the totality of it all. So I wanted to break down the "not knowing" part of the adoption process.
Understand that this information pertains to our particular adoption agency and our particular program, Ethiopia. I do not speak for any other agency or program, domestic or international. I just have knowledge on what we specifically went through.
The very first thing we did was to fill out a mini application, concerning what country we were interested in, gender, age, etc. Even though we had just completed an adoption with the country of Ethiopia, we still had to be sure that we fulfilled their specific age, health requirements.
Once that portion was approved, our contracts were sent. They were signed and notarized as well as some other complimentary paperwork. During that same time, we also had to complete some online adoption education courses.
After officially being in contract again, we received our Home Study & Dossier Binders. This was the beginning of the collection of documents. The very first thing in this binder was an ODJFS (Ohio Dept. Job & Family Services) application. This was so the state of Ohio would recognize us as adoptive parents.
While that was being processed we had our federal and state criminal checks done. Then we sent out our reference forms to various family and friends for them to fill out and return directly to the adoption agency. There were a total of 8 forms that were sent out and 7 were returned. Thank God we only needed 6 :-)
We also had to complete our personal profiles....... pages of information about ourselves, our family, our marriage. Very in depth. Those were the 4 main things that were completed with extreme time sensitivity.
Here is a list of all the other documents that we had to collect:
- Safety audit - Fire inspection
- Adult & child medical (physical) forms - Financial worksheet
- Bank letter statement - Proof of life, auto, & health insurance
- Employment & income verfication - Vet letter concerning our dogs
- Photos of our family - John's military paperwork
- Eva's finalization adoption paperwork
- Photocopies of: birth & marriage certificates (divorce decree), tax returns, drivers licenses, ss cards
- Additional adoption forms and policy statements
All of these documents had to be turned in, some notarized, and approved before a social worker could even make an appointment to visit our home. That's why when the home study visit gets scheduled, it's a big deal. A corner has been turned :-)
As soon as we received our home study report, we were able to send in our application to the U.S CIS (Citizenship & Immigration Services). This application packet included a cover letter, the formal application (I-600A), photocopies of our birth, marriage certificates (divorce decree), home study report and letter to Homeland security.
Once that was mailed out, we had to wait for verification of receipt and then notification of our fingerprint appointment. The catch this time around was that we were not allowed to send in our dossier until we received our fingerprint appointment notification.
This time around I also worked on collecting documents for the dossier at the same time that I was collecting documents for the home study. The home study report is included in the dossier. The dossier is kind of like a portfolio that is sent to the Ethiopian government that is used to process and approve our adoption. And because it's sent to Ethiopia, the dossier is translated once it's been approved.
Included in our dossier was:
- Our home study report - Original birth certificates
- Original marriage certificate - Local criminal checks*
- Employment verification letters* - Letters of Recommendation*
- Power of attorney* - Photocopies of current passport photos*
- Application letter to Ethiopian goverment* - Photos of our family & home
- Financial statement* - New passport photos
- Post-Adoption Commitment letter* - Medical forms *
- Copy of USCIS fingerprint appointment*
*All of these documents have to be signed & notarized.
Once all the required documents are obtained, we will send them to our adoption agency's headquarters. Then everything will be looked over. If anything is wrong, it will have to be corrected. Once the dossier is approved, we will officially be on the waitlist.
As I mentioned earlier, the waitlist this time is going to be extremely long, roughly 2 years. We knew that going in and are at peace with that. We know that it just gives us more time to spend and love on Eva.
I find that the majority of questions that we field are if we know our child, seen a picture of her, if we get to choose her, etc. The important thing to remember about the waitlist portion of our adoption is that as long as we are on the waitlist, we know ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about our child. In fact, our child might not even be born yet, which is highly likely as well. We will not know anything about our specific daughter until we are called with a REFERRAL. In order for that happen, we have to get all the way to being #1 on the waitlist.
When we do receive our referral, we do NOT get to choose our child from a bunch of pictures, like in a line up. Our adoption agency takes a lot of time in thought and prayer to make sure that every child is placed into the best family for that particular child. All of our information and paperwork is taken into very careful consideration before we are called with a referral.
We are very excited about this next adoption. Eva is already learning that she's going to be a big sister. We pray for our unknown Ethiopian daughter everyday. We are so appreciative of your kind thoughts and prayers during this whole process. Thank you so much for all of your love and support.
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