Skip to main content

Dossier Paperwork

The other day Jon and I had an hour meeting on the phone with our AGCI caseworker - we officially now have our own caseworker!!!  She discussed our Dossier paperwork that WHOLE time. The Dossier is what will be sent to Ethiopia. It will include our homestudy (which includes a bunch of other paperwork), our education hours, and then a bunch of forms such as birth certificates and criminal checks. We have 6 months to complete all of this work. We can get it done sooner as well, but some of it depends on how quickly we get things back in the mail, or how quickly our homestudy caseworker writes things up.

For anyone interested, especially those who are thinking about adoption, here is the paperwork checklist to be sent in with all of our paperwork. There are 26 items...

1. Notarized & State Certified Power of Attorney Form   2. Notarized Power of Attorney Form   3. Statement of Reason to Adopt (Application Letter)   4. Notarized Photocopy of USCIS Favorable Determination Letter   5. Notarized Photocopy of US Passport for Father   6. Notarized Photocopy of US Passport for Mother   7. Official Passport Photos (2 photos per parent)   8. Photographs of the Family  N/A 9. Photographs of the Family’s Home   10. Home Study w/Copies of Social Worker & Agency License   11. Letter(s) of Employment for Father   12. Letter(s) of Employment for Mother   13. Financial Statement   14. Birth Certificate for Father   15. Birth Certificate of Mother   16. Certificate of Marriage   17. Medical Form for Father   18. Medical Form for Mother   19. Local Criminal Check Letter for Father   20. Local Criminal Check Letter for Mother   21. Letter of Reference from Family Member   22. Letter of Reference from Friend   23. Obligation of Post Placement Reports   24. Two Complete Copies of Entire Dossier   25. Fees due w/Dossier Submission   26. Proof of I600A Submission to USCIS  

Notice how just about everything must be notarized!? We even have to have our medical/physical exams notarized - so if our clinic doesn't have their own notary, then we have to bring a notary public along to our clinic!  The night of this meeting I had a reoccurring dream that everything was being notarized, but then we were making mistakes on paperwork so things had to be notarized again and again and again... let the adoption dreams begin!!!

Next week we have our first adoption education class to attend. It is a meeting with other parents in the process of adopting. It will be a full day. I'm looking forward to meeting other people in our area that are in this process. We will also begin doing some on-line coursework and we have a workbook to start filling out together as a couple.

I'm still making lots of Owie Owls!!!  Keep spreading the word, as they have been a GREAT fundraiser for us! I enjoy making them!  :)

Alright, off to play Candyland with my son... he is currently singing "You, you, you, You can Trust God..." one of his favorites. I love it when he sings this, as it is such a good reminder for me too!

In Christ,
Mara


Comments

  1. You are an inspiration, Jon and Mara! I am so very excited for you two, Caleb, and your future little family member. I am praying for you!

    Love,
    Jody Gilster

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Second day in Manila

Family picture from yesterday at the park. Caleb has a flying butterfly. Our second day in Manila was fantastic! We got out of the city and saw a ton of the countryside, multiple areas outside of the city, and a beautiful "lake" that houses a volcano.  We've been starting our mornings with this view. Starting out on our journey today we saw some gigantic billboards. These two were selling Jollibee and the other was selling TUNA... tuna!?!? Our first trip to Jollbee! This is the Philippines favorite fast food restaurant, it is similar to our McDonald's. Their primary food though is chicken, much like KFC. Where do pineapples come from!?! Did you say a tree?? Then you, like myself and Jon, are wrong!!!! These are Pineapple Fields! Pineapples are grown from the ground! When this is ready to pick, the pineapple will be sitting straight up on top of the soil.  Road side stop to see the pineapple fields also allowed us to see t...

decisions to be made

Last week I was taken a little aback by the news that it could be 3.5 years until we would be bringing our children home. I knew this would be a process, a long process, and maybe I was kidding myself thinking that somehow our process would be shorter. We still do have the potential to have a shorter process since our parameters are not extremely narrow, but we will still be no where near what my head was hoping for. In the recent months it had crossed my mind that I could see us adopting more than once, but what a process that would be! If this is a 3-5 year process, to start all over again seemed like so much. But now our minds are racing with a new hope... Because of the letter they sent us, we learned that simultaneous adoption is an option. The thought had never even occurred to me to look into this option, but I'm becoming quite excited about the prospect. With simultaneous adoption, we would be part of two different adoption programs within our agency - Ethiopia & ...

Our "Travel Quilts"

  In preparation for this adoption, we've already started thinking of ways that we can afford this whole process. It definitely won't be a "cheap" venture in our lives. The hardest part will be finding the money to cover the travel costs to Africa. To help with the travel costs, we hope to hold a couple events that will help us raise funds.   A couple years ago, when we first discussed adoption, my thoughts were with quilting. I get such satisfaction making a quilt or a sewn gift for a new child, or for a Christmas/Birthday gift for a niece or cousin. Thinking about a child wrapped in a quilt makes me smile from ear to ear. My thoughts then, and now, are to create baby/children quilts to sell. All money made from these quilts will be kept to help pay the costs of travel to Africa. Each quilt sold will be filled with thoughts and prayers for all children. They are full of my waiting stitches  and filled with love and joy.    The picture below shows the...