It is finished . . . I hope. Regardless, it’s in the mail and will arrive at our agency’s office in Portland, Oregon on Tuesday. It will be reviewed on Friday (hopefully) and will either be approved – or – we’ll be asked to make minor revisions. I’m hoping and praying that it’s approved because I’m honestly so tired of the thing! I’ve been protecting all of those official, notarized papers with my life, and I’m glad to have them out of my hands!
If the dossier is approved, it will be sent to Washington D.C. for authentication by the U.S. government. It will then be forwarded to Ethiopia, where it will be translated into Amharic. At that point, it will be held until our court date when it will be presented to the Ethiopian court with the file for the child(ren) we’re matched with. A judge will review it and make the decision to grant or not grant the adoption. So . . . it’s kind of a big deal.
So, what are all those papers about? Well, here’s a quick run-down of the contents:
- Two Power of Attorney Forms – notarized & county and state certified
- Letter from the family (written to the Ministry of Women’s Affairs in Ethiopia) – notarized
- Photocopy of US Passport w/ notary sheet for each parent
- 2 Passport photos for each parent
- Photographs of the family (one of each parent, one of parents together & two of family)
- Photographs of the family’s home
- Home Study (written by social worker – very detailed – ours was 18 pages) – notarized
- Letter of Employment for each parent – notarized
- Financial Statement – notarized
- Certified birth certificate for each parent
- Certified marriage certificate
- Medical letter for each parent – notarized
- Police Clearance for each parent – notarized
- Two Letters of Reference – notarized
- Obligation of Post Placement Reports – notarized
Once all of those things are gathered, three copies are made. Two sets go with the set of originals to the agency, and one is kept for personal records. The fees associated with submitting the dossier total $5000 as well, so that check is included in the package.
Once the dossier is approved, we’ll be put on the “boy list” and the “siblings list.” We’ll be given a number for each list, and as time goes by and other children are adopted, we move up on the list until we get a referral. We’re really excited to be to this point, and we’ll be REALLY excited when we hear that it’s been accepted!
3 comments