I've really been putting off this post, because I'm probably going to mess up somewhere along the line. But, unless you're already familiar with the process of adopting from abroad, you'll probably be wildly confused by our later posts without this. Adopting from a foreign country can be a very long, and very very confusing process. The basic phases break down to:
(step 1) The home study evaluates us, and our home to make sure everything is fit for the child we hope to bring into our family. There are some forms, some interviews with a social worker, training for adoption issues, fingerprints and the dreaded home visit. And after everything is complete, she takes her transcripts from the interviews and all the paperwork and creates a document dubbed "The Home Study." It's a long process, and governments can change requirements frequently and often. Our social worker here has been great in helping us deal with the ever changing laws, and having a good social worker is really important to keeping your frustration level down.
(step 2) The Dossier is a collection of more documents, including the home study, more recommendation letters, and seemingly a duplicate document of everything you have just prepared for the home study. But, in this case, everything needs to be notarized, notary stamp certified, all the i's dotted and t's crossed. The basic difference seems to be that this is consumed by the department of immigrations and both governments, so it's way more strict. In our case, being first time parents, we also have to take some amount of parent training as part of this phase.
(steps 3 & 4) We're not there yet, but I'm sure there is more to this than actually just waiting. Maybe, construction projects and getting more life insurance or something fun like that.
(step 5) This should be the fun part. Once a child is found for us, the courts do their thing, and we're giving a time period to go and pick up the child. In our case, we'll be given something like 2 months to go and travel to Ethiopia and we'll be spending about a week overseas while the rest of the process in Ethiopia finishes.
(step 6) When we get home, then we have to get a lawyer and have our child re-adopted in order to become a full-fledged American citizen. Some period after we have to have a regular visits from our home study social worker to check in. It's something like every 3 months for the first year, but basically just serves to make sure everyone is doing well.
I really hope there aren't any huge gaping inaccuracies in here, but if you find something out of whack, let us know. And, hopefully one of us will have the energy to post where we are in this process soon.
- The home study
- The Dossier
- Waiting
- More Waiting
- Going to get your child
- After adoption
(step 1) The home study evaluates us, and our home to make sure everything is fit for the child we hope to bring into our family. There are some forms, some interviews with a social worker, training for adoption issues, fingerprints and the dreaded home visit. And after everything is complete, she takes her transcripts from the interviews and all the paperwork and creates a document dubbed "The Home Study." It's a long process, and governments can change requirements frequently and often. Our social worker here has been great in helping us deal with the ever changing laws, and having a good social worker is really important to keeping your frustration level down.
(step 2) The Dossier is a collection of more documents, including the home study, more recommendation letters, and seemingly a duplicate document of everything you have just prepared for the home study. But, in this case, everything needs to be notarized, notary stamp certified, all the i's dotted and t's crossed. The basic difference seems to be that this is consumed by the department of immigrations and both governments, so it's way more strict. In our case, being first time parents, we also have to take some amount of parent training as part of this phase.
(steps 3 & 4) We're not there yet, but I'm sure there is more to this than actually just waiting. Maybe, construction projects and getting more life insurance or something fun like that.
(step 5) This should be the fun part. Once a child is found for us, the courts do their thing, and we're giving a time period to go and pick up the child. In our case, we'll be given something like 2 months to go and travel to Ethiopia and we'll be spending about a week overseas while the rest of the process in Ethiopia finishes.
(step 6) When we get home, then we have to get a lawyer and have our child re-adopted in order to become a full-fledged American citizen. Some period after we have to have a regular visits from our home study social worker to check in. It's something like every 3 months for the first year, but basically just serves to make sure everyone is doing well.
I really hope there aren't any huge gaping inaccuracies in here, but if you find something out of whack, let us know. And, hopefully one of us will have the energy to post where we are in this process soon.
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