what's in a dossier

my title sounds a little like "what's in a name"

People have asked us what paperwork is included in our dossier to Ukraine, so here's a little breakdown. All documents have to be signed, notarized, county certified (the county verifies that the notary is legit), and apostilled at the Secretary of State's office. (Yes, all those steps can take as long as it sounds like they could. And sometimes much more...)

(1) homestudy - see my post on January 25th to see what was involved in getting this paper!

(2) copy of the homestudy agency's license from the state Department of Job and Family Service

(3) copy of social worker's license

(4) another copy of the social worker's license - this is not normally required, but our social worker had to renew her license before our paperwork was submitted

(5) letter from homestudy agency stating that our social worker works for the agency - sounds redundant, doesn't it?

(6) I-171H approval - see April 25th posting

(7) color copies of our passports - I HATE my passport picture!! I got it taken at the post office for expedited service, and the woman smashed my hair down. I look like I was out in the rain before getting my picture taken!! Enough about that...

(8) Damon's background check from the state

(9) my background check from the state

(10) Damon's employment letter

(11) my employment letter - more proof that we have jobs and can afford the adoption...

(12) Damon's medical results - HIV, TB, and syphilis

(13) my medical results

(14) copy of Damon's doctor's license

(15) copy of my doctor's license - same doc as Damon

(16) copy of marriage license

(17) another copy of marriage license - are you noticing a lot of multiples?

(18) copy of our home's deed

(19) a petition to adopt - this letter is to the Ukrainian government and it states the list of documents we are sending in and asking for permission to visit an orphanage in the hopes of adopting a child

(20) letter of obligation - a letter stating that we will register our son with the Ukrainian Embassy in the US within one month after adoption, and that we will send in yearly reports. We also have to state that our son will keep his Ukrainian citizenship until he is 18 years old.

(21) power of attorney - a letter giving our permission for our translator and/or facilitator to "carry out all actions corresponding with the adoption of a child or children in Ukraine."

(22) another power of attorney

(23) yet another power of attorney

And that folks is our dossier! I know it seems very intimidating, but it is very do-able! When I first saw the list of all the documents we had to get together, I almost freaked out! I was sure that it would take YEARS to get everything together. No paper took longer than a couple weeks to get. The background checks took the longest because we had to send a letter and a money order requesting them, then wait to get them in the mail. We just had our background checks done again, and it took two weeks to get them back this time. Mine expires in late July, so we wanted to get it ready to go in case our dossier isn't submitted before then.

All of the above documents (with one exception) are good for one year from the date of signature, but for Ukraine they must have six months left when they are submitted. So this means that all documents have to be updated after six months. Most of our documents begin to expire in early November, so until then we only have out background checks to send over.

The one exception to the one year rule is our I-171H approval and fingerprinting. Now I can't remember which is which, but I think the fingerprinting expires after 15 months and the I-171H after 18 months. I hope the dossier get submitted before then because I REALLY don't want to pay another $685 to the government!!

Now I am signing off again - have a great night!!