HOME STUDY
We received our home study packet on 1/23 and were able to have it completed and mailed by 2/4. The home study packet included a 13 page application, blue print of our home, pictures of our family and home, medical forms for every family members, copies of drivers licenses and proof of insurance, etc. Each parent is also required to answer autobiography questions, but luckily our home study agency has kept them the same for the most part. We have reused many answers from our 2008 and 2010 home studies since our synopsis of our childhood has not changed! Once the home study agency received our packet they scheduled our home study visits. One will be in our home on Friday, February 15 and the second will be at their office in Waco on Monday, February 25. They are typically very prompt about finalizing home studies so I think we will meet my goal of having it completed by early to mid March.
CCAI PAPERWORK
We also signed and notarized the service & fee agreements for our Chinese agency, CCAI, and sent in our first program fee. Once they received that information we were given access to their 46-page copyrighted Dossier Guide on their website. At first I was very intimidated by the amount of detailed instructions they provided. While we received some instructions when we did our dossier for Caleb's adoption from Kyrgyzstan, it was certainly not 46 pages long!
Now that I have had time to look over the dossier packet I realized that it is a really straight forward and easy dossier. For those of you who do not know, a dossier is a collection of documents about our family that are required by the Chinese government if you want to adopt a child. The majority of the documents are notarized, certified by the county clerk, certified by the Secretary of State, and then authenticated by both the US Department of State and the Chinese Embassy/Consulate. It sounds harder than it really is, especially since we have been through some of these steps before for Caleb!
Now that I have had time to look over the dossier packet I realized that it is a really straight forward and easy dossier. For those of you who do not know, a dossier is a collection of documents about our family that are required by the Chinese government if you want to adopt a child. The majority of the documents are notarized, certified by the county clerk, certified by the Secretary of State, and then authenticated by both the US Department of State and the Chinese Embassy/Consulate. It sounds harder than it really is, especially since we have been through some of these steps before for Caleb!
Our dossier requires the following documents:
-Adoption Petition that we create (with a great sample form to copy provided by our agency)
-Certified Birth Certificates for both parents
-Certified Marriage Certificate
-Employment Verification that confirms Bryan's employment and salary
-Financial Statement of our assets/liabilities (again, great sample provided by CCAI)
-Physician Reports from having a physical done along w/ bloodwork
-Police Reports from our city saying we aren't thugs
-Home Study
-3 couple photos, 8 family photos
-3 passport photos each
-2 passport copies
-And last but not least -- the most time consuming part -- I-800 immigration approval from USCIS (US Citizen & Immigration Services)
We have scheduled physicals for 2/22 (Bryan) and 2/27 (me). Once we have completed our dossier we will send it to our agency for critical review before it is translated and sent to China.
We are excited to make progress on the paper chase and know that once it is over the hardest part will start: waiting.
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