The Long Awaited Adoption Update

We had our third and final visit with our Social Worker to complete our home study on Monday March 10th. The next step in the process is filling out a form with the federal government called the I-600A Application, which gives us approval from the U.S. government to adopt a foreign born orphan. I sent in the I-600A last week but it was returned to us yesterday because they require a certified check and I just sent a regular check. I don’t recall seeing that in the instructions but I may have missed it. It takes anywhere from 2-6 months for our application to be approved. Once our I-600A is approved, we both need to get fingerprinted and then the next step is to complete the dossier for Vietnam. I looked up the definition of a dossier and it is as follows:

"A collection of required documents presented in support of a petition to adopt a child overseas. It becomes the foreign country's paper. "

More specifically the Vietnam Dossier is the collection of documents that make up the adoptive family application to adopt from Vietnam. Each individual document of the dossier must be certified by the appropriate State, certified by the Consulate/Embassy of Vietnam, translated, and then submitted to the Department of International Adoptions (DIA) in Hanoi for review.
Vietnamese Law governs the requirements for the documents that need to be submitted.

Below are some of the documents that are required:

Application to Adopt
Copy of Applicant's Passport picture page (one for each applicant)
USCIS Form I-171H or I-797C approving applicant's I-600a orphan petition
International Adoption Home study
Medical Clearance/Recommendation from Physician (one for each applicant)
Criminal Clearance/Background Check from local police station (one for each applicant)
Financial Statement
Marriage Certificate

All documents must be certified and authenticated in the U.S. before they are sent to Vietnam. One trip is required to Vietnam.

Our Agency
We decided on a placement agency a few weeks ago and we went Also known as VORF. Check out there website for more info:

http://www.vorf.org/

The Vietnamese Children
Vietnamese orphans eligible for adoption will be 2 months of age and older. Most referrals will be for infants under 1 year of age who have been cared for in orphanages. Could these babies be any cuter??

Travel
One 2-3 week trip is required by the government of Vietnam. Families will travel in small groups to Vietnam, and will be escorted and assisted throughout the process by our English-speaking coordinators.

What next?
Well, we need to get approval for the I-600A and start the Dossier process. This weekend we need to get our pictures taken for our passports and if time permits go to the post office on Saturday morning to apply for passports.

Miscellaneous
Other than adoption stuff, we have a date night planned for tonight. We are going to dinner and a show at the IMAX Theater in Boston to see “The Alps.”
For more details check out the following link:

http://www.mos.org/exhibits_shows/imax&d=2448

They just recently renovated the IMAX Theater and Kyle was perusing the new schedule and came across “The Alps.” Hopefully it will be good.

Well, I think that I covered everything. Please let us know that you are actually reading this by leaving us comments. It really makes our day when our friends respond. Thanks Kerri for being a loyal responder. Tami-where have you been???? Have a great weekend everyone!