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The Process – Putting Together Your Dossier Putting together your dossier does not and should not require you to pay
an agency thousands of $$ to tell you what to do. You and ONLY you will be able to gather
the necessary documents. Even when you adopt “independently”, a good
facilitation team should be able to guide you and answer any questions. FIRST THING FIRST
Submit I600A to the USCIS http://www.uscis.gov/graphics/formsfee/forms/i-600a.htm In most
states (if not all) the processing of this document will take the longest of all documents
needed in your dossier. Many states will accept your I600A without a completed homestudy
if you include a cover letter explaining that you are aware it is needed and are working
on it. This will get you “in line”, basically. Don’t
forget to send a check to cover the processing fee and fingerprints (you will receive an
appointment letter from them for this later). If you
need help filling out your I600A, I will gladly share how we filled ours out. FindingRDaughter@aol.com Here is a sample cover letter: December 20, 2005 TO: U.S. Citizenship
and Immigrations Services (USCIS) FROM: Fred & Ethel Smith
123 Our House Ln.
Adoptionville, NC 12345
(123) 456-7890 RE: I600-A Submission
– Home Study Documents The attached I600-A form has been
completed and submitted with the following documents:
We understand that a Home Study
with a statement recommending or approving adoption is also required. We are in the
process of arranging a Home Study and will submit these necessary documents upon
completion. If you have any questions or
concerns regarding this submission, please do not hesitate to contact us immediately. Respectfully, FRED
SMITH
ETHEL SMITH READY FOR STEP 2
Now you must
find a home study agency. It is always best to ask around for those who have been through
the process before for recommendations. Some agencies are quicker, more professional, less
money, etc. It is also
good to work with an agency that will allow you to review your home study before
finalizing it. You will want to check for mistakes. Be comfortable with who
you work with. Choose your agency and get your home study started. Generally it should
take 6-8 wks to complete a home study. Starting your home study can be nerve-wracking. Just remember, no one has a perfect family life and/or history. We all were teenagers once. Your house does not need to be spotless, just a clean and safe environment for a child. The Social Workers are people too, they know their houses would not pass the white glove test and know they were not and are not perfect. They do not expect you to be anything more than human. If you have something you are concerned about disclosing to the SW, ask the agency how they handle such things. Most times you will find it is not a problem and you are worrying about something more than necessary. But, do not try to hide the
truth. If something is found ( a criminal charge for example) that you do not disclose, it
can be the end of your journey. You are definitely better off sharing all they ask of
you.
When reviewing you homestudy before
it is finalized, be sure it includes a statement about the adopted child having the same
civil rights as an American born child. PREPARING YOUR DOSSIER
It is time to begin gathering
your other documents for your dossier. In the perfect world you will be able to time
everything just right and have all your necessary documents completed right before you
receive your I-171 (this is the form you will get from the USCIS approving you to adopt
from Ukraine). However, I think most of us rush
the first time around, trying to move through the process as quick as possible. This
isn’t a horrible thing but know that all documents are only good for 12 months from
when they were dated. It is possible, and probably even likely, that you will need to
update them again at some point. So the longer you can hold off the better, of course it
wouldn’t be fun to wait around for documents that should have been completed when you
already have you I-171 in hand. Your
dossier will need to consist of the following documents:
http://web.usembassy.kiev.ua/files/medform.rtf
STATE
CLEARANCE LETTERS Contact your state Bureau of Investigations about procedures for obtaining state criminal background check for the purpose of an international adoption. In NC you can go to the local Sherriff’s office and tell them you need fingerprints for this purpose. It is, I believe, $10. You then mail those fingerprints to NC SBI with processing fee. DOCUMENTS
(notraies, apostilles, county stamps, etc.) Notary,
county stamps and apostilles are all just various levels of authentications. All
documents will need to be notarized and apostilled. In some states a county stamp is also
required before the document can be apostilled (NC no longer requires county stamps YAY!).
Your Secretary of States office, Authentications Department, will be able to answer any
question regarding authentications and wording. IMPORTANT:
Make sure your notaries commission does not expire for at
least 12 months from the time they notarize any of your documents or your document will
expire the date that their commission expires. Check with
your state before signing and notarizing photocopies about necessary wording. Your
Secretary of States office, Authentications Department, will be able to answer that
question for you. In NC we are required to have the following: I, [name
here], do hereby swear that this is a true copy of my [name of document here] and this
copy contains no alterations from the original. A notary cannot swear any document is a true and unaltered copy, they can only verify the signature of the person signing. The person the document blongs to must swear it is the true, unaltered copy and sign the form. For example, you will need to swear that the copy of your passport is a true, unaltered copy but your Dr. will need to swear that his/her license is a true, unaltered copy. MEDICAL CERTIFICATE
Be sure
the required medical certificate is printed on the Dr.’s letterhead. I suggest asking
for the letterhead, typing in all the necessary information, then taking it in to the Dr.
to be signed and notarized with you there. It is
best to have all the dates on your medical form to match. This may help eliminate any
confusion about when the form expires (it will expire exactly 12 months from the oldest
date on the form). EMPLOYMENT
/ SALARY VERIFICATION LETTER Your letter(s) will need to show proof of employment and gross annual income. The total gross salary of each employment letter (assuming you have income from more than one source) will need to be equal to what is stated in your home study. If you are retired military and have questions about showing proof of income feel free to email me at FindingRDaughter@aol.com This was a big pain for us the first time around. If you have a CPA, you could get one letter form the CPA about your gross annual income, as opposed to a number of letters from various sources (husband's employer, wife's employer, military, etc.) Here is a sample emplyment letter (should
be on letterhead): RE:
EMPLOYMENT LETTER – [Your Name Here] To Whom
It May Concern: [Your Name
Here] has been employed with [Employers Name]since [Date of Employment]. His/Her annual
salary is $XXX. He/She is in good standings at this time; I do not foresee any
problems with her position with our company. Should
you have any questions or require additional information please feel free to contact me. President ____________________
_______ ____, 200__
(Printed name)
(Signature)
(Date)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TO BE COMPLETED BY NOTARY PUBLIC:
Subscribed and sworn to before me this _____ day
__________________________________________
(Signature
of Notary Public) (NOTARY SEAL and NAME STAMP)
My commission expires __________, 20____
If you have specific questions or suggestions about what should be added to this explaination of this process, please email me at FindingRDaughter@aol.com
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