The Dossier

I have had a few people who have read the blog to ask me questions about the Dossier- also known as the paper chase. So, I though this would be a good time to get some of those questions answered.

After we signed the adoption agreement with the agency, our next step was to complete the dossier that will be sent to China. The dossier is compiled of many documents that Stephen and I have to obtain and have notorized, then we have to have them certified by the county, then we have to have them authenticated by the state, then sent to the Chinese consolate.

Each week, we get two emails from the agency-- on Monday and Thursday. These emails give us our "assignment" to complete that week. We are four weeks into the emails and it seems like each one gets more difficult as we go along. The first week, we had to obtain certified copies of our birth certificates and our marriage certificate. It was easy! There is a website for the Vital Statistics for Alabama, so we just logged on, ordered them, and paid the fee. We received them in the mail within a week of the order. We thought if everything went this easy, we been done quickly. Boy, were we wrong!

The second week, the emails told us to get our passports. Still, not a big deal-- just go to the post office and get them done. So, I completed our forms online and we scheduled our time to get together and go. The passports are ordered, we are just waiting to get them back from the government.

The third week, we had to find and hire an agency to do our home study. Thankfully, I had already done some research on this and it was already in the works. Our first home study visit was at the beginning on February. We have to complete a few more things on our list before the home study can be completed.

Then, this week, we were assigned to get our medical forms completed. This is simple enough- go to the doctor and have a physical, get the forms completed by the doctor (with legible handwriting), and get the forms notorized.

I may be putting too much worry into getting the dossier done. Just typing this blog, I realized that the tasks at hand aren't difficult, they are just time consuming (as is the entire process). But, again, it will all be worth it in the end and we have Amelia in our arms.

By the way, don't be afraid to ask questions or leave comments! That may give me the material I need for the next blog entry...