Buried Beneath the Paperwork...

Just to give you some idea of the paperwork process for adopting a child from China is like, take a look below. This is a list of paperwork and items need for the adoption process given to us by the adoption agency. The list on the top is paperwork that will eventually be sent to China (that we will never ever see again). The stuff on the bottom of the list will be held on file with the agency. As you can see, most of the documents need to be originals or certified copies. This means that we have to submit requests for documents from places like the New York State Department of Health, Indiana State Department of Health for birth certificates, the State of Florida Civil Department for marriage certificates, etc. All the while, we have to apply for new passports (Chris has never had one before and my name recently changed). Each of these places can take up to 6 weeks to process a request, thus turning the paper-chase into a bit of a waiting game.

Unfortunately, some of the paperwork, such as the criminal background checks, reference letters, and DCF record search cannot be completed until we are assigned a social worker and the homestudy process has begun. That will not happen until at least early August.

At least we are most of the way there with the paperwork we need to gather prior to the homestudy process (see the little x’s? those indicate that we have already gathered those documents and put them into my “adoption book”). We are currently waiting on birth certificates and passports and then our stuff is complete (except for the physical examination which will be done in late August).

So, take a deep breath and exhale, we totally understand. It can be a little overwhelming. Fortunately, I am fairly organized and all of the paperwork (tax forms, original birth certificates, and marriage license) were all on one easy to find place, neatly organized and in labeled folders. See? Being obsessive about some things DOES come in handy!