We have had a ton of question's regarding the specifics of the process. We have stated that it is a long and overwhelming one, however we decided to give a brief outline of the actual steps and timeline that we will be following.
Here is a brief idea of what we are currently doing...
As of right now, we are in the 2nd phase of the adoption. The 1st phase was the hardest I think, just because that is where we made the actual decision to adopt, we chose the country, and then we chose the agency. That process consisted of a TON of research, checking agency references, interviewing agencies, talking to families who have been through this before, finding out the requirements for the different countries, narrowing down the countries that we are eligible for, researching the cultures, finding out the different processes for each country and agency, finding out the financial requirements for the countries and agencies and making the final decision on the country and agency.
It may not sound that bad, but it was a intense 6 month process!!!
Now that we are in the next phase, it's paperwork, paperwork, paperwork!!!
These are the things that we have been doing to complete our Home Study and compile our Dossier(which is a collection of official documents).
- fill out the pre-app for the international adoption(IA) agency($100)
- fill out the pre-app for the home study agency($35)
- have a required 45 min.meeting with the IA agency regarding the process
- fill out the formal IA application and submit it($3300)
- fill out the formal Home Study application and submit it($1235)
- collect certified copies of birth and marriage certificates($133)
- collect 5 reference letters
- collect letters from our banks
- collect employer letter
- fill out financial form
- collect background checks
- start our International Adoption educational training
- apply for USCIS approval by submitting a I-600A form($670)
- get fingerprinted($160)
- get medical exams done on all 5 of us
- have our H.S. house visit and office visit
- write an auto biography about ourselves($priceless$)
- apply for a passport($200)
- get all of the documents notarized and appostiled($600)
Needless to say, this process probably has a few more documents then I listed, but you get the gist of it.
After all of this is completed(2-4 months) we will officially submit our dossier($2700)
Our dossier will then be sent to Kazakhstan for translation prior to being registered and legalized at the Kazakh Embassy in Washington, D.C. or New York City. The final product then travels through the Kazakhstan government.
After the approval process in Kazakhstan, the dossier will be registered in a region, and we are invited to travel to see potential children. We will visit Zachary in the orphanage for 14 days. After completion of this required visitation period, our case will be presented to the court, and a judge will assign a court date, which will be within 5 days or so. Both of us are required to attend this court hearing. We will then travel home to wait for the adoption to be finalized. ($21,750+travel, lodging and food)
That 1st visit will be anywhere between 3 and 4 weeks total...YIKES!!!! All we can say is... Skype!!!!
After a two week period, the judge will issue the final adoption documents. At this point, we will be able to return to Kazakhstan. After finalizing Zachary's visa at the Embassy in Almaty, Kazakhstan, we will travel home with him. ($travel fees)
Only one parent has to travel on the second trip and it lasts anywhere between 5-10 days.
So, there it is in a nutshell. From here on out when we update you on the process, you will have an idea of where we are at. It should be mentioned that after the dossier is submitted, there will be 4-6 months before we travel. At this point we are expecting to travel sometime between Nov. '09 and March '10. It will depend on how quick we get all of our paperwork done.
We will keep you posted!!!
