The infamous PAPERWORK

I have gotten a couple of questions about the paperwork and the Russian adoption process in general. I have read where others have posted about this process and in the past have just assumed that every knew what you have to go through to finish a Russian adoption or I am guessing any international adoption.

I can tell you that even my family did not and does not know all the steps that I had to complete in order to get this far. I think that is both good and bad. I never wanted to worry them or give the impression that I was complaining about the process. So in the very beginning I did not mention much to them and I always stretched the time frames so to not disappoint them when they came and when. Which I would do again in a heartbeat. I do not consider this lying because they were only estimates to start with. It gave me time to process the disappointment so that I was okay then I could discuss it with all of them.

So here is the short version:

1. Find an agency! I can tell you that I think this is the single most important thing that you can do if you are going to start an adoption. My current agency is my second agency. I have found that it is quite common at least in Russian adoption to change agencies at least once during the process. There are many reasons why a person could change or want to change agencies usually it is because the adoptive family has lost confidence in the agency to help them become a family. During my change there was an issue with accreditation for Russia. Accreditation is a special license that is required for an agency to work in Russia.
2. The Home Study. This is done by your agency or a separate agency. They come to your home and inspect it for safety and cleanliness. Also they are looking see that you have a plan for where the child will stay. This home study is quite important because at this point you discuss all your options with a Social Worker who is experienced with adoption. In my case there was discussion about different countries and international verses domestic adoption. In my case my financial ability to raise a child was reviewed. There are also background checks that must be completed for child abuse and other crimes.
3. Dossier Part 1: This is a collection of papers that is first notarized then an apostille is applied from the state level it is basically an additional notary. The cost of the apostilles vary from 1 dollar to as much as 25 dollars. In New Jersey you can have adoption documents notarized for 5 dollars but you must wait 2 weeks to get them back. If you need the documents right away then the cost is 20 per document. The first part of the dossier was done at the lower rate but in the past 5 months every other document I have sent was the 20 dollar type because the agency would need them in a day or two. Some documents have been re-done up to 5 times because of a very slight change in wording. To date in state expenses I have spent over 3000.00 dollars. For my region I must send 3 copies of each document. I also keep one for myself.
4. Then you wait. I waited in my opinion quite a long time for a referral. Many of the blogs that I read have had there children home for over a year and in some cases two years. Different agencies different Russian connections. Are you seeing why the choice of an agency is so important.
5. Trip #1 The referral trip! This is it the big trip. On this trip you meet a child review there medical reports and spend time interacting with the child. You get to see where the child lives and in some cases you can watch them eat or feed them. Many times you get to meet the child a couple of days in a row. Again that is where I am different. I only got to see her for about 2 hours. The drive to the baby home was about 4 hours one way. Her region or state is very remote with only little villages along the road. I will get to see her before the court trip so I am excited and nervous all in the same.
6. Bonding and Attachment: Just a quick note here about this topic. I felt pretty unemotional at the first meeting because I wanted to be able to make a hard decision if I needed to make it. If I needed to walk away I needed to do it with as little impact to her as possible. As far as she knows or knew I was just another adult there for business. I was not called Mama or Mommy ever. My attachment to her has grown by leaps and bounds. Hers for me has not. Hopefully they are showing her my picture but I have to error on that they may not be showing it to her. So these next couple of months could be hard or easy I am not sure what lies ahead.
7. Trip # 2: This is the court trip. After you accept a referral you must leave the child. This sounds cruel but there are reasons behind it. More paperwork is filled out and submitted to the Russian government. These papers are then translated into Russian and sent to the Ministry of Education for that region. In some cases the region is close or easy to get to in others it is not. My region is remote to some degree and therefore it takes longer to get the paperwork there. I have been quited a time frame of about 1 month from the time the paperwork hits my agency until it gets to where it must go in Russia.
   
   The second trip is when you go to court and are either granted the right to be the parent or not or there is a delay. There is a 10 waiting period that is instituted after every court decision. She will stay in the baby home until that wait period is other. She will be there with the people she knows the best and with her little friends. I am not sad that she has to be there during that time (Okay a little sad). I am sad because I will not be able to visit with her because of how remote the region is. So this is where I have an option to come home or to stay. If I stay I will be in an area where there is very little for me to do for almost 2 weeks. I had thought about a vacation to somewhere else in Europe because I do love to travel in Europe but then a couple of things started to get me thinking. If I stay I will use PTO time, spend money, nothing will be done at home and in all honesty the only place I will want to travel is to a very remote town in Russia. So I have made the decision to come home.
8. Trip # 3: I will travel back to pick her up FOREVER! From my estimates I should be heading back to Russia around August 10th and headed for home around August 16th or 17th. During this trip I must obtain her new birth certificate, passport and court decree for her adoption. I will also need to take her to the U.S. Embassy so that she can be examined and more paperwork can be prepared for her arrival home. She does not become a U.S. citizen until she touches ground here in the U.S. She will have both a Russian passport and a U.S. passport.

Some regions are starting a 4th trip. From my understanding this is to complete the birth certificate and passport application. I am a littl unclear about this because this is not my region but I think the third trip for these parents is to organize the passport stuff. Then the wait for the passport is a couple of weeks so most parents go home and come back on the 4th trip to pick up there baby.

I hope I have outlined this so that all can understand. I think I am going to tell "the family" to read this too so that they know what to expect. I should be home with her if there are no glitches around August 17, 2009