Friday, January 16, 2009

What, how and when?

I've gotten a lot of questions about the process - and while we're at the very beginning, I'll do my best to explain it relatively simply via a list below. (A year or so from now I'll be able to tell you more, and this shouldn't be considered an exhaustive list because it by no means is!) And of course the second question is "how long until you bring your baby home?" That one, I can't answer at all. I wish I could. So - here it goes, it's fairly dry:

  1. Submit the pre application (short questionnaire/form and payment)
  2. Meet with agency
  3. Submit the formal application (background checks, fingerprints, physical, various questionnaires, proof of job, proof of income, financial statements, personal autobiography, family histories, disclosures, pictures, tax forms, and more...)
  4. Complete home assessment (detailed written report of family & home, 3-6 month process)
  5. Complete required parent/adoption training
  6. Collect dossier materials (about 30 documents, passports, marriage & birth certificates, property details, and much more...)
  7. Notarize dossier documents
  8. Complete 1-600
  9. Send dossier to Nepal
  10. Child assigned (woo hoo!)
  11. Processing of child in Nepal
  12. Passport assigned to child
  13. Parents travel to Nepal
  14. 1-600 filed, US Visa applied for
  15. Family and child travel home!
  16. Post adoption court validation/name change
  17. Post-placement reports

No comments: