July Update

Each month we have a conference call with our case worker, Beth. We look forward to these calls because it gives us a chance to ask questions (and trust me, we like to ask alot of questions). Right now we are waiting for our immigration approval which should hopefully come within the next couple of weeks. Once we get that our dossier will be complete and our case worker will send it to the Gladney office in Colombia where it will be translated and legalized. Gladney works with 3 casa privadas (private orphanages) in 3 different regions... Cali, Medellin and Bogota. Our home study has already been submitted to Chiquitines, which is a casa in Cali but our home study will also be submitted to the other 2 casas. If any of the 3 casas has a child that matches what we are approved for (a boy or girl between the ages of 0-2), they will ask for our dossier and decide whether or not to refer the child to us. The matching process is rather complicated so I'm still not 100% sure how it works. Our agency has told us we will be their first family requesting an infant this year so we're not quite sure what to expect for a wait... it could be a couple weeks or it could take a year. I know it will be hard to wait but it's also exciting to know that some day (maybe soon), we will get "the" call that will (once again) change our lives forever!

What is a dossier?

A dossier is a term used in international adoption meaning the set of required adoption papers and it includes the following documents:

• Copies of each spouse's passport
• At least 10 photographs including pictures of our family, home and extended family members
• Certified birth certificates
• Certified copy of marriage certificate
• Statements of good health from our physician
• FBI criminal clearances
• Name change verification
• Home study
• Psychological evaluation
• Pre-approval document issued by USCIS (Immigration Form I-179C)

The majority of the documents need to be notarized and apostilled. The purpose of the apostille is to authenticate the documents for international use and it is obtained by sending the notarized/certified documents to the Secretary of State. Colombia's dossier requirements are very similar to Guatemala's (with the exception of the psychological evaluation) so it seemed a little less stressful this time around although I have to admit there were a few times when I wanted to pull my hair out...