1. File initial application with agency.
2. Begin chasing all the papers -- original birth certificates, marriage license, statements from banks, references from friends, verification of employment, letters from doctor stating that we are healthy, criminal clearances from police department, proof of medical insurance, past years' tax returns, as well as documents that we will need in Ethiopia, such as an adoption petition to the government and post-adoption agreements.
3. Everything must be notarized.
4. Have a homestudy done. This is the part where a social worker does a VERY thorough background investigation, interviews us, and visits our home.
5. All notarized documents must be sent to the Secretary of State to be certified in the state in which they were notarized in the first place.
6. All documents go to our agency, International Adoption Net, in Colorado for approval.
7. Once approved, the documents, now called our "Dossier", are sent to Washington, D.C. to be authenticated.
8. The dossier is sent back to Colorado for one last triple checking of contents and to make sure there are no errors or typos.
9. The dossier is sent to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where it will be translated into Amharic and sent to the Ministry of Women's Affairs (MOWA), the agency in Ethiopia that oversees all adoptions.
10. We are placed on the waiting list! (This is where we are now). While waiting, we must complete 10 hours each of parent training that covers a myriad of international adoption issues. We also submit a form to U.S. Immigration called an I600A, which is a petition to adopt an orphan. We are fingerprinted and background checked yet again, and approved by the U.S. to become adoptive parents.
11. The phone will ring with our coordinator telling us of our referral for our son! We take all the information that we are given -- photos, medical history, social history, and any background information -- to a local pediatrician who specializes in International Adoption Medicine (yes, there is such a thing!) for an opinion of his overall health and any problems to be on the lookout for.
12. We make the decision to accept the referral or not. Assuming we accept it....
13. We wait until we are assigned a court date. The time frame can vary for this, but the average wait to get one assigned is about 2 months. Then we wait for the court date to come.
14. Ethiopia requires that the child be proved to be an orphan, so any documents such as death certificates must be presented in court. If not, we do not "pass court" and wait for another court date. If the child has been relinquished, a birth relative must show up to court to testify as such, and that they are placing the child up for adoption. If this person does not show up, we do not pass court and must wait for another court date. Michael and I do not appear in court at this time. We have a facilitator in Addis who does this for us. Here's the wrinkle -- the courts in Addis Ababa close completely for the rainy season, which is August & September, and sometimes part of July. If we get a court date before that, great. If not, we wait until the fall. Ouch.
15. When we pass court (it is not uncommon to have 2 or 3 court dates before a family passes court), he is officially our son! Families usually travel 3 to 4 weeks after passing court to go get their children.
16. We arrive in Addis Ababa and meet our son! We are there for 7 to 10 days, during which time we have to attend medical appointments in order for our new son to get a visa to travel home. We also have to appear at the embassy in Addis as a family.
17. Ethiopia asks that adoptive families not travel within the country with their new child. Ethiopians are a very proud and nationalistic people, and it is difficult for some to see their country's children "exported". So, while in country, families usually hang out at the orphanage, getting to know their new child with the help of a translator, and play with the other kids there. Also, most adoptive parents have made online "friends" with other adoptive parents. Even though we have never met, we root each other on through this difficult process and celebrate each other's progress, as well as weather the downturns. It is not unheard of for medically fragile children to die before their new parents can bring them home. Others have their adoptions fall through for other reasons. We consider each other extended family. Most traveling parents bring gifts for other parents' kids who are still waiting. Some bring much needed supplies like formula. We take pictures of the kids still waiting to pass on to their parents who are at home waiting on ANY information about their kids.
18. We come home!! 3 post placement visits by our social worker are required -- at 3 months home, six months, and 1 year. The Ethiopian government gets these reports, and we are also required to send photos of our adopted son in his new family back to the government. They really do care about their nation's children, which is wonderful to see.
So, that's it in a long nutshell. Our agency quotes approximately 12-18 months from submission of our dossier to adoption completion. It's an amazing amount of work, but I haven't heard of one adoptive family who regrets one moment!
A note about donations: When we travel, we will be taking donations to the orphanage there. While our orphanage, called Sele Enat, is a nice orphanage, it is still lacking in some very basics. Some of these kids don't know how to play with toys because they don't have any. Most have never had any clothes to call their own. The older girls there are desperately in need of clothing, and adore accessories like hair clips, lip gloss, etc. The orphanage needs things like crib sheets, waterproof mattress pads, plastic diaper covers (when they don't have them, they tie plastic trash bags around the babies!), crayons, school supplies, formula, personal hygiene items, etc. Pretty much anything that you think is a normal staple of your home, they are in need of. I will be collecting donations from any of you who wish to send them with us when we travel. If you prefer (and want to donate), you can give us cash and we'll do the shopping for you. Any donations will be SO appreciated, so please consider contributing! :-)
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