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A DOSSIER IS….

Almost every country that has intercountry adoption has a dossier requirement – Korea did not but they are an exception to the rule. What does the word dossier mean? The WorldNet Dictionary describes a dossier as “a collection of papers containing detailed information about a particular person or subject (usually a person’s record).” When referring to an adoption, the dossier is the compilation of required documents you will need to gather for the country you are hoping to adopt from.

The usual required documents for the dossier are (but these can change by country):
(1) Marriage Certificate, recently issued and certified
(2) Divorce Decrees (for Aaron), recently issued and certified
(3) Certified Criminal Records Check that is less than 5 months old (This is a letter from our local police saying that we have no record)
(4) A medical certificate from our doctor saying that we are healthy and can parent
(5) Certificate of Employment from each of our employers
(6) A completed copy of our home study
(7) Copies of the first page of each of our passports
(8) Form I-171H from the USCIS which we both have to sign
(9) Six pictures of us and family – oh yeah NONE of the pets (in many countries they eat animals we keep as pets as a delicacy – Aaron would die if someone ate our pets — me too probably)
(10) A cover page for the whole thing talking about where we live and information on the child we would like to adopt
(11) Application for adoption of a child and finally last but not least
(15) A signed commitment that we will give periodical updates on the adopted children until the children turn 18

ALL of the documents in 1 through 8 have to be state certified, some have to be county certified and all have to be embassy certified. Oh yeah did I forget to mention they all also have to be translated in the language required by that country. So once again, soon we will start yet another paper chase….