Week 24

Week 24: Adoption Process

1. Apply to Agency
2. Home Study
3. Gather Remaining Dossier Pages
These include:
a) Letter stating reason adopting from Ethiopia
b) Photos of applicants and home
c) Employment Letters
d) Medical Letters
e) Financial Statement
f) Birth Certificates
g) Marriage Certificate
h) Police Letters
i) Three signed references
j) Letter of Obligation for Post-adoption
k) Passort ID Pages
l) Qualification for Naturalization
m) Passport Photos
4. USCIS (Immigration) approval to bring an orphan into the country (this includes fingerprinting and such.
5. Parenting and Adoption Education (this can be done simultaneously with aforementioned document-gathering)
6. State Certification (Once you have all of the above documents, they must be certified in their state of origin)
7. National Certification
8. Certification at Ethiopian Embassy
9. On the Waiting List (currently wait times have been around 11-12 months.)
10. Get a referral.
11. Pass Court (usually about 3 months after referral)
12. Travel for visa appointment and pick up the baby! (A few weeks after court)
13. Come home and Live Happily Ever After.