At the beginning of this adoption process, I was almost overwhelmed with the paperwork that we had to gather, both for the home study and the dossier.
At this point in time, we have completed our home study - it was actually finished mid December, but here were a few changes that needed to be made, and then with the holidays we were delayed even more.
It was finally sent to USCIS (the governmental agency that will, hopefully, approve us for adoption) yesterday, January 18th. Once it arrives there, they have up to 75 days to approve us - I am hoping they will be a lot quicker than that, but I am prepared for the full 75 days so as to avoid disappointment !
Once they have approved us, we can then be submitted to the appropriate authorities in Sealey's country, who will go over our dossier with a fine toothcomb, and hopefully invite us over to an appointment at their adoption office, which is where we will see Sealey's file, and tell them that's who we want to adopt.
In his country, you cannot be pre-approved for a particular child, so there's always a chance someone could walk in the day before us and want to adopt him - but the chances of that happening are pretty slim, given his age and disabilities.
I currently have most of our dossier paperwork in hand, which will have to be sent to the state to be apostilled before sending to his country.
So - all the documents that have been notarized in South Dakota will get an apostille from the Secretary of State of South Dakota ($25 per document).
Our homestudy and accompanying documents were notarized in Nebraska, so I will send them to the Secretary of State in Nebraska ($10 per document).
FBI clearances will be sent to Washington DC.
Thankfully we have help in getting all 52 of the dossier documents done correctly - I scan and e-mail EVERY notarized document to Nancy, of HHA (Hand of Help in Adoption) - she makes sure everything is correct before being sent off to be apostilled - without her, I would be lost !!!
So - here we are - once I have sent all of the documents to be apostilled, we get to wait for someone in a government job to give us the rubber stamp to go ahead to the next step. Then we get to wait some more !
In the mean time, I do have time to fund raise a little to help offset the adoption costs. Have you seen our puzzle fundraiser yet ?
Check it out HERE - for just $10 YOU can get YOUR name on a piece of Sealey's puzzle !! We have sold 173 puzzle pieces so far - THANK YOU !!
If you would like to donate to our adoption grant at Reece's Rainbow (this is tax deductible), please go HERE.
You can also donate directly to my Paypal account HERE.
We are SO excited to be adopting Sealey, and just cannot wait to bring him home and call him son !!!
If YOU are interested in adoption, please head to Reece's Rainbow, where you will find hundreds of children who are in desperate need of a family !!!
