[leastcmplicated]

It came in the mail today... so starts the paperchase

I do have a question though. One of the documents says "Send power of attorney and State Seal Page, notarized to the secretary of state"

What is the State Seal Page? its nothing that was included in the dossier documents. Thanks in advance!

[kidmd2b]

That is great that you can start on your dossier now. I am not exactly sure what the wording means, but I can tell you what we had to do for our certifications. I don't know if it is the same though or if it will help you. There were three documents we had to get certified. We had to get our homestudy certified and two power of attorneys. We could take those directly to the capital and in an hour have the sec of state paper attached (perhaps state seal page) or if it was too far to go to the capital, then we could run over to the county recorder of the notary on the three documents to get a county paper and then take it to a satellite office to get the sec of state paper. When you do it in person it only takes an hour and doesn't sit on a person's desk for two weeks and so we didn't mail it to the state office. So, I wonder if the state seal page is the page that they attach at the state office.
Cindy

[leastcmplicated]

thanks for the response you are correct, I have to go up to the capitol and get the state seal page which is seperate. So I'm thinking I will have the dossier sent back to the agency by Tuesday or Wednesday. I've gotten everything that I could notarized. Signed everything, got my latest 1040 notarized, notarized birth cert. Sent off fedex overnight to the Apostille and Certificate office for the Sec of State in WA, stopped by the doctors and dropped off the med clearence for him to sign, wrote the family letter got the proof the I600A has been sent, I already had a notarized copy of the HS so thats done. Just have the Bank Statement, Police Clearance and my Sec of State seal to do and I'm done! oh, and I have to get 2 passport photos, going tomorrow on lunch to do that, going to the police clearance tomorrow as well. I'm so excited, but confused at the same time.

[kidmd2b]

Sounds like you are right on track. Isn't it crazy how you rush and rush and then after you're done, it will be wait and wait and wait.
Good luck in the rest of your paperchase. I hope that you get that dossier in as soon as possible.
Cindy

[JenC]

How the heck are you getting your dossier done so fast?? I've had ours for almost a month and I'm still plugging away at it.....but we have to have our 171 as a part of it, so I've got plenty of time.

[leastcmplicated]

Most of the stuff was pretty easy. Only have the hard stuff left lol, I dropped the medical clearance off at the docs this morning. Going to get the Police clearance tomorrow, and passport photos at lunch. Then Saturday I'm going to the bank to get the bank statement. Everyone says that is the hardest so i'm hoping to just be lucky and going to get a reference then Monday i'm going to the Capitol to get the state seal and power of attorney. If everything goes right I'll be sending it off on Tuesday

[kidmd2b]

It is true that some banks are crazy. It is good that you are going into the bank, if you call, they usually give you the run around. Our bank (WAMU) didn't want to do what we needed them to, but we finally got them to write a one liner on their letterhead that said:

XXX are customers of our banks.
Sincerely,
xxxxxx
(with signature)

I was worried, but our agency accepted it with no problem.
Good luck with the bank,
Cindy

[leastcmplicated]

wow! you're lucky that the agency accepted it. On the sample my agency sent it wants total deposits for the year and balance.

[kidmd2b]

That is really funny how agencies differ. Ours told us not to include account numbers and balances and if they were included to black them out. Of course, we had to give them statements and stuff for the homestudy, but they didn't want much info on the dossier letter.
Good luck to you,
Cindy

[leastcmplicated]

lucky! They dont want an account number, just the balance.

In other news, the only things I have left to do is

1. bank statement
2. passport photos
3. go to the capitol for the state seal page

I'm gunna knock 1 out tomorrow and 2 and 3 out on Monday! So excited!!

[JenC]

Our dossiers are all so different! Here's what mine requires:
Letter to the orphanage
3 page family registration form
financial information page (basically a net worth worsheet)
letter from bank (no problem at all with us!)
criminal clearance
2 reference letters
letter from employer
medical form
certified marriage certificate
certified birth certificates
Introduction letter - to the gov't (our passport numbers are a required part of this)
home study report and license
post placement agreement
deed to house
POA
171H
Passport pics
family pics

[leastcmplicated]

thats basically what I needed except the deed, 3 page family registration form and letter to the orphanage. here is what mine required (assume everything needs to be notarized)

Homestudy (already had two notarized copies)
Birth Certificate (Dear father got those for me since he still lives in the state i was born in)
police clearance
medical statement
bank statement (not an actualy statement, but a note from the bank saying the balance and how much has been deposited over the past yr)
2005 1040
employment verification
letter to the ethiopian govt.
power of attorney x2
power of attorney w/ state seal
proof I600A was sent and what date it was sent on
post placement agreement
8 passport photos
fee disclosure
statement of understanding
invoice (booooo lol)
cover document sent to WA secretary of state (with return envelope)
2 references

I actually just got back from dinner with my other reference, so that is done!

JenC, how are you doing on the dossier?

[JenC]

It's coming along ok. At least the to do list is shorter than the done list. Yet to do - letter to orphanage, criminal clearance (tomorrow), birth certificates (in the mail), intro letter to the gov't, and the 171 - but I was just able to send in the 600A a week ago because we had to have the homestudy done first. Oh, and passports - I hope to talk DH into getting pics done tomorrow so we can mail them off on Mon or Tue...or when we get the cert. birth certificates. What sucks is the holdup is the 171 and the passports - we have to include our passport numbers in the dossier.

I wanted it done by Christmas, I just don't think it's going to happen.

[marista99]

Here's a dossier question from a newbie:

I have basically decided that I am going to adopt from Ethiopia. However it will be about a year before I can begin my home study, due to my current employment situation mainly (I'm a full time student for a the next few months still, so I need to wait till I'm employed).

So I'm wondering, what documents for my dossier could I be getting together now? Like, I could order copies of my birth certificate now, it won't matter when I get them. What else could do I where the date will be unimportant?

I'm so anxious to get started...someone give me something to DO! hehe....

[leastcmplicated]

well yea your birth cert., marriage cert if you are married, you can possibly get reference letters from 5 friends (for the home study), passport photos...hmmm not much else i can think of. Have you chosen a HS agency and adoption agency? that should keep you busy for a while.