[Cindy T]

Hi all,

We are just about ready to start the whole certification and authentication portion of the dossier. I just wanted to hear what advice you can give me to make sure that all the I's are dotted and T's are crossed to get this thing moving.

My DH is going to handle walking our paperwork through to all the different counties involved to get their certification. I thought it might just be a good idea to first call the State of Ohio and get a list of all the items that the county needs to do first, to make sure that they do it right so we don't have trouble at the State level. Your thoughts?

This month is a bit emotional for me as it's been one year since our miscarriage. It would mean a lot to me to be able to have our dossier turned in this month. I kind of think it will be a little light at the end of the tunnel so to speak and be a better memory for us than last year this time. I know it sounds corny.


We plan on driving down to the State Office and personally walking our authentication through. I just don't think I could handle them telling me we are missing one thing or another. I think a major meltdown would occur and I'm afraid I'd be emailing you from either the loony bin or jail. Ha! ha!

Looking forward to your advice.

Thanks!

[Jashun]

Hi Cindy,
A great source of help to you should come from your placement agency. Ohio is a very strict state regarding how your paperwork should be handled. You'll need to bring your documents to the secretary of state to be certified and then sent to Chicago to be authenticated (this is a new change ~ Ohio documents are to be sent to Chicago, not to Wash DC & this is GREAT news because Chicago is very efficient). If your birth and marriage certificates are from other states, check with your agency as to where they will need to be sent. Good luck! jashun

[Leezamarie]

I agree. The Chicago office is GREAT to work with. We live in Wisconsin and I had a one day turn around time from the time I submitted the documents, to the point that they forwarded them to our agency.

Best of luck to you.

[Cindy T]

Hmmmm I think I'm confused (I've already emailed our agency and am waiting for a reply).

Here's how I thought the process worked:

* All Dossier items need to be notarized
* All items that are notarized need to be sent to the county that the respective notary is registered in for certification
*All Dossier items then need to be authenticated at the State level.

I guess I thought that was it...now there's this Chicago piece thrown in too?? Ughhhhh

[Alex's mom]

Cindy--Check with you agency first and foremost, but this is our second Guatemalan adoption and this is what we have been told to do and have done (we live in Minnesota):
1. all documents need to be notarized (except birth and marriage cert?)
2. Then each document needs to be certified by the secretary of state in the state where the document was notarized.
3. Then all documents need to be authenticated by the Guatemalan Consulate in your region.

I don't know anything about the county thing-but then again, things could be different in Ohio. Your agency should be giving you a list of everything you need to do. Is your agency located in Ohio or elsewhere??
Good luck and God Bless!

Amy

[SMS]

I have heard both ways:

Documents notarized

Then sent on to the county clerk of the county of the notary's registration and I have heard that some send them to the Secy of State.

Then on to the Guatemalan consulate.

[mommytobe]

Cindy,

I believe we've talked before, but, I live in OH and to certify our documents I just took them to the county courthouse where the notary has the authority to notarize. They were able to certify the documents. All they do is verify that the notary is in fact a notary. This only takes a few minutes and costs about $1 - $2 per document. I had to go to the Cleveland, Elyria, and Sandusky courthouses to certify my documents. Just make sure you know what counties the notaries are from before making your trip!! It'll save you time.....even better if all documents have been notarized by the same individual!! Good luck!! It really was not a big deal, it just took a day of driving around northeast Ohio

Tara
waiting for Jewell & Dario
born Aug 2 & 3,2002
entered PGN January 24, 2003

[Cindy T]

Ok, just heard back from our agency...I did understand after all!

Our agency is located here in Ohio, and in Ohio all docs must first be notarized, then certified at the county level, then authenticated at the state level. Apparently this last piece (Guatemalen Consulate--Chicago) was not something I was aware of as the agency handles getting this taken care of for us.

So it looks like I am, in fact, on the right track. Thanks everyone for clarifying! You guys are the best!

[DMDes]

My DH and I took our paperwork to be notarized and we also drove to the State Seal's office to get the Great Seal, but our agency had everything authenticated, we just had to pay for it.

I think the authentication is done somewhere in Chicago.

[Onesimus]

A few more thoughts on the Authentication / Certification / Apostille process:

1. Make sure that your notary's commission does not expire any time soon. If your notary notarizes a document in February, but his/her commission expires in April and you send your documents to the state capital in May, they will reject that particular document.

2. Always CALL the state office where you need to send your documents for authentication. Verify the exact mailing address. Inquire as to weather expedited shipping is available. Don;t be shy about driving the documents to the capital yourself!

3. It might be worth it to you, even if you are not in a rush, to pay for expedited shipping to ensure that your document, which you spent SO much time amassing, are returned via a carrier that your can track (i.e. not the US Post). Send your documents to the capital via Certified Mail.

4. Don't delay on Federal apostilles. If you have something like a DS-1350, send it in early for an authentication.