[MomtoJABE]

I am jumping over from the Guatemala board and posting for a friend who adopted a little girl from Russia a few years ago. They are getting ready to file her papers for re-adoption here in the US and were wondering if they had to have an attorney file the papers for them.

They visited her before the adoption was completed. Our adoption was from Guatemala and we visited as well as our son came home on an IR3 Visa so we only have to file the paperwork to get a new US birth certificate. We do not have to have an attorney do this for us.

Is it the same for Russia? They don't want to spend another $500-$600 for an attorney if it isn't absolutely necessary.

Thanks for your help.

[bmarsicano]

I just readopted my daughter adopted from Russia in 2006. I just called my county court and got all the paperwork and did it myself. The forms are not hard at all. In fact, I just received her birth certificate last week. She can pm me with questions.

[DPline]

It depends the state, and sometimes even the county. In some states/counties it is very simple and in others they make it difficult or impossible if you do not use an attorney.

It can also depend on whether they really want to readopt and get a US adoption decree, or just a state issued BC. Some states require readoption to get a state BC and in others you can get it without readopting.

So my long, involved answer basically comes down to it varies by state (and sometimes counties add their own rules too.) It will be the same as for a Guat IR3 visa though no matter what state and county she is in.

She absolutely needs to get state and county specific information to get an accurate answer.

[cindyc]

Yes, I highly recommend re-adoption and using an attorney to do it. There is certain legalese language (and a lot of it) that has to go in those petitions. I'm a lawyer myself, but I wouldn't have dared tried to come up with a re-adoption petition myself.

As for re-adoption itself, it will make things easier stateside. I just signed my son up for kindergarten, and it sure was nice to pull out a copy of my state's certificate of foreign birth instead of a bunch of papers in Cyrillic!

[MomtoJABE]

Thank you so much. She isn't on a.com but I am trying to encourage her to join. I will pass this on asap and hopefully it will help her tremendously.

Thanks again.

[kretzklan]

Many states don't require re-adoption to get a US birth certificate. Since Russian adoptees enter the US on an IR4...there is a difference from your process. Russian kiddos get their CoC automatically. We did file for 'recognition of a foreign adoption' which got us a birch certificate from our state - and we paid an agency to file on our behalf in a county that was much easier than ours!

[coachmom]

we did not need an attorney to do our re-adoption here in MD for our Guat re-adopt. We called the county agency and they set up everything for us..name change and birth cert.
I think it cost us 100.00.
Coachmom

[amyfk]

Hi Tammy

I hope you are well. We are trying to cut back in this recession and also because our health insurance goes up each year and I cannot find a job.
We adopted from Russia. From my understanding you don't need an atty. you can do it yourself. You go to the county surrogate's office and they will help you. I am in the process of doing the paperwork now.
I called the county surrogate(got the number from the library) and I went in and she explained the process to me and gave me a booklet of the paperwork and other stuff that was necessary to do a readoption. Im cutting it off piece by piece. The lady is very open to calls and helpful so I find it's working out so far.
I wish your friend the best,
Amy K, NJ

[Mailbox13]

This is really a state by state issue. In some states it is unnecessary. In other states, you simply request certain forms online or at the appropriate state/county office. In some states, you have to have an attorney.

We live in Georgia. With our son, we paid $1500 to $2000 to an attorney to do it. For our daughter, we have spent a lot of time trying to determine if we can do it ourselves. While the county people say we can, they refuse to tell us which forms to use. They state this would constitue legal advice that they are not allowed to give. So, it looks like in Georgia, you have to use an attorney.

[TweetyMom04]

We used an attorney and did both the Re-Adoptions at one time within a few months of being home.

We'd heard that the state can play the run-around game on supplying the right paperwork. Additionally taking their time to process the paperwork and send you the legal documents (Court Decree and Birth Certs) at their leisure. We weren't up for 'games' and opted to hire an attorney. Through the help of our agency's local representative, we were given a name. In the end, all was done, quickly, legally and correct. Once we received the paperwork, we then started with the US Passports and SSN's.