1 of 3 down!

We had our first appointment (of three) with our homestudy agency and social worker yesterday. It went really well. We got a large checklist of documents to gather, and signed a bunch there in the office. Our next appointment is March 5th (less than a week!) and we need to turn in the majoirty of the paperwork then. Since I was a little pushy about getting the appointments on the books we are going to be in a bit of a paperwork crunch time over the next couple of days. Still, I would rather have a couple of jam-packed paperwork days than be waiting a month for our next appointment :). I am expecting an e-mail from my social worker before Wednesday's appointment with some possibilities for scheduling the final appointment. We have our medical check-ups today and will finish our taxes and autobiographies tonight. After that the next big piece of paperwork is the police clearance/fingerprints. Hopefully we will get a fingerprint appointment scheduled sometime in the next couple days. The title of "PAPERCHASING" for this stage in our adoption is so appropriate!

Dr.'s Appointments, CHECK

Well I guess technically we can't cross it off the list yet, but they are scheduled. Normally it takes me about 3 months to get an appointment with my Dr. and Brian doesn't really have one so I was worried about getting both of us on her books. I called today and they are squeezing us in Friday afternoon!! So, we will get the forms in Thursday's meeting and go with our notary to the Dr.'s on Friday. It can't get any faster than that! MORE PROGRESS!!

Lots of Certificates

We just ordered 2 copies of each of our birth certificates. Both our homestudy and adoption agency will be needing copies. Brian will be running another after work errand to the county clerks office to pick up a couple copies of our marriage certificate. We get to cross a couple more things off the list!

Congratulations!

Congratulations Ted & Tracie on the newest addition to their family. Brian and I have loved reading their blog the past few days as we are learning so much about Ethiopia and what our trip may be like!

Dossier Orientation Call

The phone call went well. I got some questions answered and now I can "bust-out" the rest of the list! Christy is very nice and I look forward to working with her more. I am afraid I may have scared her or impressed her I'm not sure which :). She would get to a section to explain it to me and I would say timidly, "Um, I already did that." At least she would laugh and say "Oh good." I am very motivated and secretly love paperwork - what a nerd, I know.

Dossier "Paperwork" Checklist

I thought a running checklist would be easier for everyone to visualize what we need to do and what we have completed so far. The red are the things we have completed in the last few days.

Statement Regarding Criminal Offenses - Brian
Statement Regarding Criminal Offenses - Autumn
Medical Self Report - Brian
Medical Self-Report - Autumn
Release of Information

Two Power of Attorney Forms
-County Certification
-State Certification
Statement of Reason for Adoption
Passport Photos
Photos of Family
Photos of Home
Letter of Employment - Brian
Letter of Employment - Autumn
Financial Statement
Birth Certificate - Brian
Birth Certificate - Autumn
Marriage Certificate
Medical Letter - Brian
Medical Letter - Autumn
Police Clearance - Brian
Police Clearance - Autumn
Two Letters of Reference
Obligation of Post Placement Reports

In addition to completing this paperwork, we need to have a completed home study. To have a completed home study we need to have our 3 appointments with the social worker and complete a bunch of paperwork (This will include duplicates to the list above like reference letters, medical reviews, police clearance, certified copies of certificates/licenses). We will get that paperwork list on the 28th!! We will then need to turn in our completed home study to the Immigration office and wait for our Favorable Determination Letter (FDL) - THEN WE GET A PLACE ON THE WAITING LIST!!

Homestudy Update 2

I just spoke with our social worker, Lori. We have our first interview on Thursday, February 28th. This will be about an hour long appointment where we will go over the paperwork we will need to complete for the homestudy. Our second appointment will be Wednesday, March 5th. On this appointment, Brian and I will have an hour and a half separate interviews. On the 28th we will schedule our third appointment which is the home inspection and should be the final appointment. After our final meeting Lori will need a few weeks to complete the report and then our homestudy will be done - I am hoping this might be by the end of March!