Jeff: Paperwork

Paperwork – what can I say about paperwork? Our first glimpse was the arrival of the home study packet and all of its myriad of documents. Talk about growing up. Talk about your relationship with your mother, your father, your siblings, the family dog. Your wife, your own kids.

Let's see: Home study:
• A check!
• application
• fee agreement
• arrest information (gads, it's hard not to make a joke here)
• personal history form for both of us (how were you raised? how did your parents discipline you? remember all that stuff? Me neither)
• Signed releases of information
• Certification of Identification - each applicant
• photocopy of marriage certificate
• copies of divorce decrees (I was married previously - Sue once described me as her "first husband". OK - so it was at a school reunion where lots of people were introducing their second or third spouses. Say - why do they do that? Does their place in line really matter?)
• Financial information
• Guardianship form (You know who you want to care for your kids already, right?)
• Signature page of Discipline Philosophy and Policy (should you ever hit your kids? Easy answer for me - I never really believed in corporal punishment)
• Education ageement
• Receipt of complaint resolution procedure
• Lifescan - first and second set of fingerprints - both parents, local and FBI prints
• Employment report - first version (see Dossier)
• Medical reports - both parents and all children in the house (Connor is 16)
• School reports

USCIS
• Yup - another check!
• CIS cover sheet
• I-600A
• copies of birth certificates for both parents
• copy of marriage certificate
• copy of divorce decrees
• third set of fingerprints
• copy of health care insurance card and proof that the adopted child will be covered

Ukrainian Dossier (all documents notarized or certified, then appostilled!)
• Two marriage certificates
• the original home study
• copy of the home study agency license
• copy of the social worker's license
• copy of the I171H from USCIS
• Employment letter (very specific wording - more later)
• Medical reports for both parents (oh, yeah - different requirements than what is required for home study - make sure you get all the tests when you go see the doctor)
• copies of the doctor's license (Sue and I used different doctors - two of these forms)
• Yup - more fingerprints (four): required for state police clearance report for both parents
• application to adopt
• Known child (Nastiya!) to adopt
• Limited power of attorney (4)
• Proof of residence (quick - how many combined square feet of your bedrooms?)
• copies of passports - both parents (Are your passports good for 6 months past your court date in Ukraine? dang, I wish I had a color printer!)
• Parental responsibility registration form - two copies (I promise I'll send update letters to Ukraine until Nastiya turns 18)
• Current family photo album

Got three people who will take the time to answer a questionnaire about you, your marriage, and your ability and desire to parent? Good – you’re gonna need ‘em!

Say – when was the last time you got a physical? Well, there are two different forms to fill out around that – one for the home study and one for the dossier for Ukraine. And they have different requirements – STD tests included for the dossier. Did I mention the one for Ukraine has to be notarized? Oh – and you need another form filled out with a copy of the doctor’s license, also notarized. Now, you know how hard it is to get standard stuff done through our medical system, right? Try going in and showing them a form with a very specific format that needs to be copied on to their letterhead, then filled out, signed by the doctor, and of course notarized – all at the doctor’s office of course, because you have to notarize the doctor’s signature. Sue and I use separate primary physicians, so we had two totally different experiences. The assistants at Sue’s doctor’s office had apparently never used a notary, so they thought they could just have the doctor sign the form and they could give it to us. It took quite a bit to say, “no – the doctor has to sign it in front of the notary!” I have to say – once I got to talk to the right assisting nurse at my doctor’s office, I did get the documents back – signed, sealed and delivered, almost easily. Getting to that person was a bit of a challenge – the people who answer the phone kept thinking I just needed a physical with a signature – but once I got there, it was almost anticlimactic.

Now, of course you need a lawyer or CPA or some such to sign a letter of residence – proving that you have a place for the child to live. Got kids? You’ll need to get to someone at the school that can give a report on your current children. Hats off to Sue on that one – she knew exactly who to call and had a terrific write-up in two days.

Marriage certificates – two certified originals, recent. Copies for home study. Oh – we haven’t even started on the apostille process yet. Once the forms are notarized or certified, the state must “apostille” the documents – stating that the notary or the certification was done by a valid, licensed person or agency.

Marriage certificates. I ordered two from New Jersey – we were married in Princeton. I then looked online and found the process for the apostille in NJ. The office charges $25 per apostille, plus $15 for expedite service (8 business hour turn-around – otherwise 2-3 weeks). However, if the documents are for adoption, the charge is only $5 plus the expedite fee. $20 each, $40 total for the two licenses to be apostilled, right? Off go the two certificates and a check and a letter in a Fedex. I thought I would get the documents fedexed back to me – expedite fee, right? Nope – I received the certificates a week later regular mail. Guess what? Somebody didn’t read the letter stating this was for adoption. They charged me the $25 normal fee plus the $15 fee - $40 total. And I got both licenses back, but only one apostilled! Argh! No reason to take a chance – back goes the other one for apostille – with a $40 check, and a return FedEx envelope in the FedEx envelope I send to NJ. Three day turn around and an extra $40 bucks, but I’m done!

Current certified birth certificates, parents and any children. Previous marriage? Certified copy of the divorce decree. This one was fun for me. I was divorced in San Diego. So I dutifully went to San Diego to get copies. Before I went, I found the coolest website that actually told me which office held my documents - Family Court Building, Clerk's Office. So I went there and waited in line with everybody else until the building opened. I went through security. Do you believe it - the officer there had to "wand" me, She told me my socks didn't match. I fell for it and actually looked - she got me!

Anyway, then I had to go down the hall, up a set of stairs, down two more sets of stairs, and wait another half hour until the clerk's office opened. So I'm second in line for that office, and of course the first thing they tell me is that I'm in the wrong office - it's the records office down the hall. Off I go, thinking "oh, great - another line". It wasn't bad however - I was up in about five minutes. Easy peasey - except of course the online website that told me where to find my documents was wrong. Turns out they were in the courthouse about 3 miles away. OK - off to the courthouse: now the parking ois all full - I have to pay an all-day rate - $20 - to go into the courthouse to get my file. I go in and find the records office - after being rushed to the side of the hall as the sheriff's officers rushed a prisoner past me. The good news is I'm the only one there. The room is enormous - remember that scene from Indiana Jones? But I explained what I was looking for, and the clerk had the certified copies to me in about 20 minutes. All in all, not as bad as I thought it would be. I'll tell you what, though - you do not want to be in the family court building. Just walking through there and seeing all the tears was really tough.

I have to say the part of this entire process that I had been dreading most was the home study interview. The county we worked with during foster-adopt training made it sound like we would be having a grilling by an ex-military interrogator who was looking for any little thing we did wrong. Our experience could not have been more the opposite - our social worker was delightful. We had so much fun having a conversation that I don't think we ever realized it was an interview! God Bless that masked social worker!

Step one - we got everything to the home study folks as fast as we could. We received the home study package on July 2nd. First set of fingerprints was July 3rd.

Step two - get everything except the home study done and sent to USCIS. Stress over the I-134 - until I find out it's no longer required I can't remember exactly when I finished this part, but it was well before the home study was done.

Step three - home study sent to USCIS, also one copy apostilled and sent to Ukraine. August 19 and 20 respectively.

Step four - apostille everything: David introduced me to A Notary on Wheels: Debra was awesome. I sent everything to her for apostilled and had it all back two days later. The only document I was missing was the I171H, but the process there was to add a jurat to the document saying it was a copy of the original. This allowed me to get this step completed prior to receiving the I171H. Overall, this save one or two days in FedEx time: if I waited, I would FedEx the entire package to Sacramento, then Debra would have had the entire package apostilled (24 documents - this can take up to two days), and then she would have FedEx'ed the entire package to Ukraine. Because I had all of the documents done ahead of time, all I needed to do was to staple the I171H to the jurat, and I could then FedEx directly to Ukraine! Nastiya is on the registry prior to the soonest date we can possibly get there, so I want to shave every day possible off the process!

Step five - entire dossier sent to Ukraine, but I need the I171H first! We finally receive the I171H on September 10th. Because of what I had done with the apostille, the package hit the truck on same afternoon. FedEx has a wonderful tracking system. I tracked the package to Oakland, then Atlanta, then Paris, the overland to Kyiv, with delivery occiring on September 14th. Absolutely amazing.

Paperwork over - until we get to Ukraine:-) Now comes the next wait - when can we go?!?!