Paperwork, Paperwork and More Paperwork

The process for international adoption has been interesting - so far just full of paperwork. The beginning phase of the adoption process has been given the nickname “paperwork pregnancy”. Just so you know…it is a lot of work. When we first got the information from America World, we thought “this doesn’t look too bad”. It seemed simple looking at the required documents on the computer. Here are a few examples of the paperwork needed:

• Birth & marriage certificates - has to be issued within the last 5 years
• Fingerprinting – this was done at the police station
• Physical Exam - This has to be notarized which means bringing a certified person with you to the doctor’s office (Thanks Clint!)
• Criminal background checks
• Letters from your employer
• Letters of reference
• Financial statements
• Etc. Etc. Etc.

Slowly but surely we have been gathering all the necessary documents. The hard part is keeping it all straight. Because one person needs some documents, another person needs other documents and then some of those have to be combined. Confused yet? We sure were. For a few days we had all the documents lying on the kitchen counter in different piles. Every once in a while we would rearrange the documents, make a new pile and start another checklist. We finally decided, after talking with our social worker, that we should just complete each form and then email it her and our family coordinator with America World. So we fill it out, scan it and email it to both of them. Then they tell us what else we still have left to get to them and what we need to keep for our Dossier.

Definition: Dossier dos•si•er (dŏsˈē-āˌ, dôˈsē-āˌ)
A collection of papers giving detailed information about a particular person or subject. (from http://www.yourdictionary.com)

Our definition of dossier is: tell us everything about you plus some more information that you don’t even know about yourself yet. This has all been an interesting process and has brought up some great questions about what kind of parents we will be. We have already had some good discussion about parenting styles, discipline and how we can foster bonding/attachment with our child. Of coarse we still have a lot to learn!

Update: We have just completed our second meeting with our social worker. She will now work on typing up our home study while we complete dossier paperwork. We are hoping to be done and ready to send it all to immigration by beginning of October. Thank you for continued prayers!

A New Journey: international adoption

Over the past year or so we have been considering starting our family. Through many different joys and trials we believe that the Lord has led us to the point where we are beginning the process for international adoption. This is something that we have felt would eventually happen – we talked about this topic before we were even married! Since we both have had the privilege of traveling to several other countries we have seen and been touched by the incredible number of children who live as orphans in this world. It may surprise you that we are choosing to adopt our first child (it did us too!) but we know that God has great things in store as we follow His leading.

Over the past 6 years Megan has been to Africa twice and Jeremy has been once. We are both excited to be going again to Tanzania in three weeks. Those beautiful children have captured our hearts. When we decided to start the adoption process it was obvious to us that we would pursue a child from the land that we both have grown to love. On March 17th, 2010 we were accepted to the America World Adoption Agency. We will be adopting from Ethiopia.

Why Ethiopia? Why not!?!

There are many reasons why we chose Ethiopia. To name a few:

1. We meet the country requirements. Each country sets its own requirements for adopting couples. For example: net worth, length of marriage, and how old you are, etc.

2. Young children and infants are available. Since it is our first child we wanted to be able to experience as much of those first stages of life as possible.

3. The time it takes to process an adoption is shorter than most countries allowing us to bring home a younger child. Also, our stay in Ethiopia is only 7-10 days many countries require 2-6 weeks.

4. The children are well cared for in Ethiopian orphanages and are given thorough medical exams. America World only adopts through orphanages that make certain that the children are actually orphans – thus preventing child trafficking.

5. There are an estimated 5 million orphans in Ethiopia. Most often Ethiopian children become orphans because their parents have died or they cannot afford to care for them. These children are in desperate need of families!


So our hope is that this blog will serve in two ways….we want to keep a written record of this incredible journey and we want to include our friends and family in this process. This will allow those of you who live in other parts of the nation and world an opportunity to be a part of this crazy adventure. Thank you for those of you that have already poured out encouragement and love! We are so grateful.