Dossier Sent!

After five long months, we have finally sent our dossier to Albania for review/approval!

The international adoption process comes in various phases.  The first phase is the home study.  We completed that January - June of this year.

The second phase is the dossier.  The dossier is a collection of documents that proves who you are and what you said in the home study.  They all have to be official documents, certified within the past six months.  Most of the documents have to be notarized and apostilled.  Most people (including the attorneys I work with) have never even heard of an apostille.  The notary certifies that the signature is yours.  The apostille certifies that the notary is certified to notarize.  Apostilles are generally only used for Hague country adoptions.  Apostilles have to be done in the state in which the document originates.  For example, I was born in Ohio, so I had to have my birth certificate apostilled by the Secretary of State in Columbus, Ohio.

Because we had to get documents from out of state and also because of my name change, the process for compiling all of these certified, notarized, apostilled documents took quite awhile.  We were notified of the home study approval in June.  As soon as we were notified, I ordered the documents. My name change caused some major confusion for the company that we used to order the documents.

• Georgia couldn't locate our marriage certificate because they were looking for an Elizabeth as a first name (my first name was Janet back then).  
• North Carolina sent the incorrect divorce certificate, because, again, they were looking for an Elizabeth.  

When we finally thought we had everything, the apostille office wouldn't apostille the copy of our property deed because it wasn't an official, signed, sealed version.  So Rob spent some time driving back and forth getting all the last-minute paperwork completed.

But it's finally sent!

So what happens next?  The Albanian office of Bethany will have all of our documents translated into Albanian.  This will take about a month.  After that, it is submitted to the Albanian Adoption Committee for review.  The Albanian Adoption Committee then matches our dossier with waiting children and decides whether or not to give us a referral.  They have cautioned us that the waiting period for a referral can be up to 2-3 years.

So now, it's a waiting game.  We don't even expect to receive a referral before end of January at the very earliest, as the translation process takes that long.  And it could be up to 3 years, as they said.

Be praying for patience as we wait.  Pray for wisdom for the Albanian Adoption Committee as they review our dossier and match us with a child.  Only God knows what child is the right one for our family.