More on the adoption process

We have had lots of questions about our adoption process so we thought a FAQ post was in order.

What does the homestudy entail?

We actually thought the homestudy process was a lot of fun. We had a list of about 30 questions that we each had to answer about our past, our family, our relationship, and our thoughts about parenting. We were then assigned a social worker who met with us at our home on 4 seperate occassions. Her job was to make sure we were fit to be parents. During the sessions we went through the questions that we had prepared, she inspected our house, and we talked about what it would be like to be parents through adoption. After the meetings, she compiled a document known as our "homestudy" that detailed our complete history and ability to be parents.

What is a dossier? (pronounced “doss-e-A”)

A dossier is a collection of papers containing very detailed information about someone. Most countries open to international adoption require prospective adoptive parents to compile a dossier. Compiling a dossier involves gathering documents, having these documents notarized, and then adding various seals from your county, your state, and the U.S. government. NO stone is left uncovered in a dossier. It is really pretty amazing. Our dossier included information about us, our parents, and our siblings, our plans for raising a child, bank statements, pictures of our house, multiple sets of fingerprints, our homestudy, letters from our doctors, employers, and friends, and the list goes on. It took us 4 months to compile our dossier!!

What comes next?
We have completed and sent off our dossier, and now we are waiting for a referral. We have a preference for a child (male or female) 0-2 years or siblings 0-3 years. We expect to receive our referral in the next 10-14 months. Receiving our referral means finding out which specific child God has picked out for us. At that time we also receive a history of the child and a picture. After we accept the referral it will be 2-4 additional months before travel to Ethiopia and the adoption is finalized!