Dossier gathering

The dossier is, “A collection of papers giving detailed information about a particular person or subject.” It is from Old French meaning, “bundle of papers labeled on the back.” (Dictionary.com) Next time you are in a spelling bee, you’ll be set!

Once we receive a referral of a child and we accept that referral, our dossier is forwarded to the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (MOLSA) in Addis Ababa in conjunction with our child’s referral paperwork. MOLSA will issue their decision based on this paperwork and then our dossier is submitted to the Ethiopian court.

The dossier doesn’t need to be completed until we have accepted the referral of a child. Some of the pieces of the dossier can take a while to gather, so it makes sense for us to begin working on this paperwork sooner rather than later. Each country has different requirements for the dossier, but in Ethiopia this is what is required:

Currently in process of gathering
2 passport size photos of each of us
Certified birth certificates
Certified marriage certificate
2 letters of recommendation
Police clearance
Medical certificates from physician
Grant's employer letter
Anna's employer letter
Most recent income tax 1040
Bank letter

Children’s Home Society will take care of
Home Study report
Agency licenses

Immediately prior to submitting dossier we will need to gather
Our cover page to MOLSA
Power of attorney documents
Attestation and declaration of personal conditions (hmmm…not really sure what that means)
Certificate regarding post placement agreement

Anyone asleep yet?
- Anna

More decisions and moving forward

Last Wednesday (March 23rd) Grant and I met with the social worker assigned to us at our house for the second Adoption Study meeting. Perhaps I just wanted to prove Grant wrong, but I did not freak out about having our house super-clean for this visit!

The meeting went very well and, again, was pretty much what we expected. This time we talked quite a bit about how we are going to incorporate Ethiopian and other cultures into our lives. We talked about our finances, our spiritual faith and our strengths and weaknesses as a couple. We talked about planning for our child’s life in the event that we are to die while our child is still young. We even talked about searching for a pediatrician who is sensitive to our child’s needs as an African and as an adoptee. We will need to begin to do our research for a pediatrician soon, so please pray that we will be led to the right person.

The thing that has surprised us the most during this process is how quickly everything has moved forward. We knew the program was fast but, wow, this is moving so fast! Despite a few forms, we could basically receive a referral of a child in the next couple of weeks. Since we are very open to receiving a referral of infant twins, we are going to move forward for the next month or so with the requested profile of healthy infant twins under the age of one year. This will force the process to slow down since the likelihood is not very great of getting a referral of infant twins in the next month. (Although, if we did, we would gladly drop everything to travel sooner than planned.) If we have not received a referral for twins after a month or so, we will switch our request to a single infant and likely travel within a couple of months after that time.

Please continue to pray for the health and safety of our soon-to-be-baby. Also, please pray for us as we continue to prepare our hearts and our home.

Thanks again for being part of this journey with us!
Happy Easter – Anna

What's next?

Anna and I both had nice vacations last week and returned home safe and sound. The nursery is one step closer to completion as I installed the ceiling fan today. (I have to make a point when I do something since Anna has done the majority of the work on the nursery!)

On Wednesday morning, our social worker will be visiting our home for the second Adoption Study meeting. We anticipate this meeting will be a continuation of the first meeting we had at the agency a few weeks ago. The purpose of the social worker visiting our house is to make sure we have a suitable place for the baby. The purpose is not to make note of everything that could be a danger or to analyze how clean the house is. Hopefully Anna can keep this in mind over the next few days so she doesn’t get too stressed out.

We feel like we’ve made some progress in deciding what situations we will consider. Over the last few months, we have talked about being open to accepting an infant and toddler sibling group but have now decided we will most likely not pursue this option. We are still open to accepting infant twins but a single infant will be most likely. We’re not going to specify gender so we could get either a little boy or girl. Good thing the nursery décor is gender neutral!

Thanks for reading,
Grant

Last Hurrah!

I am in Boulder, CO visiting my sister, her husband and their son Samuel. Grant is in Big Sky, MT taking his yearly ski trip with his childhood buddies. You might call this our LAST HURRAH! before taking the big parent plunge. Throughout the last several years Grant and I have taken many trips and each time have thought, “is this our last hassle-free vacation?” Well, this time it really is!!!

Frequently when people hear that we will be parents soon we’ll get the advice to do all the things now that we won’t be able to do as easily when we are parents. We’ve had loads of fun for our nearly 8 years of marriage and now we are looking forward to everything that comes along with being parents (hassle included!).

Ethiopia in the news

Supermodel Liya Kebede, best known as the face of cosmetics giant Estee Lauder, has been named a goodwill ambassador by the U.N. health agency. Liya Kebede is from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/03/07/un.ambassador.ap/index.html

The latest

Grant and I met with our social worker this past Wednesday (March 2nd) for our first meeting in our adoption study. It was pretty much what we expected. She asked us questions about our childhoods, families, discipline as children, relationships with parents and siblings, etc. We also talked about how we met, how our relationship developed and our strengths and weaknesses as a couple. She also wanted to know how we came to the decision to adopt. The meeting lasted 3 ½ hours and was very comfortable.

During the next couple of weeks we covet your prayers in regards to decision making. We have some big decisions to make and are seeking wisdom and clarity of thought. By the end of this month we should come to some decision regarding timing, potential health issues, and potential number of children (single or sibling group). We’ve thought that we are “open” to many possibilities, but now we need to clarify what that means and let our social worker know what situations we really are willing to accept.

Thanks again for being part of this journey with us! Blessings, Anna