Certification means that the
Department of the Secretary of State of your state certifies that each of the
notaries who witnessed your signature on a document is a valid notary in the
state. (In states such as New York,
you must have the notary signature certified by the county before it is
certified by the state.) You can send documents by mail to have them certified
or drive to your state capital to have them certified while you wait.
In order for a foreign embassy to
authenticate your documents, they have to be translated into the language of
that country. Once they are translated, they are sent to the embassy and an
embassy reviewer adds an official seal to each document.
Some countries also require that
each notary seal be embossed over a gold seal stamp. Since the use of gold
seals is not common practice in many areas, you may find yourself carrying
around your own supply of seals to give to notaries to use!
When you hear people bemoan the
international adoption process, it’s the paperwork processing that is a big
factor in making things complicated. However, you just need to stay organized
and stay on task and you will get through all the paperwork just fine.
You should know that most countries
do not allow you to choose the gender of your child, at least the first time.
You may have the option to choose if you adopt again or if you already have
children at home. Sometimes the gender will be pretty well known by the country
you choose. China
adopts out almost all girls though we certainly know several wonderful boys who
came from China.
Once your adoption home study and your
dossier are complete (Your adoption home study will also need to be notarized,
certified, translated and authenticated), the agency will send your application
to your country of choice. And then you wait. Most agencies will have a good
idea of how long the wait will be. The wait can vary from a few months to more
than a year, depending on the country.
One day you’ll be going about your business and the call
will come, telling you about the baby that has been referred for you! The
initial information is often sketchy, a name, age, general health, location of
orphanage, a photo. More information will come in the next few weeks. Depending
on the country, you may receive more or less medical information, information
about the circumstances of the adoption, etc.
