Wow

I got the e-mail with the check list. It looks like we may need even more paperwork for Russia than we needed for China:

Application for Registration, two per parent
Form (I'm not yet sure what kind of form, it just says "form"), two per parent
Application #1, two per family
Power of Attorney, two per family
Form I-171-H (permission from USCIS to adopt a foreign-born orphan), two copies per family
Police clearance letters, two for each adult in the home, only good for 3 months
Child abuse history clearance letters, two for each adult in the home
Marriage certificate, six copies
Commitment to provide post-placement visits, two per family
Commitment to register child at Embassy of the Russian Federation, two per family
Certificate of assets, must be prepared by a CPA, IRS agent, or licensed tax preparer (for China, they took our word for it, but apparently Russia wants us to hire someone to tell them how much we are worth), two per family
Property ownership verification, two letters verifying ownership of our home from our local authority
House deed, two copies
Medical certificates, two per person...only good for 3 months
Physician letter, two per person
Physician's license, two copies
Psychological evaluation, 2 letters evaluating both parents from a licensed clinical phychologist or psychiatrist
Psychologist/Psychiatrist license, two copies
Employment verification letter, two copies
Unemployed spouse form, two copies
Passport pages
Recent photos (minimum of 12 color photos (copies, no originals), including photos of the front, back, and each side of our house, different angle shots of the child's room, (if infant, please include crib/baby furniture)), two copies per family
Recommendations from the adoption agency (they have to provide some six different forms regarding recommending us, proving they are licensed, and promising post-placement follow-up)
Conclusion/recommendation of the homestudy agency, two letters
Commitment from home study agency to provide post-placement services, two letters
Homestudy agency license, two copies
Homestudy agency recommendation letter, two letters
Homestudy agency licensing letter, two letters
Homestudy
Verification of residence from the homestudy agency, two letters
Photocopies of reference letters, two of each letter from homestudy agency
Excerpts of state adoption laws, from homestudy agency, two copies
Poverty levels from homestudy agency, two copies
Visa application, one per traveler...
Registration (our son will need to be registered with the Russian embassy within ten days of returning home)


We will be preparing two original copies of the dossier. Almost everything above will need to be notarized, then certified/apostilled at the state level. Thankfully, I remember from last year that Texas charges per document up to, I think, $100 per child...in other words, we will not be paying more than $100 for apostilling. I've heard of parents in other states paying hundreds of dollars for apostilling since their govt has no upper limit.

I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed. Maybe I just need a good cry. This is A LOT of paper to chase.

I'll be really happy when I get the full packet in the mail and can look at examples of some of these letters. I guess tomorrow I will head down ot the county offices and get six copies of our marriage license. And we are waiting for a reference to finish our homestudy. With China, I am sure the agency provided similar homestudy agency paperwork. Since our China agency did our homestudy, we didn't have to deal with obtaining paperwork from one agency for the other one. But since our Russia agency is in CA, we had to have a TX agency do our homestudy. More work for me that way.

I'd go ahead and order the police statements, but since they are only good for 3 months, I think I'll wait on those. Same with the medicals...those documents have to wait. Once I get the whole dossier packet, I will be able to consult with my dossier coordinator and walk through it all with her over the phone. I hope that makes me feel better about this. I know I've done it before, but there is a lot more here than there was for China, and it all has to be done just so. No abbreviations whatsoever, our signatures must always match our passports (which means that I must always remember to sign my middle name), etc.