ALMOST the end of the paperwork….

Well, I thought I was done. On Tuesday I got my passport in the mail… woo hoo! But then I got a phone call from my adoption agency saying my witness statement forms weren’t quite right. Uh, oh. Had to ask my friends to redo their forms. (Thank you Kristi and Joanne!) Which they did in record time.

Now I need to have them county certified out in Riverhead. Once that is complete I send them to Albany for a state certification. THEN my paperwork is complete. Whew!

Meanwhile, my fundraiser is next week and I am woefully undersold. If you or anyone you know might be interested in an evening of laughs at Governor’s in Levittown, please let me know so I can get you some tickets! Tickets must be purchased through me. If you buy them at the door the proceeds don’t make it to me.

Thank you for reading! 🙂

The end of the paperwork!!!

Yesterday I got my LAST piece of paperwork in the mail! Wooo hoooo!!! I was waiting for my letter of good conduct from the local police headquarters. It’s finally here so my next step is to have all of my dossier paperwork reviewed by the adoption agency. Once they say it all looks good, I take my paperwork packet (which makes up my dossier) to get county certified. Once that is done I have to send it away to be state certified! (Whew!) Then I have to write some large checks and all my info gets sent to Guatemala. Progress!!!!

For some reason I have to go and have yet another set of fingerprints taken. After having 3 fingerprint cards filled out and sent to various locations, I got a letter from the dept. of Homeland Sec. that says I have an appointment in Hempstead next week to have another set of fingerprints taken. It’s not a big deal, just unexpected. They can have a dozen copies of my fingerprints if they really want them. But that ink is so sticky and greasy. 😉

There is truly an enormous amount of paperwork to coordinate, collect and produce to complete an adoption. I have described it to some as “a strip search you need to get notarized”. And even once you complete the adoption, it’s not the end of the paperwork, you’re required to submit quarterly, and then yearly, reports on how the child is doing and developing. Sometimes it seems like a test of endurance to see how serious you really are.

But the reality is, someone is GIVING you their child. I can’t even imagine what that must be like, but I’m grateful nonetheless. And if I have to submit thousands of pieces of paperwork to prove that I will take the best possible care of that child, then it really seems like the easier thing to do.

This is the 7th month of this process for me, I submitted my first application for adoption last September. If I am able to get Maya this September, that will be just a year from start to finish. And September will be here before I know it! Although we have not been matched yet, Maya is being cared for in foster care in Guatemala right now, just waiting for her Mama to come and get her…. Maya, I’m omw!!!