I think I have all the paperwork together and probably some that they don't even need. I was a little confused about whether to give up the originals of our references and medical forms, but Lina (from our adoption agency) said to hang onto the originals. I am still confused about the notarized medical forms. Our doctor does not have a notary and Lina said to have our signatures notarized and write on it that it is a true copy of our medical records. Anyone else do this this way? We actually have the same issue with our work letters, no notary there either.
When I read in someone's blog about the homestudy being read out loud, I began to get nervous about what to say. We did a mini-homestudy to become foster parents, so the questions probably won't come as a surprise.
So far I have the following questions:
Should I just include a picture of our house and one of the family, or should I include more than just 2?
When do I file the I 171H (approval form from CIS) form?
What else can we do to fulfil the requirement to attend a face-to-face class for international adoption? We have done 2 online courses, but the homestudy agency says that Illinois requires some of the hours to be in person.
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We had to pay a traveling notary to go to the doctors office and notarize the doctors signature while there. For the work letters we did what you were told to do which is sign them saying they were a true copy and have that signature notarized. Poland seemed less obnoxious about the notary than the other country we had tried so maybe you don't have to get the traveling notary for your doctors office. Good luck -
ReplyDeleteDon't get too nervous about the Home Study. Just answer the questions as brief as possible. Once they send you a copy of the Home Study you should be able to still edit it to your liking before they send it to the agency. You should probably request to review it before it gets sent to the agency.
ReplyDeleteWe were told by our agency to have at least nine photos. It was very accurate account of what photos we should include. We needed several photos of the inside of the house, specifically the future room of our children, a photo or two of the outside of our house, a photo of us, a photo of our dog, and a photo from our wedding day.
If you check out my blog, and type 171 in the top left search box, it will give you two posts about the I-171H and what we had gone through. Definitely read it carefully to fully understand what needs to happen.
Can't help you with the classes required. We only had to do the online courses. Though I WISH they had forced us to take face-to-face parenting classes. It would have helped my husband and I tremendously.
We used the same agency as you are using, and we had about 10 to 12 pics...inside & outside, some with our cats, all within the previous 12 months. We also paid a notary to come to our doctor's office. Can't help with live, in person classes, in Texas we just did online.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with everything! It's a lot to keep track of, don't hesitate to call Lina or ask for help :-)
We did some in-person training through our home study agency. It was useful. A lot of it was repetitive of all the online training we did also, but I think it helps to hear some of it frequently. My favorite part of the in-person training was listening to the questions other parents had... none of the other parents were adopting from Poland, but I am always so curious to know what questions I have forgotten to ask!
ReplyDeleteWe did not need to have our medical records notorized. We also did not have any pictures taken of our house. Maybe it is because the social worker putting together the home study works at the adoption agency we are using. We are in NY, not sure what the rules are with the parenting and adoption classes, but we are also going to have a mix of on-line and in person classes.
ReplyDeleteI love that we are in the same stage of this together!