One Step Closer

Well, we haven't signed on with an international agency quite just yet but we have the first of many other hurdles out of the way. Our homestudy is complete! Lutheran Social Services of Upper Michigan & Wisconsin conducted our homestudy and just wrapped it up after a home visit.

It sounds simple enough but there were many steps needed to get to this point. We needed proof of auto and homeowner insurance, a fire escape plan, a financial statement, checking account and savings account statements, life insurance statements, guardianship paperwork, retirement account statements, employment verification forms, criminal history checks at the local and state level, FBI criminal history background checks, background checks by the Lincoln County Department of Social Services, the Lincoln County Sheriff's Department and the Merrill Police Department, home information worksheets, fingerprint checks at the US Citizenship & Immigration Services office in St. Paul, medical clearances from our doctors, vision & hearing tests, HIV blood work, tuberculosis tests, syphilis blood work, hepatitis B checks, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 tests, which is an approximately three hour long psychological test followed by an interview with a psychologist. We completed a total of eight typed-written pages of autobiographies and answered six pages of questionnaires. We had to submit proof of health insurance, test results of our home's water, and radon test results. We attended three days of educational classes, submitted multiple copies of birth and marriage certificates, copies of tax returns from each of the last three years and proof of pet vaccinations. We completed required interviews and correspondence with other families who have adopted. This all preceded a home visit by our caseworker who checked the home for all the usual safeguards such as making sure we have the proper amount of fire extinguishers and smoke detectors along with checking each and every room, basement and garage prior to an hour-long interview.

They say that this is actually the easier part of the paperwork process and that the dossier paperwork (the paperwork submitted to Russia) consists of much more paperwork. Most of the above-mentioned documents, along with many others, need to be notarized. Once everything is notarized, we have to have everything apostilled. This is sort of like having the notaries notarized or certified. This has to be done at the Wisconsin Secretary of State office in Madison. We can't wait for more paperwork. Bring it on!