Not for the faint of heart

Updated 8/17/07
We printed off quite a bit of paperwork today and will get it notarized tomorrow. Luckily, my school secretary is a notary and she said she'd be happy to notarize everything for us for the low, low price of a Gin and Tonic. I've bolded and italicized everything that we've completed since I don't know how to draw lines through it like my friend Melissa can do on her blog.

Several people have asked me about the amount of paperwork we have to fill out and what kind of forms they require, etc. I think I've finally got enough strength to type out the list of what they require for the home study. Keep in mind this is just the home study list and the dossier will be a separate issue that we will have to collect information for. Here goes...

1. Copy of any previous home study
2. Reference letters (5-7)
3. Pre-adoption questionnaire (part complete together, part completed individually, Randy finished his and it is 23 pages long)
4. Written directions to our home
5. Photocopies of birth certificates
6. Photocopies of marriage certificates
7. Photocopies of divorce decrees
8. Photocopy of I600A (this goes to Immigration services)
9. Medical report for each of us from our doctor
10. Letter from local police checking our police record
11. Central child abuse registry clearance
12. FBI check
13. TX Dept of Public Safety check
14. Employment letters
15. Financial statements
16. Photocopies of insurance cards
17. Copy of recent 1040
18. Photocopies of passport pictures
19. Autobiography for each parent (detailed as possible, should be at least 5 pages)
20. Cultural questionnaires
21. Guardianship form
22. Pictures of us together and specific pictures of our home
23. Psychological evaluation
24. Press release
25. CIS release of information (I'm forgetting at the moment what CIS stands for)
26. List of references
27. Adoption agreement
28. Country fee schedule
29. Commitment to Excellence form
30. Grievance policy
31. Home Study agreement form
32. Floor plan of our house with room sizes and what each room is used for

Not to bad huh?? And that is just to get someone out to the house to complete our home study. The good news is we have about 10 things completed from that list. It's progress! We worked the other night on it and I just sat at the computer scanning documents and printing them from the printer while Randy ran from room to room collecting all the items for me. We had a good system going and got a lot done even though compared to the list it doesn't seem like much. I have one more question to answer on my questionnaire and then I'm done. Today we are meeting up at my school to get a bunch of documents notarized (our school secretary is a notary thank goodness) and then we can cross a bunch of other stuff off the list.

I better cut this off here. I need to get to the police department this morning to get my fingerprints taken so we can cross some more things off the list.