When you travel to complete your international adoption, depending on the country, you may need to hire an attorney in-country to help complete the process. You will also need to have appointments at the embassy or consulate to get a visa for your child to travel back to the United States. For these reasons, when you travel you will need to bring a lot of paperwork with you and be prepared with various pieces of information.
So, how can you prepare? It will be different for each family, each trip, and each different country, so you should speak to your adoption agency well before your trip to get personalized preparation advice and guidance. Make sure to find out which documents need to be originals and which can be copies. In general, you can prepare by gathering the following documents and information:
☐ Your original Home Study
☐ Signed adoption service plan
☐ Contact information for your lawyer in the US
☐ Contact information for your primary provider
☐ Your ID and contact information
☐ Your passports
☐ Marriage certificate
☐ Divorce decree/former spouses death certificate, if applicable
☐ Your most recent tax return (you cannot file for an extension for the current tax year if you are adopting)
☐ US Pediatrician’s contact information
☐ Any necessary Visa paperwork/approvals
☐ Power of Attorney (if applicable)
Well before you travel, start a file or folder with copies of documents you will need to take with you. This way, as you gather documents you can put a copy in this file and reduce the stress of trying to find all the copies you need at once. Your primary provider may have a checklist of documents and information you will need, so make sure to ask.
BE PREPARED.
Before your first meeting with your international attorney or your first trip to the embassy, make sure to write down any questions you may have. Make copies of any documents you will be leaving with your attorney and give him/her the copies, keeping the originals for your file (unless of course the original is required by the attorney). Try to get at least two original copies. If the attorney requires an original document, make sure you arrange to get it back before going home to the US. When gathering documents to bring, it is better to be over cautious about what they will need. If you are not sure if they will need a certain document, bring a copy just in case.
COMMUNICATE.
Be sure to share all relevant facts regarding your adoption with both your attorney in the country you are adopting from and your attorney in the US. Answer all of their questions honestly to the best your ability- if a problem comes up, it is best for your attorney to have all the facts. Listen to your attorney’s questions carefully. Ask about the process so you know what to expect. An experienced attorney will be able to tell you what you should reasonably expect to happen. Agree on the best times, methods and frequency for updates and regular communications.
In adoption, there are many unknowns and bumps in the road. You can make your international adoption trips less stressful by gathering all of the information and documents you will need while traveling and being more prepared than you think you will need to be.
If you have any questions about international adoption, we would be happy to speak with you. Feel free to call us at (800) 535-5556 or (607) 756-6574, shoot us an email at info@adoptfamilyconnections.org or click the button below to ask your adoption questions.
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