Dossier Update

Our dossier is almost complete! We have been working on it consistently since the first week of June, so this is a huge milestone. For those of you wondering what could possibly take so long, here is a list of what we have to include in the package we send to Ukraine:

1. Home Study
2. Adoption Agency's License
3. Social Worker's License
4. Letter from agency about social worker
5. I-171 (INS pre-approval for our kids to be US citizens - this form is like GOLD)
6. Passport copies
7. Colorado Criminal Clearances
8. Employment Verification Letters
9. Doctors' Medical Forms
10. Doctors' Licenses
11. Deed to our home
12. Marriage License
13. Petition to Adopt
14. Letter of Obligation

Whew!! The only thing we're waiting for is updated medical forms from our doctors. We had our medical exams and blood tests in July. We needed updated forms because Ukraine requires that no document be more than 6 months old when you submit your dossier.

The next step will be to take all of these documents to the Secretary of State in Denver http://www.sos.state.co.us/pubs/bingo_raffles/apostille.htm to have them apostilled. This is an authentication of each notary's signature. We should receive the documents in two days...and they it's off to Ukraine for translation.

We have amended our home study to read 1 to 3 children, ages 4-14. We did this in response to the overwhelming feeling we received while hosting the camp in December and from a friend's blog. Leslie who adopted Kristina, also showed us that older children are just as precious. See her blog at http://kristinasstory.blogspot.com/ Initially, as most adopters do, we thought we had to have young children. So, we initially put 2-9 yr olds on our home study.

We should explain that we have made the difficult decision of going ahead with our already planned and prepared adoption for this year. In is painful and difficult because we will not be able to adopt Zina this time because of her registration issue and the fact that there is a mandatory 12 month wait for international adoption after she gets registered. (It will be a couple of years, we estimate)

This does not mean that we have given up. On the contrary, we are taking steps and we have communicated to her orphanage director that we want to host her in the US all summer. We will continue the fight to get her registered. We have spoken with the director and have let him know we will help him with the registration process of not only Zina, but the other children that visited on the hosting program. The director asked us to wait until February and call him to find out what action has been taken by the courts on his parental relinquishment request. We fear nothing will happen as has been the case on his last couple of requests (not his fault, just the bureaucratic system). We will wait and see in February, but we will "lawyer up" in preparation for non-action for her. We will, at some point really soon, have to tell her this and I'm sure it will not be pleasant for us all.

No matter what some piece of paper says or what governments say, she is our daughter in our hearts. We will get her home. We can see that our future vacations will be to Ukraine to visit her, probably twice a year. And yes, we will go a week early when we get our eventual appointment to see her and be with her. She is our family now and her portrait hangs on our wall at home. God bless and keep you Zina, we love you!