I was having the boys write the date on some of their schoolwork today, and it hit me that we sent our paperwork to El Salvador nine months ago this week.

Nine months.  So if I had gotten pregnant at that time, I’d be giving birth right about now.

But I didn’t get pregnant.  No, “all” I did was send a huge dossier to El Salvador.  Many in the adoption community refer to that as being “paper pregnant.”  Read the rest of this entry

Just learned some big news from El Salvador this week that does very much affect our adoption – in fact all adoptions there. 

At 8:45 on Thursday night, Sonia Cortez de Madriz was sworn in as El Salvador’s Procuraduría General de la República [Attorney General].

When we began our current adoption process, we found ourselves working with two separate agencies.  Our placement agency – the one connected with El Salvador – is in Kentucky.  But we were required to get our homestudy done by an agency here in Maryland.

So we have a second agency this time (last time we used one for everything).  And with a second agency comes a second set of personalities and some extra expectations to meet.

So as I mentioned in my prior dossier checklist post, I compiled a checklist table in Word for both agencies’ paperwork requirements.  I laid it out so I could check off each stage for each document (since many of our homestudy docs had to be notarized prior to submission)  And then I highlighted the items on each list that were duplicates, so I could collect them simultaneously.

It took us two months to get everything submitted – not bad considering how many of the items involved waiting on government entities.  When our homestudy report “expires” this Spring, we’ll have to re-submit a portion of these as part of an updating amendment we’ll be required to submit to El Salvador to remain in good standing there. Read the rest of this entry

Compiling a dossier for an international adoption takes a lot of time, a lot of attention to detail, and a lot of patience (especially since several of the items involve waiting on government entities).

A new friend of mine has hit just this stage.  It seems overwhelming at first.  There’s a long list, and the very first item is a homestudy report which comes with a separate but similar checklist all its own.  And then every document must be notarized, authenticated by the county in which that notary holds her/his license, and then apostilled by the state in which that county is located.  So some people are looking at a whole bunch of notaries, multiple counties, and several states in order to compile their one family dossier.

Here’s my method of keeping the madness to a minimum. Read the rest of this entry

Adopting from El Salvador is going to be a long process, but I figure it’s never too soon to get buy-in from the sons we have.  They love little kids and babies, but it is going to come as a shock when they realize they have to split our attention even further.  And we have no idea how well or how quickly the new members will adjust to joining us.

So I decided I’d have H & J “adopt” the kids with us.  I’m usually the one to run the paperwork around and schedule appointments, so rather than drop them off at Mom-Mom’s house, I always take them with me.

And at every stop, I’ve told them, “and when we were adopting YOU, we did this too!”  Which they know, ’cause they have pictures in their adoption albums of Fred and me doing the paperwork rounds. 

But when our next kids flip through their albums, this is what they’ll see: Read the rest of this entry

Hi, I’m Fred, the Papa here at American Mamacita. I guess that makes me American Papacito, although I’m not very small… so maybe just American Papa.  Just like Kim, our boys named me. I had planned to be Dad, the name I call my father, and the name he called his father. But adoption shakes things up, and for me, it brought a new name. I love being a Papa; it sounds more personal to me–not sure why. I’ll have to write more on it in the future.

As you probably already know, we’re in the process of a second adoption, this time from El Salvador. And I’m a bit nervous about it. If you asked my friends for a list of traits that describe me, you’d probably get a bunch. Most of them I’d be proud of, and some of them I’m sure I wouldn’t. But one trait I wouldn’t expect to hear is fearful. It’s usually not me. Yet that’s at least 50% of the emotion I feel when thinking about bringing home our new kids. Read the rest of this entry

For any parent, picking a child’s name is one of the most personal decisions we make in the beginning.  Bedding can be changed, rooms repainted; but we’ll be calling our kids by their names for the rest of our lives.  So we want to get it “right.”  Something that fits with our last name, something with a good meaning (if you’re into name meanings), something that doesn’t conjer up images of elementary school bullies or weirdos for either parent.

But what if your child comes to your family pre-named?  Ours did, and so, like most adoptive parents, we had to make a different kind of naming decision: keep it? change it? modify it?  What’s the right answer? Read the rest of this entry