What is a dossier?

An adoption dossier is the set of documents required by a foreign country in order to be considered to adopt there.  Not ever country requires one, but most do. 

U. S. domestic adoptions do not require a dossier.

Submitting your dossier is the first official step in that country.  Usually, you have to submit some portion of the country fee (the amount of money that country collects from prospective adoptive parents in order to process an adoption) with your dossier.

Submitting a dossier does not guarantee that you will adopt a child.  Each country has the right to decline a family’s file.

What’s in a dossier?

The specifics vary from country to country, but some standard requirements for U.S. citizens adopting internationally are:

• Original birth certificates for all family members (including existing children)
• Original marriage certificate (for couples)
• Certified copies of state and FBI criminal background clearances
• Immigration approval (797-C or similar), stating that USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services) has approved you to bring a child or children back to the U.S. [Note: this approval letter will state on it how many children you are approved to adopt.]
• Proof of income/financial security
• Photos of your family and home
• Reference letters
• A certified Homestudy Report that specifically approves you to adopt from that country, a set number of children, and with evidence that you will be good adoptive parents.
• Certified reports from your doctors that all family members are basically healthy and capable of bringing another child into the home.
• Name affidavits for both spouses (certified lists of every name you’ve ever gone by on any official or unofficial document)
• Power of attorney letter (giving the in-country legal team/attorney representation of your case there)

Tips for Compiling a Dossier:

1. Use as few notaries as possible.  Many countries require apostilled dossiers.  Every document must be notarized, then authenticated at the county courthouse in which that notary lives, then apostilled at the state house in the state in which that county is located.  So using a dozen notaries could mean going to a dozen different county courthouses for those county certifications.  Sometimes you won’t be able to help it, but as often as you can, take your documents to the same notary.
2. Pay attention to details.  Make sure the notary dates her or his stamp with the same date on the document.  Dossiers can get kicked out of consideration for things like that.  Make sure you have every document required before submitting your dossier; they’ll get kicked out for missing items, too.  Basically, your dossier is your way of putting your best foot forward in another country, so be picky.
3. Call your agency with questions.  Lots of people (like me!) have experience with adoption, but requirements change frequently, and you are paying your agency a good amount of money to help you out with your adoption.  So rather than polling others, ask your agency what they want to see before they submit your dossier to another country.
4. Get a FedEx/UPS/other shipper account.  It’s a lot of work getting your documents compiled, stamped, sealed, blessed by the powers that be… you want to know where your documents are whenever you have to send them somewhere.  So don’t just put them in the mail and hope for the best.  Track ‘em.  It’s worth the cost just to have the peace of mind (and accountability).
5. Gather as many items as you can during the Homestudy phase.  Some of the items (like the doctors’ letters and the criminal clearances) are required both for the initial Homestudy and also for the later Dossier.  So get them at the same time, if possible.  It’ll save you a second time of running around to acquire them.
6. Make a checklist.  It will help you know where each document is in the process, which ones you still need, and which ones are done.  It’s heartening to watch the list fill out – a good visual reminder that you will get through it all!

Short Answer:  If you mean your placement agency, no.  Your homestudy agency, however, must be licensed in the state in which you reside.

Longer Answer and Explanation:

An adoption placement agency is the agency that will match you with a child you’ve said you would accept for adoption.  Ideally, that agency is looking to place children needing families with the best family matches for them and not the other way around, but that’s a topic for another post.  Your placement agency can be anywhere in the country of which you are a citizen.

If you enroll in an international adoption program, your placement agency should have reputable contacts in that country to facilitate the legal process there.  Always check on an agency and what you can find out about their reputation in-country before signing with them!

For both of our adoptions, our placement agencies have been out-of-state.  It’s a little weird not knowing what the people with whom you’re talking on the phone look like, but with a good agency you get used to it, and it doesn’t matter.

You should look for an agency with a good reputation who offers the adoption program to which you feel called.  For example, amidst the current crisis in Haiti, there is renewed interest in adopting orphans from that country.  If that describes you, find a reputable agency who offers a Haitian adoption program.

That agency can provide you with a list of agencies in your own state with whom they are willing to work in order to meet your homestudy requirements.

Once you select a homestudy agency, the two will sign a legal agreement to cooperate for your adoption process.  A homestudy agency does all the background-checking and in-home visitations required to compile a homestudy report, and then they write it.  Depending on the length of your adoption process, your homestudy agency will also provide annual updates when your reports “expire.”  Additionally, the homestudy agency you select will be responsible for any post-placement follow-up visits required by your placement agency or by the country from which you’re adopting.

For domestic adoptions in the U.S., your homestudy agency usually is capable of sending your paperwork between states to make sure you are considered as potential adoptive parents for children in other states who might be well-matched to your family.  Some states are better than others at inter-state relations, but you should be able to complete a domestic adoption using just one agency.  In that case, yes, you should find an agency in the state in which you primarily reside.

If you’re working with a good adoption agency, they’ll have up-to-the-minute information on what each country wants to see from your dossier.  But in case you ever want to double-check what you’re hearing, check with the U.S. Department of State. 

The requirements your agency gives you should at least cover everything listed here. 

Also useful for checking the status of currently-”closed” countries (we keep an eye on Guatemala, ourselves, since our twins were born there).

I get this question a lot.  People have a vague idea that “adoption is expensive,” and the unknown dollar figure dissuades some from looking into it before they even talk to an agency.

So here it is - how much our adoptions have and will cost, and I also hit up a friend for the cost of her domestic adoption, since ours are both international.  But one quick item before I continue: even if you know someone well enough to ask him or her their answer to this question, please, please, please watch your words and never ask “so how much did they [the kids] cost?”  The process costs money; the children are priceless.

Needed to mention that since I’m not the only one I know who has gotten that “off” question – by people who meant no harm, but really…

That said:

International Adoption of Twins - Guatemala* 2006-2007

Agency Fee (For Facilitating the Process between us and the attorney in Guatemala) – $4,300/1st child + $2,200/sibling = $6,500

Homestudy Fees (Report + Inspections/Background Checks/Fingerprinting/Document Fees) – $1,200 + approx $200 = $1,400

Dossier Paperwork Fees (Immigration/Seals/Apostilles/Postage) – approx. $1,000

Country Fee (each country sets its own, meant to cover foster care/court fees/attorneys’ salary/other) – $20, 000 ea. x 2 = $40,000

DNA Testing (to match twins to birthmom) – $705

Travel (pickup trip: flights/hotel – 6 night stay/tours/souveniers) – approx. $3,500

Visas for the Twins – $380  ea. x 2 = $760

Post-Placement Visits/Report Fee – $300

Readoption in the USA – $125

Citizenship Certificates – $420 ea. x 2 = $840

                    Total Cost: $55, 130 (Families with just one child paid between $30,000-$35,000 during that time)

Employer Adoption Assistance – $5,000/child x 2 = -$10,000

Federal Tax Credit $10,630/child x 2 = -$21, 260 

Maryland Tax Refund (due to state adoption tax deduction) = -$3008

                    Our Net Cost: $24, 278 (would’ve been $17, 865   – $22, 865 for just one, according to other families’ experiences)

*Guatemala is currently closed for U.S. adoptions, due to investigations into corruption in that system.  The fees that were being charged to adoptive parents are one of the items being investigated.  It really is unclear where all of our country fee went, considering the twins were in foster care for only 8 months.  Hopefully their new system will be much more transparent – and less costly. 

International Adoption - 2 Siblings -  El Salvador 2008 till whenever we get placement

Application Fees (2 Agencies: Placement + Homestudy Agency) – $350

Placement Agency Fee - $5,000

Homestudy Fees (Report + Inspections/Background Checks/Fingerprinting/Document Fees) – $1,600 + approx $300 = $1,900

Online Education Course (required) – $100

Dossier Paperwork Fees (Immigration/ Psych & IQ Testing/Seals/Apostilles/Postage) – approx. $2,700

Country Fee (each country sets its own, covers court fees/attorneys’ salary/other) – $10,000 (hopefully no additional charge for a sibling!)

Travel (pickup trip: flights/hotels – 3 week stay/tours/souveniers) – approx. $5,600

Visas for the Twins – $400  ea. x 2 = $800

Post-Placement Visits/Reports (3, 6, 12, 24 &36 months after placement - $1,500

                    Total Cost: $27,950 (very slight reduction if we adopt one child and not siblings)

                    Our Net Cost: Under $12,000 (May even be free if we adopt siblings, assuming similar Employer and Tax benefits)

Domestic Adoption – 1 Child - 2007-2009

A friend of mine was kind enough to let me be nosy about the fees she ultimately ended up paying in her adoption process that just concluded.  She and her husband did their homestudy and placement all through one agency, paying similar document and homestudy report fees to those above.  Their total cost:  just under $20,000. 

They chose to enroll in both their agency’s Infant and the Older Child programs because they were willing to adopt either. They noted that enrolling in the second program cost them about $2000, so had they not done that their total cost would have been just under $18,000.

They’ll be getting a $10,000 Employer Adoption Benefit and I told them about the Tax Credit, so when all is said and done, they will Net a Zero-Cost for the Adoption! 

In all the scenarios above, we’ve all had to front the money and then collect on the benefits later.  So, yes, adoption IS expensive at first.  But with the benefits that are out there, the numbers become much less daunting.  Or non-existant. 

I’ll post another time on how to fund an adoption.  But for now, I hope this is at least a start for someone who’s wondering whether or not it’s even possible.