In Quest of Dossier #2

After a brief breather, it's now time to get to work on the main dossier. The main dossier has nothing to do with us getting a referral. It has everything to do with our court date--our court date will not be scheduled until Russia receives this paperwork. Dossier #2 will be submitted after we accept our referral from our first trip. Here is my to do list:

• Obligation letters
• Color copies of passports
• Photo listing of home
• Marriage certificate
• Physician's reports for the girls
• Copy of physician's medical license
• State Police checks
• Employment letter
• CPA Financial Statement
• Medical Insurance letter
• Copy of warranty deed
• CPA letter of financial statement
• Copy of CPA's license
• Copy of USCIS approval--the coveted I-171H
• Realtor Proof of Home Ownership
• Copy of Realtor's license
• Copy of tax return
• Psychiatrist Reports on Doug and me
• Copy of psychiatrist license

These are the items I have to gather. As you will note, most of the items will require that I muster all my people skills, brush up on How to Win Friends and Influence People, and recite to myself in the mirror daily, "People love to help me. Only the "nice" people approach me at desks and answer the telephone. They are friendly and knowledgeable. They all recognize the time constraint I am under and more than willing to comply with my requests quickly and competently. I will only witness the intelligence of Bugs Bunny, the creativity of Wylie Coyote, the aptitude of the little green Martian, and the speed of Speedy Gonzales as I deal with these select individuals." (I miss Looney Tunes, don't you?)

There are about 10 additional items our home study agency will have to send to me and a few items our adoption agency has to provide. Again, all these things have to be notarized and apostilled. Doug and I also have to have an 8 Doctor Medical Exam completed in Russia--yikes! The above list is for Krasnoyarsk. If by a slim chance our referral comes from Pskov or Leningrad, there is a different list for those regions.

Many of the items have to be on office letterhead--not mine of course although that would be SO MUCH EASIER!! A lot of the above items I can take care of now--hopefully this week. Some of them I will need to wait until we get our referral because they have to be dated within 3 months of our court date. That would include the trip to the psychiatrist and the girls' medicals. The state police checks are good for 6 months before court. Everything else is good for a year. I also have to remember to get two copies of everything. Krasnoyarsk requires two main dossiers to be submitted. I have already forgotten that little tidbit and will have to call the county clerk's office again to get another copy of our marriage certificate. I may need to write a giant "2" by the phone, computer, my steering wheel, and anywhere else I may be doing adoption work to remind me.

Let the chopping down of the trees begin as I embark on this leg of the paperwork journey!