The Process

We were at our Inquirer's Class at church last night, and the subject of our adoption came up. I realized that a lot of people we know aren't acquainted with the adoption process in general, never mind the specifics of the many different countries from which Americans adopt. So here's a rundown of the process for Kazakhstan, which I used to believe was one of the more difficult countries from which to adopt in terms of regulations and expectations. However, after completing a dossier for Guatemala, seriously considering and researching India, and taking into considerations the recent change in regulations for China adoptions, I've come to the conclusion that Kazakhstan isn't more difficult, just different.

Some of the requirements for a Kazakhstan adoption seemed particularly onerous to me as an American, but when I took into account the differences in politics and cultures of government bureaucracies between the US and former Soviet/non Western/developing countries, it all made sense. The paperwork load for Kazakhstan is noticeably heavier than it is for China, and slightly heavier than Guatemala. In addition to an income statement, homestudy, medical reports, employment letters (all required by China and Guatemala) there's also FBI fingerprint clearance, a notarized statement agreeing to register the child with the embassy in your home country, a notarized statement agreeing to do post placement reports until the child is eighteen, a notarized letter from any and all banking institutions certifying you hold the accounts you claim, notarized copy of your physician's licence, and a notarized letter from your mortgage company assuring that you own your home. The paperwork has to be done in a specific way. The dates on every letter and form much match the notary seal. This can be a huge problem in dealing with state agencies, as can be seen in an earlier post. When everything is done, and done right (and our coordinator is a stickler for detail, something we appreciate), and the US CIS (formerly INS or immigration) approves you to adopt internationally, then this phase-- referred to in China adopt circles as the paper chase is finished, for now.

Now, your huge stack of papers, all properly notarized, goes off to the state capitol, to be apostilled, and then copied twice before they can be sent to Kazakhstan for translation. After translation, they come back here, go to the Kazakh consulate or embassy, get certified, then go off to "the Ministries" in Kazakhstan-- Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Education. The rule goes more or less: if you make it through the consulate/embassy you'll make it through the ministries. But still, the dossier is checked over in Astana, then gets sent to the region from which you'll be adopting. There's it's reviewed again, and you're invited by the regional officials, your invitiation is approved in Astana, and you're ready to go.

Of course, once your paperwork goes to the region, you have another whole set of documents to get together for court. These include: new FBI fingerprints and clearance, new medical reports, AIDs test, another copy of your physician's licence (and your doctor must be an MD, a DO doesn't cut it over there), a psychological evaluation, the evaluator's license/degree, and the dreaded state police criminal clearance. All must be properly notarized and apostilled. In addition, you need spousal power of attorneys in case something happens to your spouse. All of these things must be less than six months old when the judge gets them.

So that's where we are. We're waiting on our Letter of Invitation, and on our state representative's office to get things cleared up with the state police. Once the LOI comes, we apply for visas, make flight arrangements, and go to Kazakhstan.

The stay in Kazakhstan is at least three weeks, closer to four for the first trip. Two weeks of the time is spent visiting the orphanage daily, at least two hours a day, but it can be as much as four. After the visitation, you then go to court, usually within ten days. Of course nothing is certain until the judge grants the adoption petition, which is what the hearing is about. After the hearing, there's a fifteen day waiting period before you can take custody of the child. Some people go home at this point, and return after the fifteen days. We're undecided on what we'll do at this time. After the fifteen days, you sign your child out of the orphanage and travel to Almaty for a medical exam (including HIV test for the child), and to fill out the immigration paperwork for the soon-to-be new American citizen. After about a week, you're free to go home, and citizenship is granted as soon as you take your child through immigration.

So that's the process in a nutshell. It sounds so much easier than it it. We haven't run into many problems, outside of the thing with the state police. In fact, in the space of two months, we were able to gather up all the necessary documents for a dossier for Kazakhstan and Guatemala because the second set of paper work and the stay in country both for length of time and cost, seemed overwhelmed. But after a lot of prayer we decided that Kazakhstan was where we were meant to go.

Of course, four days in Guatemala in February, in a nice hotel with a pool, sounds a lot easier than three to eight weeks in Kazakhstan when temperatures average -18 C. But if there's an easy road to travel, we certainly won't be on it.