International Adoption: What is the Process?

Most people know very little about international adoption. It is easy for me and Dave to forget that because we are learning so much in such a short amount of time. We thought it would be a good idea to do something that keeps our loved ones in the loop as we journey through this process.

I thought that a logical first step would be a general overview of the international adoption process.  That way, in future posts, the details will make a little more sense.

There are basically six steps, beginning with the application. Our agency required a preliminary application and a longer formal application. Next, there is the home study process. We recently completed this stage. The home study is a series of interviews and a home visit with your caseworker. The interviews delve into some very personal information, but we felt comfortable with our caseworker so it was virtually painless. Our caseworker then has the task of writing a rather lengthy paper about us.

The next step is immigration pre-filing. This is paperwork that we will send to Homeland Security to gain approval to bring an orphan into the USA. We cannot file this until our home study is written and approved, so we are currently stalled at this step. Immigration approval can take up to 90 days.

While waiting for immigration approval, we will work on our dossier, a compilation of documents, all of which are certified, notarized and apostilled by the Secretary of State. The dossier consists of birth and marriage certificates, letters of referral, power of attorney for our partners in South Africa, etc.

Once we have immigration approval and a completed dossier, everything is sent to South Africa, where our agency’s partner and the South African government will match us with a child in need of a family.  When they have matched us with a child, we have the opportunity to review the information and either accept or decline.

Should we accept, we will be invited to travel to South Africa 8-12 weeks later.  Only one visit is required, but we expect to be in the country for 5-6 weeks while the adoption is finalized.

Payment is due at different stages throughout the process. Some of the fees are paid to our US adoption agency, some are paid to the South African adoption agency, some are for legal and medical fees while in South Africa, and the rest is travel expense. Some of the figures we have been given are estimates, but the total cost should be more than I earn in a year. This aspect was certainly a scary one to swallow, but we felt so strongly that God wanted us on this path, we decided to take a huge step of faith and trust Him to provide. We will raise as much as we can through fundraisers and support letters. We plan to finance the rest. Obviously, we want to borrow as little as possible but we will do what is necessary to take a child out of an orphanage and into our home.

Please partner with us and remember us in your prayers. Your support is so greatly appreciated!

All Our Love,

Dave & Sarah Kern