The Timeline
Updated August 18, 2008
The following is a general breakdown of the timeline for our adoption. [Please note that not all Ethiopian adoptions will follow this timeline or timeframe, as ours is shortened and altered by our choosing children off of our agency's Waiting Children List. Thus, we will not have to wait for a referral as is required in most international adoptions.]
- Apply to Christian World Adoption; no fee required since this is our second adoption through CWA
- Get approved by agency and by Case Review Committee
- Sign adoption agreement with agency; pay 1/2 of agency's Ethiopia Program Fee
- Complete home study (series of interviews and home visits by a social worker)
- File with U.S. CIS (Citizen and Immigration Services) for our children’s U.S. visas. This grants approval for our adopted children to enter the United States.
- Get fingerprinted by the FBI
- Prepare dossier (paperwork and associated documents which are to be sent to Ethiopian officials for our adoption). This is a 3-4-month process. The following are required documents for the dossier:
- Power of Attorney
- Letter stating reason of intent for adoption from Ethiopia
- Photos of applicants and home
- U.S. CIS approval (see next bullet)
- Completed home study documents
- Employment letters
- Financial statements
- Certified birth certificates
- Certified marriage certificate
- Medical letters
- Police/criminal history letters
- Signed reference letters from nonrelatives
- Passport ID pages
- Have the dossier notarized and certified by the Secretary of State in our home state (Tennessee).
- Send completed dossier to D.C. for final authentication by the State Department and Ethiopian Embassy.
- Dossier is sent by our agency to Ethiopia for translation into Amharic.
- The dossier is presented by the agency’s Ethiopian representative to the proper officials at the Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MOWA).
- Our children are moved to the CWA Care Center in Addis Ababa where they will receive more medical exams and their files will be prepared for court.
- Court process takes place in Ethiopia to grant us official guardianship of our children.
- CIS paperwork is completed for our children’s visas.
- Three to six weeks after a successful court date, we will travel to Ethiopia to get our kids! We will stay for approximately one week and appear at the U.S. Embassy in Addis to receive the kids' official visas and passports for travel to America as Permanent Residents and eventually U.S. Citizens.
If all goes smoothly, we anticipate a total time frame of 6-7 months (beginning in August 2008).