Lagniappe and Shaking

No news on the adoption. Getting the silent treatment until our dossier is reviewed by CARA and we get NOC

SHAKE

Just in case you missed it the LA area had a small shaker yesterday. Not much damage but of course the "news" had to blow it way out of proportion. It was first thought to be a 5.8 but was later downgraded to a 5.4. From the quakes that I have been through unless it is 6.0 or greater they really don't do too much damage. as for figuring out scales…

Earthquake magnitude is a logarithmic measure of earthquake size. In simple terms, this means that at the same distance from the earthquake, the shaking will be 10 times as large during a magnitude 5 earthquake as during a magnitude 4 earthquake. The total amount of energy released by the earthquake, however, goes up by a factor of 32. Check out this for the latest quakes.

LAGNIAPPE

I didn't bring lunch yesterday so I walked to a Japanese place down the road. They have a great chicken teriyaki and veggie bowl, $5.36 out the door with extra ginger. A teenager was there counting out scrunched up dollars and spare change. What was wanted was $5.36 and what was on hand was exactly $5. I asked if she really wanted the bowl as I highly recommend it. A quick nod was what I got but she said she would get the bowl with no veggies. Can't have that, I said, get the bowl and here is the change you need. I then walked out. 20 steps down the sidewalk there was a commotion going on. One guy was acting like he had been stung by a bee. Literally jumped out of his seat and hopped 5 feet into the parking lot. I almost spilled my drink taking it in. I stopped and then noted the slight rolling motion. Ah earthquake, rolling not hard hitting, nothing big, keep it moving. Neophytes acting like they never experienced an earthquake before!

The wife was Jonesing for a pizza from Catalano's. It is a hole in the wall place in Long Beach. We have been going there for about 10 years or so. We have been in a habit of calling it Dave's (who is the owner) rather than by its proper name. This does sometimes get us into trouble when we don't have a menu at home and are looking for the phone number to call in an order. Case in point I told the wife to phone it in and I would pick it up on the way home. They have a very limited delivery range and they are definitely not in the neighbourhood. By the way they are not listed in the yellow pages under Dave. Maybe I should add them to the phone list…The past few times that we have been in Dave was either out on a run or had gone home for a break. When I got there he was there too. I said hello and that I would be right back as I had pics of the phamily. I showed him the eldest child the youngest child and said and this QT pie is waiting for us in India. He knew about the problems we had getting the first child going and knew that adoption was in our vocabulary. He was speechless when he saw our newest child. I feel as though I have robbed Dave as he said this pie was on the house.

Random act of kindness.

je

Road Blocks

Sleeping Constables (speed bumps for you yanks)

Ok so up until this point I have tried to keep emotion out of the blog and instead give you a sense of what hoops you will jump through to do an out of state and international adoption. This may seem disjointed as you do not have all the details of what has happened to date but my cup runneth over and this is vent time. I really like our Adoption Agency. We spent a lot of time back-grounding them, finding out where they live and even meeting a the chief big wig for a protracted breakfast meeting. Unfortunately our latest handler is just not as quick and on top of things as our other representatives.

Last month I got that yellow package from The Agency that had more forms and paperwork to gather for our trip. One of the key items is the Visa. As I stated before it is all done on-line. The only thing missing are passport photos. I sent a quick email to our handler to let them know that I was going to drop the application in the mail. Wow, I actually got a response. Don't mail it yet, it might expire before you go. Huh?? We are going in October right? – that is 3 months away and the visa is good for 6. Why are you saying we won't be going for more than 6 months from NOW? What is the hold up? According to the calculations we were on-track. Well did you see the e-mail about the timeline? Yep NOC/ Court Clearance/ICPC GO! According to what The Agency has told us, and you are a representative of said Agency, we should be getting the call to go sometime in October. Well, the NOC process hasn't started yet! WHAT?? You told us that as soon as we got the Dossier over to India that it would go tot eh NOC board. Yeah but… great here come the excuses… due to the needed updated material it was decided to not go to NOC blah, blah, blah, …we just gave it to CARA for NOC review Blah, blah, blah. All I get are excuses. You know Mr. Agency it would have been helpful if you had COMMINUCATED this to us earlier. Mr. Agency has not been forthcoming nor very helpful in keeping us in the loop. Did I mention that this is our 4^th handler? So I tried to pin them down on a new rough estimate based on their past experience of adoptions in India. Obviously when to start the clock got us hung up.

NOC clearance:

The non-objection clearance (NOC, I defined it before but who knows if you remember it) has been on the slow side. This clearance comes from CARA in Delhi for the child to be approved to be adopted by your family.

Start 01JUL08 complete 23SEP08 (assume 12 weeks could be more)

Court clearance:

After the NOC clearance the paperwork with attorneys head over to the Indian Courts. This takes anywhere from 6-9 weeks after NOC for court to clear.

Start 23SEP08 complete 25NOV08

The court papers are then translated from Hindi to English and sent to The Agency which is not in the state of California. Time: 2-3 weeks

start 25NOV08 complete 09DEC08

Crossing State Lines:

Oh no, you want to work with an agency that is not licensed in the state of California. You do know that inter-state bureaucracy just adds time? Now you have more papers that need to be filled, supposedly this is done without our involvement but do you think they will be on top of the game. Any chance of getting them prefilled? Based on past experience I doubt it. It is not that tough as all my docs for American Embassy in India are already prefilled and I passed them off to The Agency for review). I doubt The Agency will prefill the forms but will instead wait until they actually have the court papers in hand. Well that will add a day or two to the delay. Interstate trafficking involves an ICPC,

Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children:

An interstate compact, or agreement, that has been enacted into law by all 50 states in the United States, and the District of Columbia, which controls the lawful movement of children from one state to another for the purposes of adoption. Both the originating state, where the child is born, and the receiving state, where the adoptive parents live and where the adoption of the child will take place, must approve the child's movement in writing before the child can legally leave the originating state. This Compact regulates the interstate movement of both foster children and adoptive children.

Start 16DEC2008 complete 6JAN2009 (Estimated time frame)

Did you notice that they conveniently left out a week? Hey what are you guys going to be doing from the 9^th to the 16^th? Oh that's right Christmas shopping.

Once the IPC is completed and The Agency confirms that our daughter has a passport then we will be allowed to travel. It looks like I have to ask them to make sure that that gets started when the Indian court complete their business.

What Next?

I have been told that adopting is a test of patience. I think I am getting "D". You can read it in the tone of this posting. It could have been raised had our handler been a better communicator. It is not due to a lack on our part as when ever we have a question we send it up and usually get a response a 1 to 3 days later. But that is just the problem the only time we hear from our handler is when we initiate it. Based on no info we think everything was on schedule and on plan. Our previous handlers did not act this way and when they did not hear from us in a week, as we were getting our dossier together they would drop us a line to see what our progress was.

What next? – gotta pull out some of USCIS documentation. Some of it has expiration dates on it. Miss a date and you have to apply $700 or so more again. Depending on the form you may be able to get an extension. Fingerprints have a definitive drop dead date – no extension. Cha‑ching close to $200 for that. No way around that hit.

Is there a Silver Lining?

Nope. Maybe. Well she won't be here for Christmas so I don't have to buy her any Christmas gifts. She will miss all the crush of humanity and festivities that happen during that time. Then again India has some rather large festive holidays, not sure if our daughter gets to partake in any of them – I doubt it. In either case a whole bunch of strange relatives will not be trying to paw at her. And it gives us time to defend her against her relatives, one of which has taken to calling her "That girl from India". Yes this a very, very, close relative who knows that she already has a name and in fact was named before we even started the adoption process. SHIELDS UP! We remind them that that is our daughter they are talking about and she has a name to please use it. And finally, "Daddy's Little Tax Deduction", Google that one, will not be on this years taxes.

The wife says that airfares should be low because it will be after the holiday season. I hope the fares drop but I doubt they will.

Summary

• Visa – On hold until 4 months after we have received NOC
• USCIS Form I-600A once you submit this and all the paperwork the USCIS sends back form I-171H. Form I-171H is valid for 18 months from the date of completion of advanced processing (valid until Jun 2009). Form I-600 (sign it at the American Embassy with child in possession) must be accepted before June 2009.
• USCIS Finger Prints – expire November 9^th , CHA-CHING, would have been nice if The Agency told us up front to expect to pay for fingerprinting 2x.

je

Waiting Game

What can go worng? Well, spell check for one. What happened last month. Snafu with The Agency. Due to certain things being added into the Home Study which we were told would not be put in, they were put in we have had to modify the Home Study and create a couple of more documents for the notary and apostille process. We have been informed that these new/modified documents are now on their way to India.

In the mail we got a Yellow folder that has , yep, more forms to fill out. One is the USCIS form I-864. No reason that we could not have gotten this earlier, I did not know about it from my earlier wandering through the USCIS Adoption Web pages. This form is a How much $$ do you make in a year form. You will bump this up against the I-864P which changes each year and is the poverty line. You need to make 125% of poverty or have other proof of your net worth. If you do your taxes jointly then you will want to get a copy of form I-864A. You can prefill them but unless you want to get another notary don't sign them until you are told to do so, which will be at the embassy consulate in… India for us. Now the forms are a bit twisted because they ask for your "total income…as reported on my Federal tax return" . Huh? Form I-864 is for the Sponsor of which it is limited to a single entity, either the husband or the wife. Form I‑864A is for Household Member, in our case either the husband or wife that is not mentioned on the previous form. Yes I am trying to write this as confusingly as the forms are. If you can get through this paragraph then you can get through the forms. I-864A also asks for the total income as reported. Duh ain't that smart? If you file a joint tax return then there is only one total income that is reported. here is my solution:

1. prefill the I-864 & I-864a as much as possible but leave these odd sections alone until we need to sign.

2. prefill the forms in total, as much as possible, and see if I did it right when we get there. If not then pull out forms from 1.

3. If all else fails bring a total blank form with us.

Read the instructions a few times as you may need to bring notarised copies of pay stubs, tax forms, W2's.

Finally I have a full up version of Adobe Acrobat 5.0, yeah it is a few years old and the latest version of the free Adobe Reader. I-864 will open in both programs. In the reader you can even fill in the form and save it. Form I-864A will only open in the reader and you cannot save. Weird. So why do bring this up? I have been working on an application for grant $$ to fund this adoption. One of the 30 page applications is a pdf file that you download, print out and then fill in. I have bad scripting and the wife's hand is like a surgeon, steady but you can't read a thing she writes. I took a couple of hours to create form fields in the pdf so that, at my leisure, I could fill it in and have it legible. In the full up Adobe I can type in my answers and save them. In the reader version I can only type it then print it but am unable to save what was typed. How do I get this document set up so that another applicants can save the data using the reader, like form I-864?

Visa application – haven’t started it yet but we were told to do so. This is done on-line and once the 39 plus questions are answered it loads up the application for you to print out and send to the consulate in San Francisco.

WEWO (pronounced We –Woe) – there are a few parenting classes that we have to take. We have done 2 so far. One was offered through our agency and the other is/was a collaboration with another. The wife has talked a few times with our social worker who suggested a few books. She has just about finished with one and whooo weee is it a doozie. It is basically a treatise on what happens to children that are abused, neglected and tortured.

Well that is odd, my wooden chair at work just squirted out a ball bearing. Dang, when I bought the chair the wheels had been removed. I went to the equivalent of the Big Orange Box and got 4 new wheels. I purposely purchased wheels that were made in the USA. What did I get for my efforts – 6 months use. Back to our story…

WEWO is not as bad but it is similar. It prepares you for what you may encounter with your child. It arms you with a resource of if your child is behaving in a particular way it may be due to acts from the past. Some creepy things may have happened to your child before you get her/him. They may manifest themselves early on or maybe when hey reach teen-hood.

Speaking of the wee one. Some new friends of ours just picked up their child form the orphanage that our child is in. They took a few pics of our child as she was opening up a book that we sent along with a picture book of us, her new phamily and home. She is a bit malnourished as she is almost as high as our 2 ½ year old but weighs as much as our 7 month old. I think she is undergoing a growth spurt her head is out of proportion to her body.

je

Dossier-Apostille-Traipsing the USA

So a couple of months ago we sent the Dossier off to the president of the adoption agency. This is someplace off in Northern California. The representative that we have been in steady contact is located in central United States and we knew it would make its way there. The folks in North Cali wanted to go through everything to make sure we had dotted our I's and crossed our T's. We were told it looked ok and so it was sent off to a journey eastward. Unfortunately as soon as it got there we were informed that due to certification reason the India representative was going to be centrally located and our new representative was now somewhere in Oregon. Geez, is this dossier ever going to get over to India?

Well it finally got to OR-E-Gone and yep our stuff was not in order. Let's see. Some of the forms we signed were rather generic and needed to be notarized. So what did I do? Yep clumped them altogether and slapped one notary on it. Sorry each signed document needs a separate notary. nice. Oh by the way you had another child since the Home Study was done, we need another family photo with your 3 week old child oh and we need a statement that she is willing to have an adopted sister. Let's see two of the notaries expire this year, could you write a statement that these documents are true and valid and get that paper signed this will go on top of the pages with these "stale" notaries. By the way as you thought Kali-For-knee-ah, as our governor calls it, charges for each document not for each signer. CHA-CHING –that will be $800 plus please.

Good grief. I feel like a cow that has a vampire bat attached. A little here a little there. Just keep looking at the photo and you realize it is worth the trip.

The Dossier finally makes its way to the adoption agency's Indian rep. He goes through it and wants changes too. Uh that means these need notaries and Apostille too, more $$ honey.

So I started looking at flights as we may be traveling in October. If I get a ticket that allows for flight changes I can lock in my airfare sooner rather than later. Sounds ok since fuel prices and airline fares are only going up. Yikes – for 2 adults and one toddler (same price – no price breaks for families anymore) I am looking at anywhere from $15K to $21,000. Uh not in my budget. Cheapie fares, if I buy now , are about $6,000. Not cheap but quite less.

Books for Children

Well The last blog was finding resources on how to adopt and some the physical and emotional problems that may come with your child. Sorry about the typo MS Word had no problem with the title of the last book How To get Your Kid To east… It should have been Eat. In case you couldn't tell I suck at this blog stuff. I am trying to get it to use a particular font – sometimes it works lately it doesn't. One particular irk is the fact that I use 2 spaces between sentences – It seems as though that is no longer the norm. Then lists are a total baffle. Let alone getting things into bold underline and what have you. Someone said remember when we used 5 ¼ floppies and WordStar fit on one disk and there was room for a few letters too. Well this is somewhat similar to that. Great I thought we have gotten past 1985 writing where part of the writing was coding.

So much for that tangent. Here are a few books that our daughter has been reading. By the way as soon as we knew we were adopting we let her know that she was getting a sister from India and giving her a name. For privacy reasons I have purposely not used any names so I make up another one here… In early December our daughter said "Susan is coming soon". She really is ready for her sister.

Name/Author/ISBN

I'm a Big Sister /Joanna Cole / 0-688-14509-4

Adoption Is For Always / Linda Walvoord Girard / 0-8075-0185-9

We Belong Together / Todd Parr / 0-316-01688-3

I Love You Like Crazy Cakes / Rose Lewis / 0-316-52538-3

je

Educate Yourself About Your Child

The adoption agency my have you take an on-line course or two to prepare you for your child. No course is going to be able to predict the demeanour and behaviour of your child. We have taken a couple courses and at the very least they may prepare you for the worse possible case. We pray that in no way will our child have been subjected to the horrors that they have portrayed.

We have been doing some reading of our own. The books listed here are just what is in our library. I am not sure that even these are totally helpful. I think at best there are little nuggets of information that will help us once we get our child. At worse that have killed a few hours of time n the evening. There are listed in no particular order – they just fell off the shelf in this order

Name/Author/ISBN

Adopting in California

Randall B. Hicks

0-9631638-8-4

Adoption Resource Book

Lois Gilman

0-06-273361-3

20 Things Adopted Kids Wish Their Adoptive Parents Knew

Sherrie Eldridge

0-440-50838-X

Treasury of Adoption Miracles

Karen Kingsbury

0-446-53337-8

Making Sense of Adoption

Lois Ruskai Melina

0-06-096319-0

Adoption For Dummies

Tracy Barr/Katrina Carlisle

0-7645-5488-3

Shepherding A Child's Heart

Tedd Tripp

0-9663786-0-1

Adopting A Toddler

What Size Shoes Does She Wear?

Denise Harris Hoppenhauer

0-595-29724-2

Toddler Adoption

The Weavers Craft

Mary Hopkins-Best

0-944934-21-8

Parenting From The Inside Out

Daniel Siegel & Mary Hartzell

1-58542-295-9

How To get Your Kid To east…

But Not Too Much

Ellyn Satter

0-915950-83-9

je

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service

One of the forms that you need to complete and is not too tough to fill out but is costly is the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS or CIS) I-600A form. This year the form is changing numbers and of course you can expect a price increase.

Hague Treaty on Intercountry Adoption & Intercountry Adoption Act

On the 29th of February 2008, the U.S. Department of State announced all the US agencies which have been accredited under the Hague convention regulations.

On April 1, 2008, the U.S. will 'enter into force' with respect to the Hague convention. After that date, certain adoption agencies will not be able to work with families in the countries of China, India, Guatemala until they are accredited. THERE ARE EXECPTIONS TO THIS, however, agencies will be able to continue to work with families who have already started their adoptions (filed their I-600A with CIS).

Please carefully review this information below to insure that your case will be able to continue to move forward after April 1 2008.

Entry Into Force

The U.S. Department of State (DOS) has announced that the United States will 'enter into force' (EIF) concerning the Hague Treaty on Intercountry Adoption (or simply 'the Hague') on April 1, 2008. After this date, any person who applies for an international adoption with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (CIS) must comply with the U.S. Intercountry Adoption Act (IAA) if they want to adopt a child from a country that has also entered into force regarding the Hague Treaty.

For prospective adoptive parents (PAP), this mainly means that they will need to work with a U.S. accredited agency if they plan to adopt from a Hague Convention country. Accreditation requires an exhaustive review of agency policies and procedures to insure that they meet the requirements of the IAA. A central part of this review involves a visit to the agencies by the accrediting entity where the evaluators interview staff and families and inspect agency facilities and files.

Announcement of Accredited Agencies

On 29 February 2008 (known as the Unified Notification Date), the DOS announced the U.S. adoption agencies that have been accredited by the Council on Accreditation, the only national entity that can accredit adoption agencies under the IAA.

Adoption from Russia, Ethiopia and Ukraine are not affected by this treaty. These countries are presently not Hague Convention countries and so the IAA does not apply.

Most adoption agencies will still be able to work with families who want to adopt from China, India, and Guatemala (these are Convention countries), if they have applied to CIS (I-600A and all fees, including fingerprint fees) prior to April 1, 2008 (recommend: FedEx overnight by March 15, 2008).

This can be done because the IAA allows for a transitional period for families who have already applied to CIS prior to the entry into force date of April 1, 2008. In addition, they will be allowed to extend their I-171H approval on a one-time basis for free as long as they submit a new I-600A application (with cover letter and updated home study) prior to the expiration of their I-171H. In effect, they will have about 2 1/2 years from the date of their I-171H approval to complete their adoption as a transitional case. Families should not allow their I-171H approval to expire without renewal. Apply for renewal 30 days prior to expiration.

For example,

If a family applies to CIS by April 1, 2008 (using overnight FedEx by March 15), and plans to adopt from India or China, both Convention countries, then they will be counted as a transitional case.

*They can work with any accredited or non-accredited U.S. adoption agency that is approved by India.

*They may contract with their international agency before or after April 1, 2008.

*They and their agency will NOT be required to follow the procedures of the IAA.

*They can renew their I-171H approval one time before it expires and extend their approval an additional 18 months (if they apply for their I-171H on March 15, 2008, and receive an I-171H dated July 1, 2008, it will expire on about Jan 1, 2010; if they apply for a renewal on Dec 1, 2009, and they receive a free extension on Dec 20, 2009, for another 18 months, they will have until about June 20, 2011, to complete their adoption).

Families should not allow their I-171H approval to expire without renewal.

*But if they apply for only one child prior to April 1, 2008, and then later want to adopt that child's sibling, that second approval may well not count as a transitional case.

*Families are strongly urged to send their I-600A application to their CIS office by March 15, 2008, via an overnight package services like FedEx. Families should also be sure they are sending their package to the correct local CIS field office. Check https://egov.uscis.gov/crisgwi/go?action=offices.type&OfficeLocator.office_type=LO for the office that services your area.

*For families who wish to adopt from Guatemala (a Convention country), are recommend that they not start an adoption from there at this time, due to the unique legal and regulatory situation in that country. You may, however, continue working on Guatemalan cases that have already started.

If, however, a family applies to CIS after April 1, 2008 (or allows their I-171H approval to expire after April 1, 2008) and wants to adopt from India or China or Guatemala, they must comply with the IAA.

*They must work with an U.S. accredited agency that is approved by India, China or Guatemala.

*They must follow the requirements of the IAA. This means, primarily, that they must work with a U.S. agency that is accredited by the COA/DOS.

*The CIS approvals for families in Convention cases are for 15 months, not 18 months.

(*Families will be able to extend any approval to adopt in a Convention for an additional 15 months).

If a family applies to CIS after April 1, 2008, in order to adopt a child from Ukraine, Russia or Ethiopia,

*the case will be considered a non-Convention adoption,

*they can work with any accredited or non-accredited U.S. adoption agency that is approved by Ukraine,

*they may contract with their international agency before or after April 1, 2008,

*they and their agency will NOT be required to follow the procedures of the IAA,

*they can renew their I-171H approval one time without charge before it expires and extend their approval an additional 18 months

(for example, if they apply for their I-171H on March 15, 2008, and receive an I-171H dated July 1, 2008, it will expire on about Jan 1, 2010; if they apply for a renewal on Dec 1, 2009, and they receive a free extension on Dec 20, 2009, for another 18 months, they will have until about June 20, 2011, to complete their adoption).

*However, if Ukraine, Russia or Ethiopia enter into force concerning the Hague, the case may well be considered a Convention case and the family and agency will have to comply with the IAA. There is no announced provision for this kind of transitional case.

Below is some information on how to apply for a new I-171H:

Extension of I-600A Approval (I-171H)

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) will extend by 18 months an original I 171H approval without additional fees.

The USCIS Fee Schedule states, "If you already have an approved I-600A that is about to expire, and have not yet filed your I-600 petition, you can receive one free extension of your I-600A by filing a new I-600A without fee before the first expires."

Conditions

*The first request for extension of the I-171H will be accepted without a fee if the request is filed in advance of the expiration of the I-171H, and no I-600 has been filed with USCIS for adjudication of the approval of the child to immigrate to the U.S.

*This no charge extension is limited to only one occasion.

*A complete application and fee must be submitted for any subsequent application (after the free extension).

*No biometric (fingerprint) fee will be charged for an update of an approved I-600A.

*USCIS must receive the extension request no earlier than 90 days before the approved Form I600A expires (the I-171H), but before the Form I-600A approval notice (the I-171H) expires.

*The extension request and documents

Filing with USCIS

To request an extension, prospective adoptive parent(s) must submit

-a written request to the USCIS office that adjudicated the initial Form I-600A.

-the written request must explicitly ask for a onetime, no-charge extension to the current approved Form I-600A (IFS advises that families include a copy of their I-171H approval notice)

-an amended/updated home study and any other supporting documentation of any changes in the household,

-the home study amendment/update must address each issue under 8 CFR 204.3(e) (dealing with home study requirements) and indicate any changes.

-the home study must also address any changes to answers submitted with the initial Form I600A and must say whether approval is still recommended.

IFS recommends in most situations submitting the above to CIS 30 days before the I-171H expires via FedEx overnight delivery (note the tracking number, log onto FedEx.com and print the proof of delivery with signature).

enjoy

je

Notary & Apostille

NoTary - aka yes this is a real signature

Might as well jump right into this one. First of all you got to know your rights.  The State of California and I bet most states now regulate this aspect of documentation.  I do remember 30 years ago when getting a notary was a simple as reading a book and going down to the county registrar and filling out an application.  Well it is big business now.  Heck they even have on the codes the price you can charge.  Not to bad but remember this is per signature and it can add up quickly.

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/waisgate?WAISdocID=6917896482+0+0+0&WAISaction=retrieve

CALIFORNIA CODES
GOVERNMENT CODE
SECTION 8200-8230

8211. Fees charged by a notary public for the following services shall not exceed the fees prescribed by this section.

(a) For taking an acknowledgment or proof of a deed, or other instrument, to include the seal and the writing of the certificate, the sum of ten dollars ($10) for each signature taken.

(b) For administering an oath or affirmation to one person and executing the jurat, including the seal, the sum of ten dollars ($10).

Finding your Notary

How about some scenarios.  Some Kinko's offer Notary service.  As you can see there is a set fee that they can charge for the Notary.  That does not mean that they can't add on extra fees in doing the transaction, it just gets called another user type fee.  Ever make sense of your phone bill?  If you have a cell phone why does the city tax you?  It is not as though the city is doing anything to earn this fee that they charge.  Wouldn't you be better off using a PO Box in some city that has a really low tax rate - say somewhere in Nevada?  dang it getting off track here.  Another option is going to a bank.  Now some banks will only notarize their own records and won't go willy-nilly notarizing papers that have nothing to do with them.  Keep in mind that all the signers of the paper have to be there to sign too.  If you have a credit union you will find that they are more accommodating than your local, ah hem, Wells Fargo or WaMu, after all the credit union is your bank while the others are a business and the business is $$.  Ask your friends if they are a notary.  We hit the jackpot as one of our friend is a notary.  We decided to use, and I mean use, her as our primary source for the notary.  Strike a deal.  A grip can be saved.  Just how much.  Well for the use of our laundry machine and a few dinners this is what we have rung up.

Home Study Agency, approximately 12 forms needed notary signature and stamps.  Minimum notary cost $120.  Our cost, 2 dinners.

Adoption Agency, approximately 49 forms needed notary signatures and stamps.  Minimum notary cost $490.  Our cost, 3 loads of laundry.

Grand total just for notary ~$600.

Now our notary either came to us or we met after church or at a mutual friend house.  The real money is in the travelling notary business.  There are not fee restrictions for a travelling notary.  This is a notary that will, come to your house or meet you at a mutual location.  Check the yellow pages, the travelling rate ranges anywhere from $35 to see you to upwards of $100, plus the standard notary fee. 

Sob Story

So we thought we were almost done with getting everything done.  Take a close look at your notary.  It is best if their commission does not come for at least a year better to have two (2) from the date of the signature.  A couple of ours come due later this year and guess what.  That's right folks.  They sent the papers back to get them notarised again.  This was not our friends notary but the notary from the local police department 2x and one from a place of employment 1x.  For a second I thought I would have to get the reports redone but there is a way to just get a lead sheet put on them, you sign it and then get that notarise.  True and Valid report seems to be the words to use.  Cha-ching $30 more please.

Notarizing the Notary - just what the bloody heck is an Apostille?

the following is an excerpt from the State of California web site:

http://www.sos.ca.gov/business/notary/notary_authentication.htm

Notary Public
Authentication Information
Apostille or Certification

The California Secretary of State provides authentication of public official signatures on documents to be used outside the United States of America. The country of destination determines whether the authentication is an Apostille or Certification.

The California Secretary of State can only authenticate documents issued in the State of California by the following public officials and their deputies:
County Clerks or Recorders
Notaries Public

Some examples of documents submitted for authentications are:

Birth Certificates
Marriage Licenses
Papers for adoption purposes
Certificates of Non-Marital Status
Powers of Attorney

Documents submitted to the Secretary of State for authentication must be currently certified by the appropriate public official or must be notarized by a California Notary Public.

Any document executed by County Health Officers and County Local Registrars can be authenticated only if the document is first certified by the county clerk/recorder.

To avoid delays that may result from out-of-date documents, a document certified by a county official (e.g. county clerk) should have a certification date within the last five years or a new certified copy should be obtained from the appropriate county official.

The customer must identify the country of destination when the documents are submitted to the Secretary of State. If documents are submitted by mail to the Sacramento office, a letter identifying the country of destination must accompany the documents. To facilitate the processing of documents submitted by mail, please include a self-addressed envelope.

There is a $20.00 processing fee (per signature authenticated) and a $6.00 special handling fee (per public official for documents submitted over the counter).

Clear?

Well the Apostille notarizes the notary signature.  It verifies to a higher level the signature of the notary.  It says yep this notary is really authorised to stamp these papers.  Instead of being at a county of city level you have now travelled up to the state level.  I equate an Apostille as being out sick during grade school.  Generally a parents note would be ok.  If the school played hardball then they would also ask for a note from the doctor.  Not a good enough analogy, ok how about. The crime scene investigator says that is your fingerprint on the gun.  Just to make sure the print , the gun and a copy of your prints are sent to the FBI and now the FBI says yep the results that the local police force said are true that is really your print we concur.

The cost of this the Apostille is even steeper than the notary.  Oh it gets good.  In some states, not California mind you the rate is only $5, yes I do have a $5 Apostille from another state.  In some states it is even cheaper if you tell them that the Apostille is for an Adoption, I paid $3 in one state, not so in California.  How much will the Apostille run.  I don't know.  I am still waiting for a bill from the Adoption Agency.  It depends on how the state of California decides to break down the paperwork.  For California I have about 5 unique State of California notary signatures that are to be verified.  I could get a bill for $100.  However, that signature is on various forms, letters, photographs and it would not surprise me one bit if they consider each signed document as a signature.  In that case I have over 49 documents for the adoption and that will skyrocket the cost to almost $1000.  Seeing how cash strapped the state of Kali-forn-ya is I wonder just what the rate will be.

je 

The Home Study Forms

We plunk down a grip of cash for the Home Study.  In return we get a pile of documents.  Take note, you will get a bigger pile from the Adoption Agency.  If you want to save time it may be best to do them in tandem.  There is some overlapping.  As an example, your references. 

So just what do you have to gather?  Bank records, bank reference letter (notarized of course), a bio, medical clearance forms, blood test for a few diseases (not covered by most insurances), tax records for the past 3 years, live scan finger printing, personal finance statement (debits and credits, net worth, liability), affirmations that you are a pillar of the community, firearms statement, grievance procedure, confidentiality statement, numerous releases to help you gather info for this list.

Did you get that last part.  Yeah we signed a bunch of releases, had then notarized and sent them off to the HS.  Guess what they do not run this information down for you.  Oh no this is your own private Paper Chase.  They came back with a little note telling us that these are to "Help you facilitate getting these documents."

I am really going to have to get a blog for Notary soon.  Suffice it to say that every piece of paper to both the HS and the AA will need to be notarized.

Reference Letters

Now one would think that a reference letter is a reference letter.  Guess what not all reference letters are created equal.  For the HS the references had a form to fill out.  One engineer friend of mine took the form and gave very short answers.  Looking at the questions it is probably the easy I would have answered them.  After all they only gave you a very short space to write in.  Well guess what?  Talking to the social working they really want you to put you answers on a separate sheet of paper.  Well that wasn't in the instructions.  I told my references to keep the reference answers to one page.

The AAA on the other hand just asks for a reference letter.  Humm a blank sheet of paper, and no direction.  After watching too many crime shows I felt as if our references were in the room and the pad and pencil was thrown down to them and good cop says, "Just write down what you know about the perp".  Choose your references carefully.

On both forms they want the reference's name, address, phone  number and if available e-mail addy.

Bank Records

You have got to be kidding me you want a statement from each of my banks.  Great.  I have $$ in CD in Denver, a credit Union in Sacramento, a mortgage from Montana, an IRA in New York, and three different banking facilities in Los Angeles, and you want a notarized statement from each of them?  And the chase begins.  Lets just say that one bank did not have a notary and had to send it to another bank to get said notary.  Another bank sent me a notarised letter but no –one signed it.  One bank said there would be a charge for such information.  I told them that if they charge me then I would close out my accounts with them.  Oh sorry, they thought I needed it today and to get a notary there that day would involve a charge.  And if I wait until your part time employee who has the notary come to work?.  Well then, it would be free of course.  If you are going in for a face-to-face then be prepared to make it a multi day event.  First of all some banks and especially credit unions do not have the data readily available.  Such as the average balance for the last three (3) years, total deposits for each year.  There really is no problem getting the material it just takes time and a good sense of humour finding the banker that has the skills required for the task at hand.

Blood Test

Well it really is more than a blood test.  Some of the forms are a check off yes or no for a series of popular diseases that may disqualify you.  There is a requirement for a blood draw and test of said diseases.  Now unless you go in and tell your doc that you recently had a tattoo from, had unprotected relations with either the local gigolo or harlot and now you have this funny rash that won't go away these tests are generally not covered by your health insurance policy.  Especially if you are in an HMO (Health Maintenance Organization), guess what HMO's and even a lot of PPO's do not operate with a preventative charter.  No as Michael Moore and quite a few others have pointed out that would mean they would have to spend some of the $$ that you give to them each pay check on you and that means that their bonus at the end of the year would be reduced.  Well our health system is a whole 'nother blog in itself.  Plan on this out of pocket expense costing you anywhere from a couple hundred dollars to a few hundred dollars per person.  Did I forget to tell you that each member of the family has to have these tests?

Finally there is the Bio

Again, at a least for us, it was simpler to just create a WordStar (had to throw that little program from the '80's in) type file for this.  Get your name on each page.  Get ready for a series of questions that are going to take you some time to think about and form a response.  We had real fun putting together the names of your parents, brothers and sisters and their children.  They want names, date of births, years married, years divorced, education, what they do, your education. phone numbers.  Mine was rather easy 2 parents still married, 3 siblings and 3 nephews and nieces.  Helloooo Nurse on the other had has step nine sisters and step-sisters (that we know about), some whom we haven't talked to in over 7 years.  We answered the questions as best we could.  There is not role playing per se but there are what if questions.  When looking at them I said to myself, well it is one thing to write down how I think I will respond to a situation but it is a whole other thing to be actually in the scenario and respond.  My bio was over 10 pages long. 

One of the questions asked was if you have any incidents that are defining in your early childhood.  I had two.  One was surviving the bombing of Roseville and having dog show in Orangevale that day.  We lived in a town that on either side were two Air Force bases.  Bombs destined for Vietnam were shuttled through.  One day a train load got fire and started cooking off.  At first I thought it was just jets breaking the sound barrier.  Back in the 60's and 70's it was fairly common.  It was really cool being outside when it happened.  First you didn't know when some hot shot pilot would break out and then the shock wave would literally vibrate you to your bones.  Man that was great.  Well here I am think man those guys are going crazy today.  Later in the day you could see the smoke from the explosions.  Ever try to have a dog off leash at a regional show day.  It doesn't work too well.  So that was one defining day.  The other also involved a dog from 4-H.  This was state champions.  One was showmanship.  My bitch lost out to a purebred.  I was crushed because I know my mutt showed well.  The judge gave me second and told me that the purebred will always get scored above a mutt, thus I walked away with second.  Later in the day we had obedience.  The last skill was to get the dogs to lay down for five (5) minutes with you out of site.  As we were putting the dogs through their paces I noticed that there was some candy on the floor.  I left it there.  When we ad to get the dogs to lay I made sure my mutt was no where near the candy.  The purebred that I lost to though put his dog next to the treat.  Yeah Baby.  Yep I got the blue ribbon for that one.  I think I also scored style points because for the life of me I could not get my dog to lay down.  The only way I could get her to do it was to have her lay on her back.  So there is this mutt four paws in the air for 5 minutes.  Not bad.

Here are some links on the train hazard.  Thirty years later the farms are being turned over into cookie cutter home and every once in a while either a shell casing or a whole bomb gets unearthed.  They didn't have fuses in them but the high energy explosives are still viable.

http://www.insideroseville.net/2004-fall/article-rails.html

http://www.cnn.com/US/9710/19/bombs.found/index.html

http://www.hq.usace.army.mil/cepa/pubs/jan99/story8.htm

http://www.sonomacountyfreepress.com/archives/hassna/roseville.html

Financial Help

This list was given to us by an agency unsolicited, so to speak, they just gave it to us in June 2007. I don't think it is as extensive as the "angelfire" web site that I linked you to earlier.

je

Adoption Financial Assistance List

www.oxfordadoption.com They do 0% interest loans for 3 years, then 3% for 3 and then 6% for 3 and you can pay it off anytime without penalties. Oxford Adoption Foundation, Inc. provides low interest loans for families. It is a nonprofit charitable foundation formed in 2003. They limit the loan to a maximum of $10,000 (typically $5,000 per adopted child). Their typical loan is 0% for the first three years; 3% interested for the next three years; and 6% interest for the remaining three years, thereby creating a nine year loan. The loan can be paid at any time, either in part or in full. There are no prepayment penalties.

Adopt$hare:

www.adoptshare.org Adopt$hare, 17662 Highway 55, Sterrett, AL 35147. Tammy & Tim Spence

JSW Foundation

Grants of $2,000 or more awarded quarterly on the basis of need. Preference is given to childless couples with an income under $35,000. One grant awarded quarterly. Average grant amount is $3,000, but can go as high as $5,000. 127 E. Main St., Port Washington, WI 53074. For an application, Contact: Eugene T. Wyka, (262) 268-1386. www.jsw-adoption.org.

Northwest Airlines Special Delivery Program:

Significant fare discounts for international adoptions. Now they can fly right into your arms. Northwest Airlines and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines want to help you and your new family member off to a flying start. We're offering Special DeliverySM fares to families adopting children from any of our over 100 international destinations throughout Asia, Africa, Europe, India and the Middle East. When you're going to experience the joy of receiving your child, KLM/Northwest Airlines' Special Delivery is there for you. When you have your travel dates and are ready to make a reservation, please call KLM/Northwest International adoption fare specialists at 1-800-322-4162 Mon-Fri 7:30am - 7:30pm CST or visit www.nwa.com/features/adopt

Rainbow Kids:

www.rainbowkids.com

National Adoption Information Clearinghouse (NAIC):

www.calib.com/naic/parents/finan.htm. 1-888-251-0075

India Parenting:

www.indiaparenting.com

Feng LiLi:

(Request Application) Meet quarterly or on demand, when necessary to review applications. Feng LiLi, 180 Laurel Avenue, Forest, IL 60045, (847) 482-0500.

Ibsen Adoption Network:

(WA State residents only) Meets quarterly to select applications for small grants of $1,000 for waiting children. Contact Person: Marilyn Bribane. Ibsen Adoption Network, 2730 French Road NW, Olympia, WA 98502, (360) 866-7036. Fax: (360) 866-7059.

National Adoption Foundation:

NAF has established a $9 million revolving loan bank to provide unsecured loans to adoptive families. Your payments and interest then help other adoptive parents. Also offers fixed-rate MBNA Home Equity Loans. For more information about an MBNA Home Equity Line of Credit or loan, contact your MBNA representative by calling Toll-free 1-800-841-1982 (use code AAAP). Both loan programs are financed through MBNA. The foundation has a limited program to provide grants, usually in the $2,500 range, to assist families with adoption costs. You can call the foundation to request that an application packet be sent to you. For grant information, call: (203) 791-3811. For loan information through the National Adoption Foundation, call MBNA bank at: 1-800-448-7061.

The National Adoption Foundation, 100 Mill Plain Road, Danbury, CT 06811

Children of the World:

27 E. Hillvale Rd, Syosset, NY 11791

International Adoption Assistance Foundation, Inc. (Formerly known as IAAF):

6420 Tokeneak Trail, Mobile, AL 36695-2940. Contact: Donald L. Parker or Linda J. Bushy, Directors.

God's Grace Adoption Ministry:

Offering Grants and Loans. Call (209) 572-4539 for more information. God's Grace Adoption Ministry, P.O. Box 4, Modesto, CA 95353.

Bright Futures Foundation:

Offers small grants. Contact: Jill Tate, Executive Director. E-mail: bfadopt@hotmail.com. www.homestead.com/brightfutures.

A Child Waits:

Loans are given for International Adoption (7 % interest). Phone: (413) 499-3992, Fax: (413) 499-2338. 1136 Barker Rd, Pittsfield, MA 01201. www.achildwaits.org.

Military Adoption Reimbursement Program:

Military non-recurring program is a one-time subsidy program for full-time military personnel. Adopting couples can receive up to $2,000 reimbursement on adoption expenses for one child or $5,000 for siblings. Eligible personnel should complete DD Form 2673 (Reimbursement For Adoption Expense). See Defense Finances and Accounting Service Instruction 1341.

The Dave Thomas Foundation For Adoption Foundation:

Founded in 1992 by Dave Thomas, founder of Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburger Restaurants. The Foundations 3 goals: 1) Educate Americans about the benefits of adoption. 2) Make adoption more affordable by helping the public and private sectors initiate innovate programs. 3) Cut red tape from the process. For more information contact: Dave Thomas Foundation For Adoption in Columbus, OH. At (614) 764-3009.

United Way International

Provides assistance for costs of travel for children adopted with illness needing immediate medical attention. Applications selectively considered and must be supported with a doctor's statement.

United Way International; Attn: Melissa Guerra; 701 N. Fairfax St.; Alexandria, VA 22314. (703) 519-0092

Slavic Humanitarian Association, Inc. (SHA)

All families adopting from Russia make donations in cash to the orphanage through their agency. If their agency does not have a Tax Exempt status and does not make special arrangements for their families to make that donation tax deductible, families cannot deduct this money in taxes. SHA can help families in this matter. SHA is a tax-exempt public service organization that distributes its donations to Russian Dept. Of Education, orphanages, hospitals, etc. If you make your donation through SHA, it becomes tax deductible. For information, contact: SHA staff at: (616) 457-6537. E-mail address: IAAInc@aol.com

The National Adoption Center in Philadelphia

This organization has a program entitled Adoption and The Workplace, which provides services and materials to employers desiring to address the work/life issues of employees who adopt. For a list of corporations who give grants for adoption, contact: The National Adoption Center in Philadelphia; 1500 Walnut St. Suite 701; Philadelphia, PA 19102; (215) 735-9988. Fax: 215-735-9410. E-mail address: nac@adopt.org. www.adopt.org

Employer Benefits:

Many employers provide a range of benefits for families who adopt (including paid or unpaid leave when a child arrives in the home, reimbursement of some portion of adoption expenses, assistance with adoption information and referral services, etc.) Corporate human resource departments will provide employees with information about benefits available, if any.

Adoption Benefits: Employers as Partners in Family Building: www.calib.com/naic/factsheets/benefits.htm.

For a list of Employers Offering Adoption Benefits, go to: www.calib.com/naic/factsheets/benefit2.htm.

The National Adoption Center publishes the Guide For Employee Benefits. Contact them at: (215) 735-9988 or 1-800-TO-ADOPT. www.adopt.org. If your employer does not offer incentive programs for adoption, you can call 1-800-TO-ADOPT for Materials on how to get things started.

State Subsidy for Special Needs Children

Some states provide a subsidy for special needs children. The definition for 'special needs' can be very broad. For example, in South Carolina, adoptive parents are receiving a $1,500 subsidy for children simply because there is no information about the birth father. Contact the State Department of Social Services where you live.

Capital One

Offering a credit card with a limit of up to $20,000 at a fixed rate of 9.9% over the long term (not just an introductory rate). www.222.capitalone.com

Adoption Tax Credit

The government has recently increased the adoption tax credit; this is not a deduction but a tax credit. This credit reduces the tax burden dollar for dollar of adoption related expenses. For more information call you tax person or see www.irs.ustreas.gov/forms_pubs/forms.html You should also inquire about similar credits offered by state and municipal governments. If your tax bill is smaller than the credit, the unused portion of the credit may be carried forward for up to five years. Tax Benefits For Adoption (guideline pamphlet), Publication # 968. Call IRS to order at: 1-800-829-3676. www.irs.ustreas.gov

"How To Make Adoption An Affordable Option"

This is a comprehensive booklet, published by the National Endowment for Financial Education. Available free-of-charge from the: Consumer Information Center, Pueblo, CO 81009, (719) 948-4000 Ask for Item # 602-E. Booklet available on Internet site also: www.nefe.org

Raising Money Through Other Sources

Look into Home Equity Loans or Refinance. Some banks offer low-interest loans or credit lines for adoptive parents. Borrow from family members. Borrow from a 401K. Borrow from a Life Insurance Policy. Contact Airlines requesting a reduced rate or waive of fees to get your child.

Raise money through church and community support:

Car Washes, Raffles, Neighborhood Yard Sales, School Projects, Bake Sales, Collections at Local Grocery Stores, Collections through job.

Norman Hecht

Banker Norman Hecht, who is also an adoptive parent, has written an article for Adoptive Families Magazine on working to meet adoption expenses. You can request a free reprint from Adoptive Families of America by calling: 1-800-372-3300. www.adoptivefam.org

Hebrew Free Loan Association

Jewish families may apply for interest free loans to Jewish adults who wish to adopt domestically or internationally. www.hflasf.org/adopt-loans.html

Laundry Money

All that change and crinkled up dollar bills that get tossed in the hamper can go into a child's fund. Maybe it's the money that will buy clothing for your new child to travel home in, or the gifts you wish to give once you arrive at the orphanage. Maybe the money could buy the bedding for your kid's new room. Think of the potential. Plan to put a family portion aside every time you spend: What would your child have had for dinner? (Eating out). His/her portion gets paid for in the child's fund.

AdoptNet

www.adoptnet.org. Support groups, adoption tax credits, financial adoption assistance.

Topeka Community Foundation

A fund has been established with the Topeka Community Foundation that will provide financial assistance to individuals and couples desiring to complete domestic and international adoptions. Kansas residents or those persons with Kansas ties will be given first preference. For additional information and to obtain an application for assistance, call (785) 272-4804 or contact the foundation at tcf@cjnetworks.com.

Methodist Church in Nebraska

Methodist Church in NE has a fund for supporting families adopting from Russia. This fund helps to defray travel costs. Contact Keith Hewitt at (847) 664-2240.

Federal Government

If you are in the process of adopting, the Federal government has provided for a maximum $2000 reimbursement to assist in the adoption of special needs
children. (Children who have been abandoned/orphaned qualify as special needs in most states, and most orphanage kids have diagnoses that would qualify them even in the states that don't blanket accept "abandonment") This reimbursement is an actual check, and is used to offset the cost of home studies, attorney fees, travel for the child, etc.

The catch is you MUST apply for this reimbursement before you adopt. Once you have adopted your child, you are not eligible for their reimbursement or subsidies.

For more info, call (800) 470-6665 or email: info@nacac.org

http://www.nacac.org/subsidyfactsheets/internationaladoption.html

http://www.nacac.org/subsidy_stateprofiles.html

NEW ADOPTION FINANCING PROGRAM

AdoptionFinancing.com is now offering a brand new adoption financing program. Fill out the application at AdoptionFinancing.com and they will work with their network of more than 30 different lenders to find the right financing for your needs.

52 NEW COUNTRY-SPECIFIC INTERNATIONAL ADOPTION WEBSITES

Adoption.com and Adopting.org have launched a new website for nearly every country with an active international adoption program. Each website features many country-specific resources related to adoption, travel, tourism, history, waiting children, adoption agencies, translators, currency converters, weather, news, maps, message boards, books, and dozens of other links to resources. You can find links to all of these new websites at InternationalAdoption.org, or visit some of the most popular countries: http://China.Adoption.com, http://Russia.Adoption.com, http://Guatemala.Adoption.com, http://Romania.Adoption.com, http://Kazakhstan.Adoption.com, or http://Vietnam.Adoption.com

Adoption Network

http://adoption-network.com

Love Knows No Borders

(203) 459-4575. Gives grants for international adoptions

Shaohannah's Hope

www.ShaohannahsHope.org. For more information about adoption assistance, please call Shaohannah's Hope toll-free at (800) 784-5361 or e-mail at: sccmusic@stevencurtischapman.com.

1st Steps Project Oz Fund

1st Steps Project Oz Fund is administered by 1st Steps for assistance with special needs adoptions.

(570) 226-4448 or 1-866-kids4us

Email: Adopt@Kids4us.org

Acres of Hope

This is a non-profit charitable foundation dedicated to providing educational information, emotional support, parent-to-parent support, advocacy services, financial assistance, and a loan program of items helpful to families dealing with children of physical and emotional challenges. In addition, their mission is to promote greater community understanding, acceptance, and support for families involved in adopting special needs children cross-racially and cross-culturally.

Contact:

Acres of Hope, Inc.

Patty Anglin

Executive Director

Route 1 Box 97

Mason, WI 54856

Phone: (715) 765-4118

Fax: (715) 765-4119

Email: thenest@cheqnet.net

www.acresofhope.com/foundation.htm

Adoption Subsidy

Children with special needs may qualify for an adoption subsidy which is paid to adoptive families to help them pay for their child's need for ongoing therapies or treatment. Adoption subsidy agreements must be negotiated with the placing agency before the child's adoption is finalized.

For more information contact the North American Council for Adoptable Children at www.nacac.org/adoptionsubsidy.html

Non-Recurring Adoption Expense Reimbursement

After families have finalized the adoption of a child with special needs from the public child welfare system, they may be able to apply for reimbursement of expenses they paid related to the adoption, which may include home study fees, travel expenses to meet the child, attorney fees, etc. Each state sets a maximum cap which cannot exceed $2,000 per adoption.

Alla Adoption Agency

Alla Adoption in conjunction with Yunona Orphan Relief Fund are offering grants for qualified families toward international adoption using our service. Grants are: $2000 per one child, $4000 for two children. Please send us a letter explaining your hardship and any other details you consider important. Your request will be given consideration and you will be notified about our decision shortly.

Please send requests to:

AllaAdoption

Attn. Grant Request

3581 W. Benjamin Holt Drive #166

Stockton, CA 95219

www.allaadoption.com/index.htm

Americans Adopting Orphans

Each quarter the Board of Advisors will meet to recommend that individual families receive grants to help them with their adoption. www.orphans.com

Americans Adopting Orphans

12345 Lake City Way NE #2001

Seattle, WA 98125

Home Office Phone: (206) 52-4-KIDS (5437)

FAX: (206)527-2001

or....

Americans Adopting Orphans

9999 Manchester Road #369

St. Louis, MO 63122-1927

Branch Office Phone: (314) 963-7100

aao@orphans.com

China Care Foundation

Financial Aid for Adopting Families: Many adopting families cannot afford the $16-20,000 cost of adoption. China Care is trying to alleviate this burden through loans and grants. They are especially interested in helping families who are adopting special needs children. Many mildly disabled children, such as with cleft lip and clubfoot, can be made healthy through surgery and lead completely normal lives in American families.

In order to encourage the adoption and care for orphans from China, the China Care Foundation:

**Provides financial aid in the form of grants or loans for the adoption and/or medical treatment of orphans. Many families can afford to take wonderful care of their children, but cannot afford the one-time cost of adoption.

Contact Information:

http://chinacare.org/adoptions.html

Greenwich Ave. Post Office

P.O. Box 142

Greenwich, CT,06807

Tel: 203.861.6395

Fax: 203.618.0470

Ours By Grace

Ours by Grace was started by an adoptive mom to help soften the financial burden that adoption often causes families. They do fundraisers to raise a pool of money and once that pool reaches $500 they award a grant to a family whose application is on hand.

A $15 application fee is required and all money goes towards the grant fund.

www.oursbygrace.com/apply.html

Ours By Grace

225 N. Third Street

Brighton, MI 48116

Siblings Adoption Grants

Siblings Adoption Agency offers grants for qualified families toward international adoption. Grants are as follows: $2000 per one child, $4000 for two children. Please send us a letter explaining why it is a hardship for you. Your request will be given closest consideration and you will be notified about their decision shortly. www.siblingsadoption.com/welcome.htm

Grant Request Form - www.siblingsadoption.com/grantrequest.htm

Or send request to:

Siblings Adoption

*Attn. Grant Request

508 High Point Drive

Golden CO 80403

Phone: (303)216-9009

info@siblingsadoption.com

The International Adoption Center

www.adoptlaw.org/tiac_htm/7specpro.htm

The International Adoption Center provides adoption grants to qualifying families for their adoption programs up to a maximum of $1,000 per couple. A submission letter of financial need with supporting documents is required for consideration.

Contact:

International Adoption Center

7401 Old York Road

Elkins Park, PA 19027

Phone: (215) 782-1191 Fax: 215.782.1193

Email: info@adoptlaw.org

Adoption Friendly Workplace

The National Adoption Center has conducted surveys of public and private employers throughout the United States to compile a list of employers that offer adoption benefits. http://www.adoptionfriendlyworkplace.org/employers.asp

A Child's Desire

A Child's Desire, Inc. is a 501 c(3) children's charity. A Child's Desire offers adoption grants to children waiting over a year in an orphanage for a family to choose them. More information can be found at www.aChildsDesire.org