Almost Done with Paperwork

I can't believe we are almost done with the gathering of paperwork. The process is a lot of work and requires good organization, but really it has gone much quicker than we were told. It helps that we were both on the same page of overdrive to get it done.

What all have we done so far?

- Fingerprinted twice. The original set was with ink and paper and we mailed those out to the homestudy agency. Apparently for interstate adoption (we may be chosen by a birthmother from anywhere in the US) we need electronic fingerprints. We were told this can take up to 11 weeks, so we rushed and made an appointment for yesterday afternoon. We had the official results within 2 hours :)

- Each wrote a 4 page autobiography. I have to admit this was not my best work. It is used by the homestudy agency only to try to get to know me better. After the interview with all the same basic questions, I didn't spend as much time on this as I would have prior to the interview, but all the information was there.

- Filled out an assets versus liabilities form and emailed a list of our monthly bills and income.

- Completed a 25 page form with probably just shy of 100 questions for a foster application eventhough we will not be fostering. Apparently it is a state law to have one in your file regardless.

- Completed the home interview which was 3.5 hours long of questions.

- Each had a physical exam.

- Insurance forms with proof of home/renters and auto insurance as well as both of our life insurance policies

- Letter of employment with salary for both of us

I think that was it for the homestudy so far.

What do we still need to do?

- 18 hours of education via online courses

- Copies of our birth certificates and marriage license.

- Copy of last year's taxes

- Copy of our health insurance policy stating that an adopted child would be covered

- 3 letters of reference

Whew! We are getting there. I contacted the insurance company today and they will email me a copy of the policy. Dusty gathered our marriage license and birth certificates this morning and made copies. That should leave the taxes, letters of reference and education to go :)

This is on top of the profile that is being worked on which included almost 50 pictures I sent and 5 full pages of text. I don't know what we will do once we are in the waiting phase.