Adoption lingo and some answered questions

I am so immersed in the world of adoption, that sometimes I speak the lingo and forget that I didn't even know what half of these words meant before we started this process!   In turn, I get many blank stares when I use words like referral, dossier, and apostille.  :)  So I just thought I would clarify some of them...

Home Study- As part of the adoption screening process a home study is required. It is a detailed written report of your family compiled and prepared by a social worker. This course usually takes around 3 months to complete. During your home study you have a designated social worker that you meet with.  The paperwork and interviews are all part of the process to insure that you are fit for parenting and that your home is ready for a child.


Dossier-(pronounced “dah see ay”) The dossier is a fancy way of referring to all of the required paperwork that you work on and acquire (such as your home study, original copies of birth certificates, marriage certificates, police background checks, employment letters, tax returns, etc.) that will eventually be sent to the country you are looking to adopt from. These legal documents are used to process the adoption of a child so that the family may obtain legal custody of the child in foreign court and be brought by the adoptive parents to the United States.

Referral: this is the package of information that contains your child's photo, medical and personal information. 

Apostille:  Basically a "super notary".   Almost every piece of paperwork has to be notarized and then apostilled by the secretary of state.  Since ours is in Olympia, we are fortunate that I can just drive there one, two, or six times.  :)


I-600A:  Application For Advance Processing of Orphan Petition.  You need this approved before you can travel for your court date, but your home study has to be completed before you can mail in the application.

Gotcha Day!- This cute adoptive term refers to the day that an adoptive family brings their child home! After months and sometimes years of waiting the family celebrates their “gotcha day” as the start of their new family!

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Due to paperwork agreements we have signed with our agency, we aren't allowed to share some particular details of our adoption on this blog.  For example, we can't post any pictures of our referral, tell you her Russian name, talk about her specific location, or say exactly when we are traveling.  So all I can tell you is that we should be traveling soon.  Really really soon.  :)

And to answer some more questions...

How many times do you have to travel to Russia before bringing your daughter home?
In Russia, you usually have to travel three times when you are adopting.  (We are flying standby, which makes it a bit more tricky, but saves us thousands of dollars.  ;)  The first time you are going to meet your child and sign paperwork that you want to adopt him/her.  The second time, around 6-12 weeks later, you have a scheduled court date to officially adopt your child.  After that, there is a ten day mandatory waiting period, hence the third trip for us.  (You can stay in Russia during the waiting period, but that would be too long for us to leave our boys. :)  Then, on the third trip, you finally get to bring your sweet little one home.  Gotcha Day!

Are you going to name her or keep her Russian name?
We are in the process of coming up with a name for our little girl.  (More common than not, orphans are just casually named by someone who works in the orphanage.)  When I was pregnant with our three boys, we had nine months to think of a name.  As soon as I saw this sweet girl's face though, I wanted to name her immediately!  That's the other part that is sooooo different... we really want her name to match what she looks like to us.  When you give birth, they just kind of naturally grow into their name! 

How are your boys reacting to the adoption?
Ever since Jacob had a dream about having a baby sister, he pretty much thinks this entire thing was his idea!  He prays every night for God to keep his baby sister in Russia safe and healthy.  Lately, he has even been taking good care of Casey to prove what a great big brother he will be to her.  He holds Casey's hand when we are running errands, reads him books before bed, helps him build train tracks, pushes him on the swing...  it's the sweetest thing.  Gavin is our chill, laid back one so he is usually down with anything.  He had colored four bookmarks the other day though ~ one for Mommy, one for Daddy, one for Jacob, and one for baby sister.   He even said, "Oops, forgot Casey!"  Casey is so little that he doesn't really understand yet.  We talk about his baby sister a lot though so he will point to his old crib and say "Dat crib for baby shisher."  Inside the crib, there is a little pillow pet and a doll that he tells me are for baby shisher too.  :)

One of my friends has two little girls who are really excited to meet our little girl too.  She told me that when her youngest plays with dolls, she will now point out which ones came from her tummy and which ones she adopted.... which I think is so endearing!  :)  She has been giving me her girls' clothes and some other cute things so yesterday, Jacob said, "You've gotten a lot of things for my baby sister...  you're pretty friendly!"

Everything is happening so fast, but we are so excited!  God has been leading us every step of the way and we have complete confidence that He will be with us until our daughter in safe in our home and in our arms.  We might even have her home for Christmas.  ;)