Here's a Courthouse, There's a Courthouse

If you are in the process of adoption or like to know the details, read away. If you are not and just want the family update & cliff notes, feel free to simply "read" the pictures :)

Adoption comes with a lot of paperwork. A lot. Paperwork does have important purposes: protection for all involved parties (especially the children), clarity, education, practice, patience, and more patience.
Documents for the Adoption Dossier (DOSS-EE-AY => collection of official papers containing all sorts of information on the prospective adoptive parents (PAPs) sent to the child's country of residence) require notarization prior to state and federal authentication.

Rules vary by state, but in Georgia, an extra authentication step is required for each document if you are adopting from certain countries. Ethiopia is one of those countries. That extra step is Notary Certification or County Authentication of the notary's commission, meaning you have to go the the Clerk of Superior Courts in the county where the notary received their commission. As we quickly learned, this is not necessarily the same county in which the notary works or resides.  

Heck, it was so fun we even took a friend!

Most county authentications cost $2-3/document

We made trips to seven different courthouses to collect these certifications; for the record: Oconee, Jackson, Morgan, Walton, Clarke, Madison and DeKalb. If you'll be doing the same around this area, here's a heads up: quite a few times, the initial staff member did not know what I was seeking. Someone in the office will know. Just make sure you also tell them you need this to get the document state sealed.

Fortunately, most of these courthouse visits don't take long once you are actually at the courthouse.

The kids thought it was pretty cool to walk through the metal detectors and wanted to make guesses about what would make them beep (@ one, J's glasses set it off.)

In the event your friendly staff member @ a Clerk of Superior Courts doesn't know what you need, you can nonchalantly say, "You see kids, here is where they look up the notary from this paper and fill out a statement verifying the notary is commissioned in this county by listing the dates their commission began and expires. Then they will sign the statement and add their county seal."

TIPS for Prospective Adoptive Parents (PAPs):
* There are different requirements for Hague and Non-Hague Countries (find info here).
* Currently, the State of Georgia requires Apostilles for dossier documents going to Hague Countries and State Seals for Non-Hague (find info here).

* According to our agency, states requiring the additional step for county authentication of the notary at this time include: AL, GA, HI, KY, MD, NY, OH, TN 

Our agency has a Dossier Specialist who reviews the documents prior to state seal. 

If you have this service available, I strongly recommend asking them to proof the document before taking it for the county step.

Stepping Stones

How does one choose the content for the first post on their blog about adoption? So much could be said, so much shared. Certainly we desire to encourage others beginning the process or considering adoption. We know some personal visitors will come to follow our specific news and events (hello grandmothers!) Our utmost desire is to follow Christ. We'd also like to use this blog to chronicle our story for our children, both current and future. For that reason, I'll reflect on some stepping stones for this first post.

David and I are so thankful for our three children. Though we haven't felt that we would have any more biological kids, we've often discussed adoption. The question seemed to be more of a when than an if. Our youngest, the only boy, has made the request for more than three years: Can I have a brother? One my age? Following the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, he asked, "Isn't there a boy from there we can adopt?" Later that year, during a family mission trip to Kenya, he inquired, "Does one of the boys here need a family?" Africa; that brings up a big stepping stone.

It's hard to say when Africa began to be written on my heart. I know it was at least six years ago. We chose to sponsor a girl from Tanzania through Compassion International. I remember expressing the desire to travel to Africa as a family. My husband's initial response was, "Do you know how dangerous that can be?" In case you haven't spent more than 15 minutes with us, I affectionately refer to him as Safety Man. Over time, it became clear God was writing Africa on his heart, too.