Redundancy

We are in paperwork hell, or the opposite of it depending on your prospective! The amount of redundancy in the Home Study and the International paperwork is ridiculous.
We need employment verification, health certificates, 2 sets of fingerprints (one each for DOJ and FBI), bank statements, pet health certificates (YUP! one for the dog and cat!), questionnaires about our up bringing, parenting style, past & current family relationships. It is sooo much easier to birth a child than adopt one. This is not for the faint of heart!
Both the Home Study and the International Dossier requires almost the same information BUT different forms! The irony is that the completed Home Study is INCLUDED with the Dossier when sent to the country of choice. Really?!

For those who are not aware, here's a little education...the Home Study is required by the State and done by a licensed adoption agency. There's paperwork, interviews with a Social Worker, a home visit, parenting classes to attend and fees to pay. The Home Study must be done by ALL who wish to adopt regardless of method of adoption.
There are 3 methods of adoption; 1. Domestic...this is where a birth mother picks a couple that she wants to raise her child, 2. Foster to Adopt...this is through the county/state foster care system, 3. International...which is what we have chosen. Each method of adoption has its own set of paperwork, which of course we already shared with you.
Lucky for us, Susan is the type of person that will take the laundry list of forms and punch them out over a weekend. John needs a little more time to "process" them. Although, from the time we paid the deposit and received our Home Study CD which had all the required forms to fill out to having 90% of the completed paperwork turned in, took 2 weeks! YES we are motivated!!