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Adoption Applications - Getting Started
• Download application
• Call us or send in your application with
$150.00! It will be reviewed promptly.
• Apply to US CIS for "advance processing of an orphan petition." Call 800-870-3676 to order your "International Adoption Packet, including the I-600A" from US CIS.
• Arrange a home study through us. If you do not reside in a state where we are licensed to conduct home studies, we will refer you to a home study social worker.
• Start collecting important documents, including your birth certificates, marriage licenses,
divorce decrees (if you have been divorced), and set aside a special area to organize your dossier.
• Make a reading list. We have some recommendations!
The adoption journey may feel long, but it is only a moment in time compared to your life with your child. Be patient and persistent, have faith, and honor yourself for what you are choosing to do. It is more than becoming a parent; you are a beacon of hope for a child.
Adoption Process 1-2-3
1. Call us or send in your application with
$150.00! It will be reviewed promptly.
• Apply to US CIS for "advance processing of an orphan petition." Call 800-870-3676 to order your "International Adoption Packet, including the I-600A" from US CIS.
• Arrange a home study through us. If you do not reside in a state where we are licensed to conduct home studies, we will refer you to a home study social worker.
• Start collecting important documents, including your birth certificates, marriage licenses, divorce decrees (if you have been divorced), and set aside a special area to organize your dossier.
• Make a reading list. We have some recommendations!
The adoption journey may feel long, but it is only a moment in time compared to your life with your child. Be patient and persistent, have faith, and honor yourself for what you are choosing to do. It is more than becoming a parent; you are a beacon of hope for a child.
Submit Applications To:
1. Adoption Journeys: 4065 E. Roberts Place - Tucson, AZ 85711
2. US CIS (Call 800-870-3676 to order your "International Adoption Packet, including the I-600A" from USCIS or go the US CIS Website http://uscis.gov and click on "Immigration Forms, Fees, and Fingerprints" to download the I-600A. Regarding Question 16: Write on the middle line, above "The American Consulate or Embassy At" the following, depending upon your country of adoption: Guatemala City,
GUATEMALA or Guangzhou, CHINA
3. Home Study Agency, if different ; call us for recommendations
Gather The Required Documents:
1. Birth Certificates (must be certified copies)
2. Marriage License (and Divorce Decree or Death Certificate, if previously married)
3. Passport; apply within a month if you do not have a valid Passport, or submit name change if your name changed since your Passport was originally issued. See http://travel.state.gov/passport/get_first_apply.html
(Visit www.vitalrec.com
for assistance.)
Putting It All Together:
1. Review your Dossier instructions carefully; set aside a space in your home to assemble and organize documents.
2. Apostille or Authenticate documents as required by the foreign country; it is advisable to get a second set of documents "just in case" your dossier is lost in the Himalayas.
3. Send a complete set of your finalized Dossier Documents to Adoption Journeys for review, all at once, in one package, with your completed Checklist on top.
First The Waiting, Then The Excitement
1. Read your Adoption Education materials and other parenting books.
2. Receive your Child referral and consult with an International Pediatrician.
3. Travel to complete your Adoption.
Child Citizenship Act:
The US Bureau of Citizenship and Immigrations Services (US CIS) streamlined the production of Certificates for Citizenship for certain children adopted abroad. Newly entering IR-3 children are automatically US citizens when they arrive. These children will receive Certificates of Citizenship within 45 days of their arrival, instead of receiving a Permanent Resident Card and then filing the N-600, as was the former procedure.
Children entering the US on IR-4 visas, however, with guardians, become US citizens only upon adoption in the US. For more information, go to www.uscis.gov/graphics/services.
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