An Online Journal of Our Adoption Journey

DTC: Dossier To China - November 21, 2001

November was a speedy month.  FedEx did well by us.  Jill got all of our California documents and she checked them over for possible problems.  She noticed that our Financial Statement didn't exactly match what was stated in the Homestudy.  This was because the two documents were done at different times, and I had received a raise between them.  Plus our checking and savings fluctuates a reasonable amount month to month.  She felt that it would be best if they matched, so as not to raise any flags.  So I filled out a new statement, got it notarized, and overnighted it up to the person who would be walking the documents through in Sacramento.  

The New York document (Lise's Birth Certificate) was already state certified and authenticated by the Chinese Consulate in New York.  Our California documents could be authenticated in San Francisco, but our Arizona documents would have to be authenticated in Los Angeles.   That could have eaten up as much as two weeks.  As luck would have it, Jill knew of an adopting couple who were walking their stuff through in LA.  So Jill overnighted our AZ stuff to them and it got authenticated in one day!  Then the two packages, one from San Francisco, the other from LA, were both FedExed to us, scheduled to arrive Saturday, November 17.  We needed to make three copies of all the documents and then turn around and FedEx it up to Holt to arrive first thing Monday.  

That Saturday was a mess.  The stuff from LA got to San Diego late and so had to wait for a driver to return to the warehouse before it could be delivered.  The driver with the San Fran package couldn't find our house and so thought it had an incorrect address... but with lots of calling, and giving directions, and telling people this was time-critical adoption documents we managed to get both packages by 1:30 in the afternoon.  I then rushed out and copied the big pile of documents and had it to the FedEx office by 3.  Holt received it Monday morning of the shortened Thanksgiving holiday week.  

I was mistaken about one thing, but to our advantage.  The dossier is not translated into Chinese before it is sent to China, but after it gets there.  So my timeline is wrong by a month.  And, Holt said it can take up to two weeks to check over a dossier.  But they took only one day!  On Tuesday they called and said everything looked great and it would be going out on Wednesday.  And so our official DTC date, as it is called, is November 21, 2001.

Paper Midwife

I give all the credit to Jill Touloukian (papermidwife.com).  Without her this would have taken at least another month, if not more.  She has adopted two children from China, and knows the process extremely well.  She was thorough, fast, and kept us informed at every step.  I highly recommend her to anyone who needs a document agent. 

Thanks Jill!

A Big Sigh

Having a DTC is such a big milestone.  All the collecting, filling out, fingerprinting, and initial scrutiny is over.  Now comes the Big Wait.  Anywhere from eight to thirteen months.  Then the call will come: The Referral.  Things then will get extremely hectic once again.  

Meanwhile, we do need to work on various things.  Immunizations for both of us, saving up vacation time, working on the kid's room, getting some Mandarin Chinese training via tapes, books, or software, and more.  

The seven thousand dollars spent so far is itemized Here.