In international adoption, a "dossier" (pronounced do-see-ay) is simply a packet of documents that make up a country application. Nearly all countries require a dossier and each country's dossier varies, however the basic requirements are the same for each country. After each of the documents required in the dossier have been collected or completed, notarization and certification at the state (and sometimes county) level is required. The certifying authority is dependent upon the origination of the document or the state of the notary who has verified a signature on a document. For example, if you were born in NJ then your NJ birth certificate must be certified by the Secretary of State of NJ. In some cases the documents will be submitted to the U.S. Department of State in Washington D.C. for another level of certification and in many cases all documents are ultimately "authenticated" by the country's consulate or embassy here in the U.S. The purpose of this certification and authentication process is to verify the validity of the documents and it is required by nearly all foreign governments placing children with U.S. citizens. The process of sending documents through certification and authentication requires being detail oriented and very organized because, depending on your circumstances, you could have documents which originate from many different states! When the dossier is complete it represents a picture of your family and it is sent to the country from which you are adopting. Don't Worry There's Help! Fortunately for La Vida families, we provide guidance in collecting documents, samples to assist you in completing them AND we provide a full certification and authentication service so that families do not have to take on this burdensome task. Typical
Documents Required in a Dossier
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