The dossier documents are a HUGE step and undertaking for your adoption. I may be a little weird or maybe just a little blessed that it has always happened easily for us. I guess the plus side of never leaving “home” – we had easy access to all our documents. Your agency should be a big help with this – giving you a list of needed items – some even have in house staff to do the work for you (for an added expense). There are also available services to hire to prepare your dossier if you like to – the Assistant Stork has a link to dossier service providers http://www.asststork.com/ I felt it comforting to have “control” over how fast I could pull together our dossier – so I jumped at the chance to do it “on our own.” I have read over the course of the years that some agencies do not have a good “knowledge” of the Kazakhstan dossier and I recommend (as always) to educate yourself a little on what is expected to be included in your dossier– an valuable link on this is:

http://www.kazakhembus.com/Instructions_on_Preparation_of_Dossier_for_Adoption.doc

List of dossier items (please see link for detailed descriptions):

Letter of intent to adopt a child in the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Parents Commitment Letter to Kazakhstan Adoption Law.

Home Study.

Home Study Agency post placement commitment prepared by a HS Agency

Home Study Agency letter of recommendation.

Int’l Adoption Agency “Certificate of Approval”.

Int’l Adoption Agency License.

Monitoring Commitment of Adoptive Family after adoption is finalized.

Post Adoption Reports Commitment from the family.

Consular Registration Commitment from the family.

Xerox passport copies for each Prospective Adoptive Parent.

Marriage Certificate.

Birth Certificate of Prospective Adoptive Parent – for single parents ONLY.

Guardianship affidavit – for single parents ONLY.

Divorce decrees (if applicable).
Kazakhstan allows only two divorces.

FBI Background checks separate for each Prospective Adoptive Parent.

Medical Forms, separate for each Prospective Adoptive Parent.

Employment Letters, separate for each Prospective Adoptive Parent.

Financial Statements (Affidavits).

Bank letter.

Home Ownership form of Prospective Adoptive Parents.

CIS approval of an orphan petition – USA.
This will be either an “I–171H” or an “I–179C” form. Unlike the other documents, you must keep the original form sent to you by USCIS and take it to Kazakhstan. Make one (1) copy and have it notarized as a “true copy”, and have it apostilled.

Power of Attorney for Int’l Adoption Agency Representative in Kazakhstan.

Power of Attorney for Int’l AA Representative in Astana, Kazakhstan.

Pictures of Prospective Adoptive Parents.

Your agency will process the translations for you – because they need to be a certified translator that the Embassy will accept. You may also have additional documentation required because of the region/city you are adopting from. It has even been known to happen that a document changes and you have to re-vise it or add during the process. Please also keep in mind your state and the country requirements for authenticating/apostilling documents. Happy Gathering!