These are the documents we needed for our Kenya dossier
(as required by Kenya Children's Home as of 09/2011)
1. Kenya application for adoption (Kenya form required) 5 pages long
2. Passport - 1 photocopy of each applicants passport - sign and notarize each copy attesting it is a true and accurate copy of your US passport.
3. 3 - 5x7 color photos of applicant - we used a photo of Paul & I together
4. 3 - 5x7 color photos of our children - we used a photo of the boys together
5. 5x7 color photo of applicant's home (front and back view)
6. Certified copy of applicants birth certificates
7. Certified copy of birth certificates for applicant's children
8. Certified copy of applicant's Marriage certificate
9. Certified copy of applicant's divorce decree
10. 4 references form responsible persons, preferably one form a local religious leader and 3 from persons of high authority in the community (Kenya form required)
11. Applicant's medical form (Kenya form)
12. Applicant's ADULT children's written content to adoption - must be signed and notarized
- attach a photocopy of adult children's passport or driver's license if no passport is available.
13. Employment verification letter
-on employer letterhead
-include date of hire, position or nature of employment, and current income
- signature and notarization required
14. Affidavit from a responsible person to take charge of the children in case of death or incapacitation of the adoptive parents - must attach copy of guardians' passport - affidavit must be signed and notarized (Kenya form required)
15. Local police clearance letter for each applicant - must be signed and notarized
16. Applicant's adoption home study
17. Deed to home or other verification of property ownership, i.e. property tax bill- must be notarized as an copy of an original document.
18. Bank certificate - letter of verification of applicant's bank account and balance with monthly bank statement - must be signed and notarized
19. Prospective adoptive parents training certificate .... if done from multiple sources provide certificates with all sources to home study agency and they can write a certificate with your completed hours of training - must be signed and notarized.
20. Under taking by a foreign adopter in the manner prescribed in the 11th schedule. Both parent's sign and notarize. (Kenya form required)
21. I-800A Notice of Approval - notarize a photocopy of your USCIS approval letter as "This is a true and correct copy of the original document as issued to us by USCIS. It has not been change or altered in any way." Both parents sign and notarize.
All documents must be submitted with the application having been DULY notarized, state certified, authenticated by the US State Department, and authenticated by the Kenya Embassy in the US.
Which means all items need to be notarized, unless they are certified, then they don't need to be notarized :)
Photos do not need to be notarized or authenticated.
Nearly ALL documents will need to be authenticated in the state they are notarized/certified in by the Secretary of State. Check with your Secretary of State office online to see what offices offer authentication services, not all of them do, actually very few of them do.
My certified Michigan birth certificate was authenticated in Michigan about an hour from where my parents live, so they did it same day, the cost in Michigan for authentication is $1.
Each state authentication fee is different.
Since we live in Illinois, most of our documents were authenticated in IL. We could have mailed our documents to Springfield (the capital) Secretary of State's Index office for authentication, that would have taken at least a week or up to 3 weeks. OR ..... we walked it in to the Chicago Secretary of State index office and waited for our documents.
The fee per document (not per page) is $2 in Illinois.
Then the documents need to get authenticated at the US State Department in Washington DC, the fee per document is $8 (at the time I am writing this - April 2012) .
We used a courier to hand carry our documents into the State Department. They do up to 15 documents a day, so it took 2 days to get them all done.
Then they hand carried them to the Kenya Embassy and dropped them off for authentication. Kenya does not offer same day authentication services. It took about a week.
The fee per document at the Kenya Embassy is $50.00!!! (April 2012)
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