Do as I say....

Not as I do! This is what NOT to do if you are an adoptive parent.

First...do not give your ONLY copy of the adoption decree to USCIS even if they tell you they need it. Let them have it long enough to make a copy. Don't give it up!

Second...keep your child's birth certificate in a safe place. Do not under any circumstance LOSE your child's birth certificate.

Third...Readopt your child as soon as you can so that hopefully it won't matter as much if you lose your child's original birth certificate!

If you do what I did you will have to

First...apply for an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number for your child rather than a Social Security Card--because you won't have proper paperwork for a SS card.

Second...you will have to hire someone to travel into the bush in Africa (or wherever your child may be from) in order to beg the officials in the country to look through thousands of court dockets to find your child's adoption paperwork. THIS COSTS MONEY. Then you will have to beg the officials to PRETTY PLEASE make you two certified copies of the adoption decrees. THIS COSTS MONEY. Then you will have to find someone to carry it back with them from said country and mail it to you in the states--or spend more money to have it mailed to America via FedEx.

Third...you will have to hire someone in your child's country to get another birth certificate for you. This means another round of looking through TONS of paperwork. Yep--costs money. You will have to scrounge for every peice of biographical information you have on your child in order for said paperwork to be found. IF you find enough information you can then MAYBE get a new copy of your child's birth certificate. Then you can find yet another person to carry it to America with them--or pay FedEx.

Do you get the gist? These were costly and time consuming blunders! If we are very lucky we will be able to get Bright's SS card in time to file taxes this year. And as soon as the hubby's bonus comes through we're readopting!

Anita
P.S. I just reread this and it sounds like I'm saying it costs "paying off" money. I mean the money paid to the person who has to do all of this work for you--hours and hours of work! Oh--and actual fees for certified copies of docs. ;-)