Dragon Dossier Service Guide

Dragon Dossier Service Guide

Dragon Dossier Service Guide

Great Wall China Adoption @ 248 Addie Roy Rd. #A102 Austin, Texas 78746

Toll Free 1.888.GW.FAMILY | Headquarters 512.323.9595 | Fax line 512.323.9599

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Copyright Great Wall China Adoption 1996-2011
Table of Contents

1Great Wall China’s Dragon Dossier Service

2Dragon Dossier Service Steps

3Dossier General Information

4Notarization

5State Specific Notary Requirements

5.1California

5.2Florida

5.3Indiana

5.4Massachusetts

5.5Michigan

5.6Montana

5.7Missouri

6List of Dossier Documents

7Descriptions & Where to Obtain Documents

7.1Application Letter

7.2Birth Certificate(s)

7.3Marital Status

7.4Certificate of General Physical Examination

7.5Certificate of Financial Status

7.6Employment/Unemployment Status Letter(s)

7.7Police Letter/Report(s)

7.8Homestudy

7.9USCIS- 1800A Approval

7.10Selected Guardian Statement (Single Applicants Only)

8Additional Items Required for your Dossier

8.1Passport Copies

8.2Passport Photos

8.3Lifestyle Photos

8.4Client Contact Information & Hague Topic Training Verification

8.5Dossier Cover Sheet

9Filing the 1800A with USCIS

10Mailing Documents to GWCA

10.1Mailer 1 Checklist

10.2Mailer 1 Checklist- SINGLE

10.3Mailer 2 Checklist

11What Happens Next?

Dragon Manual Appendix

Appendix A: Homestudy Outline for ALL Social Workers

Appendix B: Homestudy Outline for TEXAS Families Only

Appendix C: Homestudy Adoption Agreement54

Appendix D: Social Worker Ed, and Counseling Confirmation…….

Appendix D: General Physical Examination Form6

Appendix E: Certificate of Financial Status...... 58

Appendix F: USCIS Sample Cover Letter

Appendix G: Notary Statement0

Appendix H: Single Status Affidavit (Singles Only)...... 61

Appendix I: Guardianship Agreement (Singles Only)2

Appendix J: Client Contact and Hague Training Verification3

Appendix K: Dossier Cover Sheet Instructions...... 64

Appendix L: Dossier Cover Sheet...... 65

Appendix M:Dossier Cover Sheet (Singles Only)6

1Great Wall China’s Dragon Dossier Service

Welcome to the Dragon Dossier Service! Over the next 4-6 months you will be working closely with your assigned Dossier Specialist to complete your dossier paperwork. Please keep in mind that this timeline is dependent upon how diligent you are in gathering your paperwork and the current processing times of the governmental entities that are required to certify and authenticate your dossier documents.

As a member of the Dragon Dossier Service, you will be responsible for obtaining your dossier paperwork and properly notarizing your documents. Your Dossier Specialist is responsible for the following:

• Reviewing each document for China Center for Children’s Welfare and Adoption (CCCWA)Secretary of State, and Chinese Consulate requirements
• Ensuring that documents are properly mailed for certification and authentication
• Tracking documentation
• Problem solving if any issues arise with notaries, governmental entities, or mail service
• Keeping an accurate account of how much of the expense retainer is being used
• Updating you on the certification and authentication process
• Researching and educating families about changes in CCCWA regulations and the adoption process in general
• Compiling your dossier and sending it to CCCWA

Please know that your Dossier Specialist is readily available to answer any of your questions or concerns. We strongly urge you to email or fax your documents to your Dossier Specialist for review, prior to mailing your documents to Great Wall. It is more efficient to add necessary information or amend notary issues before final dossier documents are sent. Once your documents are received according to the prescribed mailing schedule, they will be sent to the appropriate county (if applicable), state, and Consulate for the certification and authentication process. It is our goal to streamline and organize this process for our families, and to increase our efficiency and level of excellence. Please see the following chart for detailed information regarding the certification and authentication services provided by Great Wall. Please let us know if you have any questions!

2Dragon Dossier Service Steps

3Dossier General Information

All documents must be originals and less than 6 months old when they are certified and authenticated by your dossier specialist. All documents must be less than 12 months old at the time your dossier is logged in at the CCCWA. For all dossier documents you should obtain one (1) original and make at least one (1) photocopy for your files.

A detailed explanation of each document is described within this dossier service manual. Samples and other downloadable documents are located on the family only section of the Great Wall website at Use your personal log-in information provided by your dossier consultant to access this information. You may also always contact your dossier consultant to send you sample documents and forms.

Remember, all of your dossier documents (minus a few exceptions) must be notarized! To notarize a document means to sign the document in the presence of a state commissioned notary public.

4Notarization

Before sending your documents to your Dossier Specialist at Great Wall, your will need to make sure that all of your documents are notarized. Use a notary public whose commission will not expire before your documents are sent to the Chinese Consulate for authentication. If you live overseas, it may be easiest to use a notary at the local American Embassy. If you live overseas and are in the Military, it may be easiest to use a Military notary.

Your medical form, employment letters & police letters require that a signature other than your own is notarized. If the offices that complete these forms do not have a notary on site, you will need to bring a notary with you to witness the author’s signature. You can find a traveling notary in your area by going to

*Please note that ALL notary signatures must have the jurat statements on all of your documents that are to be notarized.

“Sworn and subscribed before me on this______day of ______20__.

County of______

State of______

Acknowledgment Statements: Please be sure that your notary includes the acknowledgement statement at the bottom of the page they are notarizing. The following is an example of an acknowledgement statement required by most states: State of ______County of ______“Subscribed and sworn before me this _____day of _____, 20__.”

•Stamp or Embossed seal

•Commission Expiration Date

•It is pertinent that the notary public sign the document as their name appears on their stamp. Otherwise the Secretary of State will not certify the document.

Important: Some states have very specific requirements on the wording and proper method of notarization. Please ask your Dossier Specialist or Secretary of State’s office to determine if there are any State specific notary requirements. This is imperative because the Secretary of State’s office will not certify your documents if they are not notarized properly and the documents will have to be re-done.

5State Specific Notary Requirements

To make your notarization procedure more efficient we have provided a list of required acknowledgment statements and additional requirements for the more troublesome states. Please consult your Dossier Specialist if you have any questions regarding the notary requirements.

5.1California

California notary will usually attach an acknowledgement form (jurat) to a document. In the acknowledgement form, the notary will certify the following:

1. Identification of the signer

2. That the person signing the document personally appeared before the notary public.

3. Date of notarization

4. County of commission

5. Acknowledgment statement that includes whether the signer is personally known or produced identification.

6. This form must be completely filled out at the time of signature.

7. The notary must include his/her rubber stamp or embossed seal with notary information.

PLEASE READ CAREFULLY:

Requires the addition of the following specific disclaimer to the top of the form jurat, must be contained with a box and must appear above the notary statement and the venue:

A notary public or other officer completing this certificate verifies only the identity of the individual who signed the document to which this certificate is attached, and not the truthfulness, accuracy, or validity of that document.

State of California

County of

Subscribed and sworn to (or affirmed) before me on this

day of , 20, personally known to me / proved to me on the basis of satisfactory evidence to be the person(s) who appeared before me.

(Seal) Signature

5.2Florida

The Florida Secretary of state is very particular regarding the acknowledgement Statement placed on documents. Below is a very basic example accepted by the FL Secretary of State. You can access more samples at the following web link:

STATE OF FLORIDA COUNTY OF ______

Sworn to (or affirmed) and subscribed before me this ____ day of _____, 20___, by (name of person making statement).

(NOTARY (Signature of Notary Public-State of Florida) (Name of SEAL) Notary Typed, Printed, or Stamped)

Personally Known ____ OR Produced Identification ___ Type of Identification Produced______

5.3Indiana

The Notary public must list the following:

*Name exactly as listed on his/her Notary Commission Paper,

*Printed or typed name under signature

*Expiration date of notary commission

*County of residence

*Date notary is signing document to prove notary is active on date signed

*Notary Public Seal

5.4Massachusetts

Must have the following statement:

On this______day of ____, 20___, before me, the undersigned Notary Public, personally appeared ______(name of document signer), proved to me through satisfactory evidence of identification, which were ______, to be the person whose name is signed on the preceding or attached document in my presence.

______(official signature and seal of Notary)

5.5Michigan

The Great Seal does not require a rubber stamp or raised seal with the notary. The Michigan Secretary of State requires that the notary public's acknowledgement statement contain the following:

*printed name as commissioned

*signature as commissioned

*county of commission

*commission expiration date

*date notarization performed

*county the notary is acting in, if notarizing document outside of commissioned county

5.6Montana

The Montana Secretary of State is extremely strict with the notary statement. It must look like the following example:

State of Montana

County of ______

Signed and sworn to before me this___ day of ______, 20__; by name of person(s) appearing before the notary public .

Signature of notary public

Typed, stamped or printed name of notary

Notary Public for the State of Montana (seal)

residing at: town of residence not employment

My commission expires: month, day & four digit year

5.7Missouri

Notaries must have the following notary statement and in addition, list expiration date, county of commission and the notary stamp must have commission number now:

State of _____

County of ______

On this _____day of ______in the year ____, before me, the undersigned notary public, personally appeared ______, known to me to be the person(s) whose name(s) is/are subscribed to the within instrument and acknowledged that he/she/they executed the same for purposes therein contained. In witness thereof, I hereunto set my hand and official seal. ______(notary signature)

6List of Dossier Documents

Items 1-9 will need to be notarized, certified and authenticated

1Application Letter

2Birth Certificates for each Adoptive Parent (for most states, your birth certificate will be certified, not notarized)

3Marriage Certificate (for most states, your marriage certificate will be certified, not notarized)

4Medical Form(s) – One (1) for each parent – You must use the required form found in the Appendix.

5Doctor’s Letter – If applicable.

6 Employment/Unemployment Status Letter(s) – One (1) for each parent – This includes letters for students and/or homemakers, and retired workers.

7Financial Statement – You must use the form found in the Appendix.

8Police Report (s) – One local police (1) report for each parent

9Home Study Report

101800A USCIS Approval – A notarized, certified, and authenticated photocopy. Use the Notary Statement sample found in the Appendix.

In addition to the above, Single Applicants must provide the following notarized:

1. Single Status Affidavit

3. Death Certificate (if applicable)

4. Selected Guardian Statement (needs to be notarized, but not state certified and authenticated)

Do NOT notarize, certify, or authenticate items

10 – 17, but include them in your dossier:

12. Passport Copy: Three (3) clear copies of picture page and signature page of each parent’s passport/s. Make sure you have signed your passport before you copy it. Your passport must not expire within 1 year of submitting your dossier to China.

13. Passport Photos: Two (2) passport photos of each adoptive parent

14. Daily Life Photos Six (6) to ten (10) daily life family pictures (hobbies, vacations etc.) no photocopies

15. Client Contact Information & Hague Topic Training Verification

16. Attachments to the Home Study

17. THREE Reference letters with original signatures (Your homestudy agency may require these to be notarized)

18. THREEDossier Cover Sheets (found in the Appendix)

19. Psychological Evaluation (If applicable)

7Descriptions & Where to Obtain Documents

7.1Application Letter

The letter should be written by the applicants personally and should be only 1-2 pages in length. It should include several key points required by the CCCWA as listed below:

•Addressed to “The Officials of the China Center for Children’s Welfare and Adoption”.

•The full name (first, middle, and last), date of birth, and birthplace for each parent

•State country of citizenship (i.e., I am a United States citizen) for each parent.

•The reason(s) you wish to adopt from China. When discussing the reasons for why you chose to adopt from China, please remember to be respectful, courteous, positive, and, most importantly, humble in your reasons. Avoid the negative or political aspects of the process, such as the number of abandoned children, as that is a very sensitive subject.

•A statement of intent to adopt a Chinese child.

•State any requests or requirements regarding the child to be adopted, e.g., age range that you are requesting, special needs or healthy, and gender of the child. If you have any particular requests, please include this information. Do not mention specific physical characteristics of the child you wish to adopt, such “round eyes, pretty, light skinned”, etc. This is extremely offensive to the CCCWA officials.

•You must include the following statements in your letter promising that:

o You will NOT abandon or abuse the adopted child,

o The child will enjoy the same rights and privileges as a biological child(ren),

o You will raise and educate the adopted child to be a healthy adult.

o You will accept post-adoption follow-ups and offer post adoption reports as required

•Personally sign the application letter in front of a notary. Both spouses must sign if married.

•Applicants eligible to request an expedited referral should state their request in their application letter. The CCWAA has final approval for all expedited requests. Great Wall cannot guarantee expedited status. Expedition is allowed for the following reasons:

o If you are adopting a child with special needs through our WC Program and the special need is considered a medical expedite. Please check with your dossier consultant regarding this. A doctor medical support letter will be required.

o At least one of the adoptive parents was born in China and is Chinese by ethnicity. You will need to show the following proof of your birth: Birth certificate or legal/official naturalization document. The proof of birth MUST be certified and authenticated.

o At least one of the adoptive parents are currently working or studying and living in China for more than one year. You will need to provide original employment letter from the Chinese company and original residence certificate in China to prove your length of stay in China.

o BOTH parents of one applicant were born in China and BOTH are Chinese by ethnicity. Proof of place of birth is required either by a copy of their citizenship papers, or birth certificates from China. The proof of birth MUST be certified and authenticated. If your marriage certificate states your parents’ place of birth you do not need to obtain their citizenship papers or birth certificates.

• Please note that we cannot guarantee the expedition of a referral. CCCWA grants expedition on a case by case basis and they can change their expedition requirements at any time.

•Make the application letter your own! Use your own wording in the letter and make a heartfelt, sincere statement of who you are, why you want to adopt, and other things that you would personally like China to know. You are trying to promote yourself to the Chinese officials and make them see what wonderful parents you would be.