Dossier Report

A dossier is needed in an adoption—especially an international adoption—because it gives the authorities a complete, verified picture of the prospective adoptive parent(s) before they approve placement of a child.

It is generally used to:

• Verify your identity and legal status, such as birth, marriage, divorce, and citizenship records.
• Confirm that you are eligible to adopt under applicable U.S. law and the laws of the child's country.
• Document your financial stability, including employment, income, and sometimes tax records.
• Provide health information showing your ability to care for a child.
• Document background and criminal-history checks.
• Include your home study, which evaluates your household, family circumstances, parenting preparation, and suitability for adoption.
• Provide official evidence to the foreign government so it can decide whether to approve the adoption.
• Support immigration processing when the adopted child will be brought to the United States.

• Prospective adoptive parent(s): Gather personal, financial, medical, employment, and family documents.
• Licensed adoption agency/adoption service provider: Guides the adoption, tells you exactly what the child's country requires, and reviews the dossier.
• Licensed social worker/home-study provider: Conducts interviews, home visits, background reviews, and prepares the home-study report.
• Doctors/medical providers: Complete required medical examinations or health forms for the prospective parents.
• References: Friends, employers, clergy, or other approved individuals may be asked to provide reference letters.
• Government agencies: Depending on the adoption, this can include state agencies, USCIS, the U.S. Department of State, and authorities in the child's country.
• Notary/certification/apostille services: Certain documents may need to be notarized, certified, authenticated, or apostilled before being accepted.
• Foreign adoption authorities or courts: Review the dossier and determine whether the adoption meets that country's requirements.
• Attorney: An adoption or immigration attorney may be involved depending on the country and circumstances.

For an international adoption, you generally shouldn't prepare the dossier entirely on your own. Requirements vary significantly by country, and documents can be rejected if they're completed, notarized, certified, or authenticated incorrectly.

A notary can be very helpful with an adoption dossier, particularly for international adoptions, because many documents must have properly notarized signatures before they can move on to certification or apostille/authentication.

A notary can help by:

• Notarizing signatures on affidavits, financial statements, employment letters, reference letters, powers of attorney, and other documents when the receiving authority requires notarization.
• Verifying the signer’s identity and completing the appropriate notarial certificate.
• Checking the notarial portion for completeness—date, venue, signature, commission information, and other requirements applicable to the notarization.
• Helping prevent avoidable notarization errors that could cause dossier documents to be rejected.
• Providing mobile notary service, allowing prospective adoptive parents and other signers to have documents notarized at a convenient location.
• Explaining the next administrative step without giving legal advice. For example, a notary can explain that a notarized Michigan document may subsequently need an apostille/authentication, while the adoption agency should determine exactly which authentication the destination country requires.