After you bring your child/ren from Ethiopia, there are some extra legal steps you should take. The most known is the post-placement visits where the social worker that approved you for the Home Study comes back to check on the kids once they are home.
There are at least three visits on the first year the children are home and we are about to have one of them tomorrow. I’m sure she will find the two children healthy, happy and well adjusted even when the house is not going to be as neat as it was when we did the Home Study more than a year ago.
Really, with three kids, two dogs and two cats at home it’s hard to keep everything in its place, but I think that is a good sign. I like to have my house clean and tidy, but I like it better when my children don’t feel like they live in a Museum and that they are free to play, paint, run, without worrying about making a mess.
Feven and Feromsa have changed so much in these months, it seems that they have been with us forever!
Feromsa was 35 lb (16 kg) in December and now he weights 39.6 lb (18 kg). Feven came home weighting only about 15 lb (7.2 kg) and now, well … she is 22 lb (10 kg)!. They have also grown so much, both of them, and the amount of emotional, psychological progress they have made is amazing!
The second legal step for adopted children here in the US is something called readoption.  Unless you have met your children before the court date you need to readopt them so they can become your legal heirs and US citizens.  When they are in Ethiopia, they are issued temporary visa and after the paperwork at the immigration office at the airport, you’ll get a green card in the mail, but still you need to readopt them.
It’s a very important step, because even if they are legally your children and residents of the US, you need to protect their rights by readopting them so they can obtain an adoption decree and birth certificate from your state and then become citizens. If you don’t do that and they reach adulthood, they can be deported back to Ethiopia at the slightest transgression.
It has happened before to other adopted children that suddenly have to go back to a place where they have no family or friends, no money or job, and with a culture and a language they don’t understand anymore. So it’s better to do it as soon as possible. And right after the re-adoption is completed you can apply for their passports.
Each state has its laws and requirements, but usually you apply for the re-adoption and citizenship through a attorney and it can be quite expensive. Some states let you do it on your own but you need to know what forms to fill and what are the exact steps to do it. Also this is the time in which you can change the name of your children, in our case we are going to remove the middle name given in Ethiopia (my husband’s first name) and add a new one.
If you live here in Oregon, you can do it yourself and there is an attorney that provides you with all the instructions and forms for a very low fee. I will talk more about it soon.
So, this is where we are right now, after settling down at home.
We are also continuing with the medical check ups and they will have another this week. We will see what the doctor thinks about their progress, I personally think he will be very pleased.
Tomorrow will also be the first dentist appointment for Feromsa, but I don’t expect any problem since he usually is very trusting and it will be probably just a quick cleaning and he will be happy to get a new toothbrush and a toy!
I expect some tears after the vaccines at the doctor’s office, though…

AliciA