paperwork once you are home: Validation, Readoption, finalization, birth certificate

2. Apply for the validation of foreign adoption (also called re-adopt or finalization). (El Paso County COLORADO forms if you are in another state just look up your county or state government page and look for forms or information, then look for the word adoptions and then under that validation of foreign adoptions, this should come up with info for you). On this form you can also change your child's name. In many cases the child will not come home with the name you would like for him or her to have, and in many cases will not even have your last name. In many states you can also change the child's birth date if needed. See post on birth date change.  There are varying degrees of proof needed for this depending on your county and state. I would suggest doing this only if it is really needed. In Colorado, I added this to the form under the change of name. I also wrote a letter stating our reasons and attached the "proof" documents. It worked out just fine for us. If you do this first your child's name will be correct on all the rest of the official papers and you will not have to redo it. You have to do this before you can get the citizenship papers anyway. Get the fingerprint reports (FBI and state) and the child abuse record/clearance from your DHS from your adoption agency, ally need is the copies they have on file. Your window of time for them to remain valid is important. Get it done fast or you will need to renew them. That is ok and not too expensive, it just takes time. If you are waiting on age of child to change the birth date, you have time, do the fingerprints again and wait on them to come and your child's progress at the same time. The fee for this in CO is $168 (this is from 2010 and will go up with each year) per child if they are not biologically related, $168 if they are blood related and a $3 charge for each additional blood related child. After you validate the adoption your child WILL be a legal citizen however will still only have the green card, why I don't know. This process and paper does not prove your child's citizenship by parentage. So you have to file for the proof of citizenship.

**A few notes from our experience. *On the Report of Adoption put your child's name that you are changing it to, not their original name.

*** I do not know if you have to do the Validation if you came home on an IR3 Visa. They are already citizens. 

2b. *After your hearing you will walk the files over to the COURT records, not the county records, this is MOST likely in the same building you had your hearing in. We were actually told the county.... ha! *You can then buy some copies of the decree. They are $30-40 each (2010). This will be filed and sealed and you will have to have a court motion to open it again and so you need the copies as you will not be able to access this again with ease. *Then you wait for the letter in the mail from the state department that handles adoption birth certificates. For us that is in Denver. Then you send them the money and they send you the certificates. This gets you a state validation foreign birth certificate, which is useful and highly necessary. However, it states right on it that it is not proof of citizenship. In some instances it also can not be used as a proof of date of birth, identity because it is a certificate of foreign birth, so essentially they are still birth certificate-less.  It also says that it is just a certificate certifying foreign birth.... which is about as good as it gets if you don't have any clue when that precious child of yours was actually born. There is a fee here. In CO it is about $38 per child (2010). You can buy extra ones for a discount at this time. Sounds like a good idea. One for the lock box and one for use. Once you get the birth certificates you can file for proof of citizenship. Unlike the Validation you CAN order more of these at any time.

Birthdays...... a confession

You know how you feel when you are first married, it is sort of like playing house when you are a kid. Well, it was for me. The same thing happened when my first child was born. It was like playing dolls but she was real and she screamed and I could never put her away. In time both things became my normal life and I quickly felt like I was not playing pretend. In some ways birthdays for my adopted sons feel similar. I did not bear them, their birthday does not hold the same emotion for me as it does for my bio kids. For one of my son's we have enough info that I can make up what it may have been like, it bears some similarities to things I know. This is helpful for me, recreating a birth I was not part of. Making it real in my heart. Feeling the feelings of his birth mother and incorporating her love for our son into my own love for him. The other one is a totally made up birthday. It is unlikely that it is the day he was born, it is likely not anywhere close. No one will ever know. There is no significant information or knowledge to create a memory of early life. Suspicions, but even those bear no similarity to anything in my box of experience. This makes it harder to relate. But, it is the day we have chosen to celebrate his life. That is real. As real as the fact that he was born. Real as the love his birth mother must have had for him. Real as the love I certainly have for him. But when it comes around it just is not the same.............. Something I must fight to overcome in my own heart and mind. Something I must never let on to him or any of the other children. Something, I pray will be loosed to the winds of time by next year. I want to feel like it is real. For me, for him.

Certificate of Citizenship and IR 3 visa. Name. Date of Birth.

USCIS on Certificate of Citizenship:

Your IR-3/IH-3 child has not received a Certificate of Citizenship

• If your child was admitted with an IR-3/IH-3 visa, but has not yet received his or her Certificate of Citizenship and it has been more than 50 days since admission, we will send you further instructions, please contact:

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
130 Delaware Avenue
Buffalo, New York, 14202

Attn: CCA Unit

or
Child-Citizenship-Act@DHS.gov

Your child’s name changed and does not match the Certificate of Citizenship

• If your child’s name is legally changed after his or her entry into the United States, you may file Form N-565, Application for Replacement of Naturalization/Citizenship Document. Follow the directions on the form on where to file this application
• Be sure to include the proper fee and evidence of your child’s legal name. The Form N-565 can be found at the website www.uscis.gov

Your child’s name on Certificate of Citizenship is incorrect or contains misspellings

• The name on your child’s certificate may not agree with how you want it to appear
• The information on your child’s certificate is the same as the information on your child’s legal documents in the Immigrant Data Summary issued by the American Consulate
  • USCIS can not legally change your child’s name. That must be done through court proceedings.
• If the U.S. Embassy, Consulate or USCIS made an error, it will be corrected without fee
  • Please file a Form N-565, Application for Replacement Naturalization/Citizenship Document, with a written explanation of the error, mail the original Certificate of Citizenship and 2 new photos to: 

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
130 Delaware Avenue
Buffalo, New York, 14202
Attn: CCA Unit

• If there was an error on our part, we will correct it without fee.  However, if the information provided during the Form I-600 adjudication and visa issuance shows the child’s legal name to be the same as on in the Certificate of Citizenship, another certificate may not be issued

The date of birth on my child’s Certificate of Citizenship is incorrect

• The date of birth on your child’s certificate may not match the age you believe your child to be
• The information on your child’s certificate is the same information on the child’s legal documents which were submitted to generate the biographical information in the Immigrant Data Summary issued by the U.S. Embassy or consulate
• We must use the age as it appears in the legal documents, as received from the evidence presented to USCIS or U.S. Embassy or consulate
• If USCIS determines that the U.S. Embassy, consulate, or USCIS made an error, it will be corrected without fee.  However, if the information provided during the Form I-600 adjudication and visa issuance shows the child’s legal age to be in the same as on the Certificate of Citizenship, another certificate may not be issued.
• You may file Form N-565, Application for Replacement of Naturalization/Citizenship Document. Follow the directions on the form on where to file this application
• Be sure to include the proper fee and evidence of your child’s age. The Form N-565 can be found at the website www.uscis.gov.

Note:  Even if USCIS cannot change its official records concerning your child’s date of birth, the law of your State of residence may permit you to obtain an amended birth record or other evidence of a different birth date.  You may use that State document, to the extent permitted by State law, to prove your child’s legal age.

We lost my child’s Certificate of Citizenship

• If your child’s certificate is lost or destroyed you may file Form N-565, Application for Replacement Naturalization/Citizenship Document, with fee.  Follow the directions on the form on where to file this application.
• Be sure to include the proper fee and evidence of your child’s legal name. The Form N-565 can be found at the website www.uscis.gov.

We adopted more than one child, and have not received all of their certificates

• The visas of sibling groups of children who entered together may have been separated during the certificate preparation process.  Each child’s certificate will be mailed separately.  Please allow 50 days from the date of entry into the United States for the receipt of all the certificates.

paperwork after you are home, what if USCIS makes a mistake? A change in date of birth lengthens process too.

Well,
It has been my experience that when you come into the country and submit all your papers and USCIS makes a mistake on your child's perm resident card then you are about a month behind on all papers touching USCIS from that point on. If you change your child's date of birth this will also lengthen the process due to the fact that they have to verify this at every single turn. This is our general time-line for papers after we came home with the boys.

Child 1

1. home in Aug 08
2. card came in Sept. 08
3. USCIS error
4. fixed with new card by Jan 09 (4 months)
5. ATIN #took 12 weeks (or 3 months) mid Jan to April 10th.
6. validation (4 months) and birth certificate (an additional 3 months) March to Oct 2009
7. COC took 6 months. Applied in October 2009, had to re-submit papers due to date of birth change in March 2010. Got it in April 2010. (this was also lengthened by the dob change.)
8. SS# applied Jan 18, 2011 received .............. March???? 8 weeks (or 2 months)? The estimate was 14 days.

Child 2

1. home in Aug 08
   
2. card came in Sept. 08 NO errors
   
3. ATIN #took 8 weeks (2 months) mid Jan to mid March 2009
   
4. validation (4 months) and birth certificate (an additional 3 months) March to Oct 2009
   
5. COC took 5 months. Applied in October 2009, had to re-submit papers due to date of birth change in Feb 2010. Got it in March 2010. (this was also lengthened by the dob change.)
   
6. SS# applied Jan 18, 2011 received Feb 14. about 4 weeks (one month). The estimate was 14 days.

Changing your child's date of birth

Ok, we all know that the birth dates we receive for our kids are often not entirely accurate if even close. Some are off by months and other by years. If you find that it is necessary to change your child's date of birth you will want to gather all the supporting data you can manage to find. It is best to do this BEFORE you submit the information for the validation in your county. I understand that Colorado is no longer uniformly allowing date of birth changes at validation. It is not verified if this is by county or for the entire state. If you choose to try to do this at validation I would suggest two things. 1. change your paperwork so that it is typed as part of the document you turn in. 2. have all the possible proof you can come up with, medical, dental, etc.  If this does not fly or you don't want to push it here use the format for what to do to change a date of birth after validation. Scroll down and  you will find it listed here.

Information to include in a request for change of birth date:

1. Referral documents stating a different date of birth or estimate (if you are going with this state why you feel it is more accurate). Anything from the orphanage.
2. Notes from dialog with birth relative on date of birth, ask if there is a birth certificate.
3. Medical evaluations done here in the states. Doctor, Dentist, bone scan, international adoption clinic, etc.
4. Ages and stages questionnaire results.You can fill this out online or get printed version from your doctor.
5. Letter from Doctor and/or Dentist confirming different age than is on the adoption birth certificate. Lab and/or test results.
6. Letter from you stating why you feel this is important for the child's well-being. Give reasons of puberty issues.
7. Anything else you can possibly think of.
8. Information on :

• the court random assignment of birth dates and 
• the translation issues 
• and the Coptic calendar and the fact that Ethiopia is 7 years behind our Gregorian calendar.

Send this in with your validation papers.
RE-WORD the end of the validation page (Decree Validating Foreign Adoption). At the end of this paper it states that the child's name is now______________( you get to fill that in.) After that type in "From this date forward the correct birth date of said child will be _______________". Fill that in too.

Most of the time you can fill this out online in a PDF format and print it. Sometimes you can not save it, others let you. Make a copy to send and a copy to keep. If you do the work for the judge and show the need for the change, they most often will work with you.

When you have the birth certificate with the new date of birth on it you will need to send in the supporting documents you used for the validation when you apply for the Certificate of Citizenship.
If you are applying for other items, such as passport, SS#, etc. you MAY need this for them as well.  I think the COC and birth certificate would be good enough, but just in case be prepared. I am in the process of the SS# so, I will update this post when I know how they respond. :)

If you have changed the date of birth for your child and you have already received the Certificate of Citizenship or any other legal document it may be complicated to change.  I would suggest not doing the passport or ss# until you have changed the date of birth. You can get this done on the Certificate of Citizenship but it will prove to be an ordeal. Send in the documentation used for the Validation along with the Validation update and state certification of foreign birth. Both having the new date of birth on it.

If you need to get a passport use the corrected Certificate of Citizenship as proof. You have to have either that or the old passport. If you have done a name change then the old passport will do you no good anyway and you will have to use the Certificate of Citizenship.

If you need to change the date of birth after the validation a mom on one of my groups had this experience (this is a segment of her note):
3) Obtained CO Birth Certificate (not evidence of citizenship)
4) Found out through dental examination and developmental assessments at International adoption clinic that our daughter was two years older then reported
5) Compiled documentation of evidence to change age and submitted to juvenile court via a general request to the court to petition for a order to CO Vital Records to change birth date (no charge for this, you do not need to re-finalize adoption a second time to change the BC)
6) Order approved by court so we sent a request for new BC and fees for new BC to CO Vital Records
7) Received new CO BC in which they literaly crossed off her old birth date and typed in the new one
8) Sent ALL documents of for US passport with a note emphazing that the birth date had been changed
9) Received passport with correct (new) DOB at which time I went in person to the SS office and they corrected the birth date and changed number to a US citizen number
10) When you file for the COC  you need to provide reason for why you changed the birthdate of your child. The papers you provided for your validation should suffice. **If you automatically received the COC when you got home with your child you will need to purchase a changed COC and apply for those changes. I am not sure if they have a record of allowing date of birth changes but they have done name changes. There is a fee for this.

Formula or Schedule for doing your paperwork if you are changing a date of birth: 

I just wanted to let you know that changing your child's dob is NO problem at
all. You just have to go in a certain order and provide certain paperwork. If you do not, you will have more issues and have to re-do different parts or you may not get this done at all. You can use this as a check list so it is not as overwhelming.
>
> 1. get a temporary adoption tax id # (ATIN) NOT a SS#!!!!!!!!! !!! You can use
this for taxes for at least two years. It takes 10 weeks to get this. Apply
asap. Con-currant with Validation. You can take the adoption tax credit with the
ATIN number for at least 2 years if not more, we have done two, the first year
before validation and the second one after, no problems.

> 2. validate and change dob at the same time. Provide reasons you find the new
date to be accurate and why the old date is inaccurate. Look at the start of this post for information on what to include.
This process takes about 3 months in ElPaso County. You can start right away
and do it concurrently with the ATIN.
> Then you wait for the Birth Certificate and that is about 2-3 months. Once you
have that you apply for the COC, you can have all the papers ready to go once
you get the coc in hand.

> 3. get the certificate of citizenship. You have to do this if you change dob
because of the green card issue mentioned. Send in all the same info on why you
changed the dob that you sent with the validation. This could possibly take up
to 5 months because of the dob change, ordinarily it is about 3 months, maybe
with documentation sent it would be more like 3 months. **If you automatically received the COC when you got home with your child you will need to purchase a changed COC and apply for those changes. I am not sure if they have a record of allowing date of birth changes but they have done name changes. There is a fee for this.

> 4. get the SS# card using the coc with the official dob change registered on
it. Take papers stating why you changed dob, just in case. This could take about
1-2 months, or weeks.

> 5. apply for US passport using the coc and SS# card. You should not need any
dob change reasons documentation, but take it just in case. This takes about a
month to two months.
>
> Total time if working on this solidly is roughly 10-15 months. Depending on
the work load and if you have to re-do any part of it at any point. So, if you
start right away you can get it done relatively quickly. Start the paperwork for
the next part while you are waiting for the prior to come. Start the validation
and ATIN while you wait for your travel dates. You can fill in the specifics
when you get your child's birth certificate and the adoption papers from the
court in ET. Then send it when you get home, in case you have more to change. Of
course if you want to change the dob, you will need to wait until you are sure
of your child's age. So, if you are adopting an older child or toddler maybe
wait on the validation at least 6 months, that, of course adds time to the whole
thing. But, if you do it in this order you won't have issues with the dob change
and it will flow more smoothly. Links for all the forms (federal and state of
CO) can be found at:
http://jkdcolorado.blogspot.com/2009/07/paperwork-once-you-are-home-validation.h\
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