What's in a "Dossier"?

Here is a list of what is required for our “dossier” in case you were curious:

· Home Study (certified)
· Application Letter (certified)
· Declaration of Intent Letter- Husband (certified)
· Declaration of Intent Letter-Wife (certified)
· Family Composition Letter (certified)
· Copy of Passport-Husband (certified)
· Copy of Passport-Wife (certified)
· Marriage Certificate (certified)
· Birth Certificate- Husband (certified)
· Birth Certificate- Wife (certified)
· Wage & Tax Statement (W2) (certified)
· Financial Statement (certified)
· Police Report- Husband (certified)
· Police Report- Wife (certified)
· Proof of Medical Insurance (certified)
· Medical Form (< 2 Months Old)- Husband (certified)
· Medical Form (< 2 Months Old)- Wife (certified)
· Guardianship Letter (certified)
· Power of Attorney Form (certified)
· USCIS I-171H Approval (certified)
· Family Photo Pages*

*2 full-faced photos of the two of us, 4 photos reflecting our life, 1 photo of the outside of our home, and 1 photo of the inside of our home

All the documents have to be originals with exception of the I-171H, proof of health insurance, passport copies, and the W2/tax forms which are notarized under a “Notarized Copy of an Original” form.

We have to mail in two copies of everything listed above which is our full dossier. Lastly, we will include once copy of our Hague Certificates (online training course) and our Agency Post Placement Agreement.

Once we submit our dossier to our agency, America World, this is what happens:

1. Dossier receives two staff checks.

2. Dossier is taken to the State Department and the Rwandan Embassy for additional authentication.

3. Dossier is sent to Rwanda with 2-4 weeks of arriving at AWAA.

a. The DTR (Dossier to Rwanda) date will be disclosed to families with an email from a family coordinator that includes a Fed Ex tracking # for the dossier's journey to Rwanda.

b. Our wait begins! Right now our agency is estimating this will be 7-9 months. (When we started in January it was only 4-6 months from this point.)

These are just some of the pictures we included in our family photo pages:

Us in Kajo Keji, Sudan for a mission trip (November 2009)

Us with Isaac’s Grandparents, his cousin Kyle and Kyle’s wife, Kendall, in Houston (December 2009)

Tara’s Family: (Left to Right) Chase and Erica Healey, Us, Caitlin Walthall,

Claudia and Gary Walthall after church (Christmas 2009)

Isaac with some friends: baby Smith, Charlie, Shelby and Jason, after breakfast in Tulsa, OK (April 2010)

Tara with her best friend, Missy, at a party in Missy’s home (January 2010)