Getting
all the required documents to continue the process of our adoption took longer than expected. Patrick and I are did everything we
can to get it done, but we've reached many obstacles along the way...
Now
I will go through the documents required individually and the
troubles we faced!
1.
Questionnaire/Survey (pre home-visit):
Patrick
and I wrote 14+ pages on each of our forms, paragraphs of detailed
answers to all the questions on the survey. A day before the social
worker from DSWD was suppose to come to do the home-visit, our laptop
crashed, hard-drive wiped and Patrick's work all gone. Luckily, I
had written my answers on my phone's Notes App so I was able to print
my out with no problem.
2.
Birth & Marriage Certificates:
My
officially NSO birth certificate cannot be obtained until 12 days
after I had requested in at the Municipal Hall of Carmona, Cavite.
It usually just takes 3-5 days, but because of Holy Week and being a
holiday, it has taken longer.
Our
social worker from DSWD has not gotten back to us about whether or
not we can turn in a copy of Patrick's birth certificate and a copy
of our Marriage License because we only have one original for each
documents that we acquired from the United States. I'll make copies
to turn in and show our original, perhaps.
3.
Medical Certificate/Laboratory Results:
This
was easy, except for the part when Patrick had to get HIS blood
taken... NO problem, just afraid of needles. Results indicated that
we're both healthy enough to adopt and our Doctor recommends it!
4.
NBI Clearance:
Patrick
and I had already had our NBI Clearance done when we first arrived in
the Philippines in 2013, but it expired in a year so we had to get it
renewed. Set up our NBI Clearance appointment online for the closest
to us which is in Santa Rosa. We even paid for the fees at a local
Bayad Center and had our renewal application printed out and ready to
go. Then next day, we arrived at the NBI office and immediately was
informed that Patrick could not get his renewed at their location.
He needed to go to the main office... all the way in Manila! I
explained to the person in charge that Patrick got his NBI Clearance
there with no problem. The guy just kept telling me that since
Patrick is a foreigner, they are not able to process. My
irritability level was up at this point after explaining to him over
and and over that we didn't have to go to Manila to do my husband's
clearance before and I just wanted a CLEAR explanation why we are not
able to process there that day. I had also informed the guy that
their website needs to get fixed because it let my husband set an
appointment at their local office and they had already accepted his
payment. Patrick should not have been able to make an appointment
online if he was not able to get his clearance at the local branch.
Anyway, a week later, Patrick and I trekked on over to Manila via the
bus to get his NBI Clearance taken cared off. “NO DEROGOTORY
RECORD” for both of us.
5.
Certificate of Attendance to Adoption Orientation
This
was the easiest to acquire from the required documents checklist. We
automatically got this certificate when we attended the Adoption
Forum back in January 2015. The certificate is the first official
paperwork we aquired to start the adoption process!
6.
Affidavit of Guardianship
Patrick
and I have a lot of close friends/relatives that we entrust our
children to both in the United States and the Philippines. Choosing
a married couple to take the responsibility of “guardianship” for
our future child was not an easy task. We both looked at our options
carefully and chose what is best for our little girl.
7.
Recent Family Picture
We
attached a few.
8.
Proof of Financial Capacity
Along
with a letter stating that Patrick gets a paycheck from is job, our
savings both in Pesos and Dollar on-hand, we also included print out
of our bank statements from BDO and Chase.
9.
Letters of Character References
Only
THREE letters are required, we have SEVEN, thanks to all our close
friends! The people who wrote these references for us are so
awesome. Patrick and I are so lucky to have them all in our lives.
We are very grateful to know these people who took time in their busy
schedule to write about Patrick and I and how much they support us in
adopting.
May
7, 2015:
The day we're going to turn in all of our paperwork to the DSWD Main
Office in Alabang and seeing our very nice social worker :-)
