Family photo 2013

Family photo 2013

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Validation of a Foreign Adoption: Instructions

If you live in Colorado and your kids came home on a IR-4 visa and you have yet to validate the adoption (re-adopt), the instructions for validating a foreign adoption are here: http://www.courts.state.co.us/

Go to forms
Then adoption
Then validation of foreign adoption

You can print instructions there and find some of the forms you will need for the process.

The background checks are time sensitive - we submitted our packet to the court with only 2 days to spare, so my husband's recommendation is to send in the required fingerprint-based criminal history check to the CBI (Colorado Bureau of Investigation) 3-4 weeks after submitting to the FBI. (We waited for our FBI background check to return to us before submitting to the CBI, which was not necessary. FBI check takes 12-18 weeks, the CBI check takes 4 weeks.)

He would also suggest completing the TRAILS (Colorado Department of Human Services) background check at the same time you submit the CBI background check.

If you have any questions, he would be glad to help you. ☺

5 comments:

Holly said...

ridiculous.

Me. Us. She. said...

Thanks for posting this. I so need a kick in the but to validate Ariam's adoption. The problem is is that I have not BELIEVED you have to redo all the fingerprinting. But I guess your post confirms that our social worker is not insane. :(
It was great to meet you at Genna. Can I email if we have any questions through the process?

Oh, also, how long does it take to get a passport? Can we apply for that somewhere in the process or do we have to wait until some point in the future? Oh, so confusing. Amanda

Tisha said...

Hi Amanda, it was great to meet you too. :)
I don't know how long it takes to get a passport, we didn't apply for them for our kids. If you're planning on changing your child's name, the validation of a foreign adoption is where that happens, so you may want to do the validation before getting a passport so their name on their passport can be correct.

Yes, if you have any questions throughout the process, please feel free to ask. We learned as we went and had lots of questions too.

Unknown said...

I know this is a very old post, but I hope you can help me.

Our daughter came home in 2006 on an IR3, so we never got around to filing since it wasn't required. We finally decided to file so we could get her a Colorado birth certificate. We have done the Validation before for our son in 2003, so I am familiar with the paperwork.

Here's my question, the new instructions JDF 497 (updated 03/12) don't have listed anywhere that you need CBI/FBI or TRAILS background check, so we didn't include them when we filed. I even called the court ahead of time and the person I spoke with said I didn't need them. However today I got a form from the court stating I am missing CBI report, and a written homestudy????????? That last one has me totally confused. Why would I have a homestudy 6 yrs later?

I know the instructions updated in 2010 also had no mention of CBI/FBI or TRAILS either. The form in 2008 did though.

Any help you could give me would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance :)

Cheri

Tisha said...

Cheri - I'm sorry, we've not kept up with any current requirements or changes since ours was completed. At the time, we did need a CBI report.
Good luck to you!!

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