what to do after finalization...

[Trudi C]

I'm sure there has been a post about this here before,but I had no luck finding it.

We finalize Lauren's adoption(Korea) at the end of the month ...

What do we do next??? How do we get a birth certificate?

Do we need the birth certificate before we can get a SS#?

If we don't plan on traveling outside of the US in the near future, do we need a passport? I notice a lot of people get passports.

Thanks for you help!

[The Princess Mom]

We were mailed the birth certificate.

I had already been to the SS office to get SS# without b/c so I went back and had them change dd's status to citizen in the system.

Then, I got a passport for her. I want all of my kids to have passports at all times in this day and age.

Then I applied for the COC. It took 11 months to get it.

[kolterwoman]

Getting the BC really depends on your state. You might ask your lawyer or SW.

You don't HAVE to have the BC before applying for SSN, but if you don't have it or the passport, you'll need to go back again so that you can get her status changed to citizen.

We got our boys' passports because it one of the few documents that will PROVE citizenship.

[sevenalltogether]

How do we get a birth certificate?

We ordered our children's birth certificates at our county clerk of court right after the finalization hearing. We usually order 6 of them and they cost $15 each. We receive them a couple of weeks later in the mail. This seems to vary from state to state.

Do we need the birth certificate before we can get a SS#?

We didn't - we only needed their green cards and adoption decrees. For Jenna's we had her COC so we used that instead of an adoption decree (she's from China). Later when we received the COC's for our 3 children whom we adopted from Korea, I took these COC's to the local SS office and they changed our children's resident status to "citizen" - very simple.

If we don't plan on traveling outside of the US in the near future, do we need a passport? I notice a lot of people get passports.

We didn't get passports for our children for the same reason - we don't think there is any point to get them until they need them. We did recently get one for our daughter Leah because she came with us to the Philippines to receive our son Ryan. We did get COC's for all of our children.

Brett

[Hope in CA]

No answers for you here, but I'm just jumping over from the the Korea board to say I love your new siggie pic!!! Your daughter is just way TOOOOO cute!! Congrats on her finalization!!!

Jill

[pavlovspup]

Yes--I love the new photo too! What a doll!