Eventually your dossier needs to include:
a) Letter of request to Minister of Gender and Family Promotion.
This is a letter you write simply to ask for permission to adopt.
b) Letter from department of adoptions in your province.
This is a letter your provincial department of adoptions writes stating you want to adopt. This will is done BEFORE your home study.
Copies of your passports.
d) Marriage certificate.
Copy of your marriage certificate.
e) Police background checks for father and mother.
You obtain this via the RCMP. Your home study case worker will likely have applications.
f) Home study report.
Your home study case worker's final report.
g) Home study results.
Your home study results.
h) Provincial adoption approval.
This is a letter stating you have permission from your provincial department of adoptions to pursue adoption. Sometimes called the Letter of No Objection.
i) Letter of confirmation of employment.
A letter confirming your employment and income. If father and mother are employed, then you each get one.
j) Revenue Canada Notice of Assessment – last two tax years.
Your official assessments - both father and mother. Proves your income level.
k) Hague Convention papers.
This is a weird bit, but all you have to do is download the papers off the internet and print them off. Really!
l) Letter of family composition.
A letter you write describing the make up of your family - i.e. father and mother and any children.
m) Adoption agreement letters from father and mother.
Letters you write as individuals stating, as a father your want to adopt, and as a mother you want to adopt. This is so they know you BOTH want to adopt.
n) Medical reports of father and mother.
You will each need to have a medical done. Your home study case worker should have the right forms for this.
o) Power of attorney for father and mother.
You need to write up PoA for each the father and mother - granting PoA to the other.
p) Letter of recommendation from Rwandan Embassy in Ottawa.
This is the letter you should get - covered in stamps! - when your dossier is sent to Ottawa and returned to you.
The steps:
Assuming you are granted permission at the various steps...
1) Home study by an approved case worker.
2) Once that is done, you get your approval by your provincial department of adoptions to pursue adoption.
3) Send your dossier to Rwandan embassy in Ottawa.
a. This is sent through your provincial department of adoptions to Canadian Foreign Affairs in Ottawa, and they will forward to the embassy.
b. You should contact the embassy directly as well to see if there are any fees, because there may be (we know those who have paid, and those who never had to pay).
c. Send at least three notarized copies of the dossier to them (everything but the last item above) - they will stamp your dossiers and return them, via Canadian Foreign Affairs and then your provincial department of adoptions.
4) Send the dossier (at least 3 copies) to your lawyer in Kigali, who will get it to the government in Rwanda.
a. This will include the letter of recommendation from the Rwanda embassy.
b. Make sure everything is notarized. The Rwandan government LOVES notarization.
5) They will grant you permission to adopt. This is not the adoption, just permission to pursue this.
a. You may want to contact the government directly to keep the ball rolling. Best way is via phone - we have contact info.
6) You can start your Canadian visa application at this point (or wait until you hear back from the Rwandan government, but that may take some time).
a. You will need more information to finish the application, but you can at least start it and get the ball rolling.
b. You will send the application in to whatever Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) office in your jurisdiction. (You can call and ask which one if you desire.) Your application will then be sent by CIC to the Canadian High Commission (HC) in Nairobi. The High Commission in Nairobi processes about 10,000 visa applications a year, so it takes some time.
c. You will get notification when the HC receives it - do NOT travel before that. This does not mean the visa is done, just that they have your application. This can still take months and is tricky as contact options are limited and can be very frustrating. On the bright side, while we were in Rwanda we met a guy from the HC who was in Kigali investigating the adoption process to speed the visa process up, so things are getting better.
7) Once you get the approval from the Rwandan government your lawyer gets a copy of the dossier to the orphanage. You work on this in parallel with the visa application, so both pieces are being worked on at the same time.
a. This will include the government approval letter.
8) Your lawyer will get the approval from the orphanage and the child's "profile" which is basically just a child's name, age and sex – you MIGHT get a picture.
a. You can finish your visa application forms at that point. (You will need to later also submit the child's passport # when you get that and some other documentation, but the application forms can be finished at this point.)
b. You can also get the child's medical done then. There is a specific doctor you must use for the HC - we have the contact info for the doctor you must use for the visa.
9) After approvals from the Rwandan government and orphanage are granted, your lawyer will arrange a “court date”.
a. This is for the actual adoption - you do not need to be in Rwanda for this. It is this process that means the child is now yours legally, but there are still hoops to jump through.
10) After the “court date” and a judgment is made, you can then work on the last two pieces required from the Rwandan government:
a. The travel letter: this is the letter from the Minister of Gender and Family Promotion, required to keep the child and get a passport. You will need lots of patience for this and notarize several copies of EVERYTHING you do at this point. Notarization in Rwanda is quite an ordeal, so when you get something notarized, do at least 5 copies.
b. The passport: required to get a visa. You cannot get the passport until you get the travel letter.
11) Send the dossier, travel letter and passport information to the Canadian High Commission in Nairobi:
a. If you have a file number, that is great - reference everything with that number. They call it a "B" number (I think). What happens is you will initially get “G” number, which just means the Nairobi High Commission has your file. After they actually open your file, the will assign it a “B” number, which identifies it as an adoption.
b. This can be done via the Canadian embassy in Kigali if you want – and I recommend this.
12) Get the visa from Nairobi.
13) DONE! And come home!!!!
IMPORTANT: There are several documents you will get from Rwanda (e.g. the travel letter, the judgement, documents regarding the child's history, etc). Keep at least one NOTARIZED copy of all of these when you plan to leave Rwanda with your child. You will need to hand these over to the customs people at the airport just before you go through security to get on the plane.
ALSO IMPORTANT: Double check ALL your documents for spelling. A simple spelling mistake can set you back considerable time as you may be forced to go back and get it corrected. We had friends who had to track down the judge that wrote their adoption judgment and have her re-write it because of a small spelling error.
There are a few options in the process:
1) You can wait to travel to Africa until the travel letter and passport are complete and then just deal with the visa piece in Nairobi.
2) You can wait to travel until everything is done, including the visa.
These options may take longer (being there brings some sense of urgency to everyone and steps may be processed a little faster) but I imagine there would be WAY less stress. There are strict rules around visa applications in person in Nairobi which we can tell you about if you decide to go that route.
3) The other big thing is the lawyer. We know several good lawyers there and can give you contact info if you want.
There are lots of little pieces along the way and you will need all kinds of contact information. We can provide more if you would like. Some contact information we have that will be useful:
• The doctor in Kigali you must use for Canadian visa application.
• Drivers in Kigali and Nairobi - they are key, do not under estimate their incredible value!
• Lodging in Nairobi - again, do not under estimate where you stay. (We stayed with friends in Kigali, so don't know about places so much over there.)
• Assistant for minister of gender and family promotion in Kigali.
• Assistant in Canadian embassy in Kigali.
• Supervisor in passport office in Kigali.
• Case worker in High Commission in Nairobi.
• The Home of Hope orphanage in Kigali - sister Gracias (she is way cool).
There's a lot to unpack here, and the process can be frustrating and overwhelming at times, but take it one step at a time and pray lots. God bless!
-d
