Post Adoption Paperwork

HOME STUDY POST PLACEMENT REPORTS

Remember to contact your social worker approximately 4 weeks in advance to arrange for each of your post placement visits.  These visits and reports are a requirement for every adoption. 

MICHIGAN BIRTH CERTIFICATE

**Please note that Michigan does not require re-adoption in our state.  Instead, Michigan acknowledges the foreign adoption as being complete.
In order to receive a Michigan Birth Certificate, you will take two steps:

1. File a “Motion for Delayed Registration of Foreign Birth”: You will need to contact your local circuit court – Family Division to obtain this application (contact us, if you need that number).  Fill this form out using your child’s American name.  Follow the application directions for submitting the required documents.  There is a court fee and for copies of the certificate.  If you find that you need to submit an Order for a Name Change, you can obtain this form from the same court.  Some counties do all this paperwork by mail; others require parents to appear before a magistrate.
2. Michigan Birth Certificate: The court will send an approved “Motion for Delayed Registration of Foreign Birth” to Vital Records in Lansing.  Lansing will send you a copy (or more if you pay for them at the courts) once everything has been finalized.  The Birth Certificate should have the country where your child was born, yet will state the adoptive parents as the child’s parents and their American name as their current name.

SOCIAL SECURITY CARD

You will need your child’s social security number in order to take advantage of the federal and state adoption tax credits when you file your next income tax return.  You are eligible for these credits once your adoption is finalized. 

To apply for a Social Security number and card, you may download an application (Form SS-5) at http://www.socialsecurity.gov (you may also use this website to find out where your nearest SS office is). You will want to apply in person to your local SS office.  Take both photocopies of ALL of your adoption documents as well as the originals.  Your original documents will only be needed for verification of the photocopies you will be providing the office. 

You will need at least two documents as evidence of age, identity and U.S. citizenship or lawful alien status as well as a form of ID for yourself.

Try to obtain your child’s social security card in his/her English name.  It will be necessary to for you to have an official Adoption Certificate, Certificate of Citizenship, MI birth certificate or passport stating your child’s English name.  If you end up having to get the card in your child’s name given at birth, you will have to go back later to get the name changed.  If your child’s SS card is issued in your child’s birth name, you will have to put his/her birth name on your tax forms until it is officially changed on your child’s SS card.

You should receive your card within 2-3 weeks.  If you have not received your card within the specified time frame, contact the Social Security office where you filed the application and they will investigate to see why it is being delayed.

CERTIFICATE OF CITIZENSHIP

China, Russia & Kazakhstan, Vietnam: You will automatically receive your child’s Certificate of Citizenship in approximately 45 days from the time you return home (you will want to wait to file for a U.S. social security number if you will receive your child’s COC within this time period).
China:  If both parents traveled to China, you will automatically receive your child’s Certificate of Citizenship (as described above).  If only one parent travels, your child will enter the U.S. on an IR-4 visa and you will have to apply for the Certificate of Citizenship (explained below).

Guatemala:  If you visited your child prior to the adoption, you will automatically receive your child’s Certificate of Citizenship (as described above). If you did not visit your child prior to the adoption, your child will enter the U.S. on an IR-4 visa and you will have to apply for the Certificate of Citizenship (explained below).

Korea & India:  Your adoption will be finalized in Michigan.  Thus, you will need to apply for a Certificate of Citizenship after your adoption has been finalized.

FILING FOR A CERTIFICATE OF CITIZENSHIP

If you need to apply for this document, you will need the N-600 form from USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services).  Their website is www.uscis.gov.  Go to their Immigration Forms, Fees and Fingerprints area.  Click on Forms, Fees in the first sentence and scroll down until you see the form to download. 

Submit the form to the following address with the cover letter stating the following:
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Attn: Orphan Unit
PO Box 14820, Detroit, MI  48214

Dear Sir or Madam:
Enclosed is our N-600 application for _____________ (child's name), our adopted child from _____.  Copies of our adoption, birth and marriage certificates are exact photocopies of unaltered original documents.  We understand we may be required to submit original documents upon request.  We are enclosing $__ with our application. Sincerely, Your names, address and all telephone numbers for you.

You will enclose copies of your original adoption documents and small passport-like photos with your application.  When you have photos taken of your child, tell the photographer it's for USCIS (they may only know them as INS).  Before you go, check the following USCIS website regarding photo specifications:  http://travel.state.gov/passport/pptphotos/index.html

U.S.PASSPORT

The last document you will need to obtain is an U.S. passport for your child.  Your county clerk’s office and most post office locations will have the applications.  Call your local post office to find out where you should apply.  You will need original documents and 2 passport photos.  A new requirement for children is that they need to be present at the time of application.

FORMS FROM THE IRS (Internal Revenue Service)
Form W7: Application for IRS Individual Taxpayer Identification Number(ITIN)
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw7.pdf

• If your child enters the U.S. on an IR-4 visa and is not yet an U.S. citizen by the time you file taxes, apply for the ITIN for your child.
• This is for federal income tax purposes only.