Complete an application and return it to the Journeys-Oregon (JOH) office with the application fee.  The required documents can come in at anytime. 

After review of the application, JOH will send out a contract for services.  Once the signed contract and fees are received a social worker will be assigned to the adopting parent(s) to complete the home study if the adopting parent(s) reside in Oregon, Washington, Hawaii, or Illinois.  Adopting parent(s) residing in other states should contact local home study agencies to complete their home study.  To comply with the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoptions, home study agencies should be accredited or supervised by an accredited agency.  If JOH is not completing the home study, JOH and the home study agency will need to enter an inter-agency agreement to coordinate the services provided the family. 

When JOH is completing the home study, once the signed contract and home study fees are received a social worker will contact the adopting parent(s) to schedule the home study interview.

Once JOH-Oregon has received the contract fees (program and coordination fee) the adopting parent(s) will be sent detailed written instructions outlining the document requirements for the program.

Following the written program instructions and with assistance from the adoption coordinator the adopting parent(s) will gather the set of documents, commonly referred to as the dossier. 

The adopting parents will send a copy of the documents to JOH for review before going through the steps of authenticating the documents.  Authenticating involves notaries, state secretaries of state, and foreign consulates.    The JOH adoption coordinator will review and approve the completed dossier.

The JOH adoption coordinator sends the dossier to the appropriate country.

JOH receives information- About a child to be matched with the adopting family and the adoption coordinator joyfully calls the adopting family.

All fees are paid.  Travel plans are made.

The family travels to the country to complete the adoption, obtain the child’s  Visa, and accompany their child home.