International Adoption Dossier Authentication in Maryland

In an international adoption, the dossier is the collection of documents a family submits to the child's home country: proof of identity, marriage, health, finances, background checks, the home study, and more. The foreign government, court or central authority reviews it before the adoption can move forward.

A U.S. document can't simply be mailed overseas. Each one has to be authenticated so the other country accepts it as genuine, through an apostille or full embassy legalization depending on the country. Every document has its own route, and one rejected page can hold up the whole dossier, which means more time before a family brings their child home.

Two questions decide the route: who issued the document, and is the destination country a member of the Hague Apostille Convention?

Maryland-issued public records (birth, marriage, divorce and death certificates; Maryland police records)

• Apostille Convention country: Maryland Secretary of State → Apostille
• Non-member country: Maryland Secretary of State → U.S. Department of State → Embassy/Consulate legalization

Notarized documents (home study, medical letters, employment and financial letters, reference letters, powers of attorney)

• Apostille Convention country: Maryland notary → Clerk of the Circuit Court (county where the notary is commissioned) → Maryland Secretary of State → Apostille
• Non-member country: Same steps, then U.S. Department of State → Embassy/Consulate legalization

Federal documents (FBI background checks and other documents issued by a federal agency)

• Apostille Convention country: U.S. Department of State → Apostille
• Non-member country: U.S. Department of State → Embassy/Consulate legalization

Documents from other states

• Must go to the Secretary of State in the state that issued them. Maryland cannot authenticate another state's records.

We map every document to its route (state, federal or out-of-state, apostille or embassy) before anything is gathered. A wrong route means a rejected document and starting that step over.

We confirm each record is a certified copy from the correct issuing state. Photocopies and records from other states are among the most common reasons a document is turned away.

These documents can't move forward without a notary. An incomplete certificate, unclear seal or expired commission gets the document rejected further down the line. As a mobile notary, we come to the family, their employer, their doctor or your agency.

It has to be done in the county where the notary is commissioned. Getting the county wrong, or skipping this step, sends the document back.

Walk-in service is limited to 10 documents per customer per day, and regular mail takes 7–14 business days. We prepare, submit and track each document.

Mail-in takes about 5 weeks. Walk-in drop-off in Washington, DC (Monday–Thursday, 7:30–9:00 am) is processed within 7 business days. We complete Form DS-4194 correctly and can use the faster drop-off route.

Every embassy sets its own forms, fees, hours and rules, and they change. This is where dossiers stall most often, and it's the step families find hardest to handle alone.

We check every seal and signature, keep copies, and return a complete, organized dossier, so the agency's submission goes through the first time.

Behind every dossier is a family waiting to meet their child. We treat each document with that in mind, working carefully and persistently so paperwork never becomes the reason a family waits longer to bring their child home.