Authentication

Did you know such a process existed, "Authentication?" It comes after notarization, apparently. Didn't even know about such ethereal levels of bureaucracy until we were well into the adoption process.

In December, we submitted most of the required elements of our agency application, which included many notarized papers from various states. This was enough to move us to the next phase of the process, in which we prepare what's called the foreign dossier. Found out that this entails sending all of our notarized paperwork to their states of origin, so that the secretary of state of, say, New Mexico, can verify that the person who notarized our paper was legit at the time of notarization.

So in January, Allyson--the queen of organization and efficient paperwork--forsook paying a company to process our foreign dossier and took it upon herself to send all of our paperwork to their states of origin. Between birth certificates and letters of recommendation, there were five different states origin, plus Texas.

I groaned when I heard about this process because I had visions of our paperwork languishing for weeks on someone's desk, but I was very surprised by the quick turnaround. Almost every document was returned within 2-3 weeks of our sending it. These secretaries of state earn their keep!

All we have left is the Texas authentications, which we're on the verge of submitting. That leaves just one question, of course: who verifies (super-authenticates? extra-notarizes?) the authenticators?