Once a local authority or adoption agency had issued its Certificate of Eligibility to Adopt all the relevant papers are submitted to the International Adoption Department in Darlington, which then puts together a bundle of papers for onward transmission to the country of origin. This bundle includes documents which are prescribed by the Department and incudes the Certificate of Eligibility, medical reports, police CRB checks, Home Study Report and the Local Authority’s Decision Maker’s letter.
However before the bundle can be submitted the whole bundle has to be notarised and thereafter legalised by apostille at the Legalisation Section at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and, depending on the country of origin, further legalisation at the relevant embassy.
Marty Burn, Notary Public Oxford