First, dossier documents must be notarized by a current notary and they must remain current until the finalization of your adoption in China.

Timesaver for county certification and State authentication:

In Ohio - Attorneys are Notary for life and are registered at the Secretary of State's office.  If you know of an attorney that can notarize the documents then you are not required to have the notary license verified. Your documents can go directly to the the secretary of state for certification. 

Second, the notary must then be verified at the County Clerk of Courts in the county in which the notary is registered. 

Third, the documents must then be certified by the Secretary of State from the state the document originated.  Please note that they Ohio Secretary of State website refers to this as authentication of documents.  If the documents are being mailed, please use the addresses below:

Over Night Mail
Ohio Secretary of State Elections Division
Borden Building  
180 E. Broad St., 15th fl.
Columbus, OH 43216                                       

Regular Mail
Ohio Secretary of State Elections Division
P..O. Box 2828
Columbus, OH 43215

Walk in service:
Any amount of documents
Ohio Secretary of State Elections Division
Borden Building
180 E. Broad St., 15th fl
Columbus, OH 43215

Five documents or less
Ohio Secretary of State Customer Service
Rhodes State Office Tower
 30 E. Broad St., Level B1
 Columbus, OH 43215 

Fourth and last, these documents must be authenticated by the appropriate Chinese Consulate.

 

Specific instructions are given for this procedure in the Adoption Guide which will be in your packet.