Never Say Never
Greetings to all on a very cold, snowy day. I just wanted to let you know that we are beginning the journey to bring home our daughter. Many of you will wonder how long this process will take and, like before, we just don't know.
The first step was to complete our home study. We started our home study in April 2007 and we're waiting to see how the adoption climate in Guatemala was going to pan out. Unfortunately, the situation isn't favorable for proceeding in this country at this time. This was disappointing to us as the process is relatively fast and the children are, of course, beautiful.
In October, we started investigating alternative locations to adopt. We thought that the Ukraine might be a good place to go even though the children tend to be a bit older than Russia. During a zoo outing with our dear friend, Jan, and her beautiful daughter, Katy, I discussed our country selection and some of the criteria we had used to arrive at the Ukraine. She encouraged me not to rule Russia out as her experience, after leaving her first agency (the agency that we used to adopt Sasha) and signing up with a new agency, was very good.
I have to tell you that I probably wasn't as supportive of her ideas as I should've been. After all, Sasha is a wonderful little boy who is the light of our lives. How could any country have given us a better child than him? But Russia ... really?? Had she not read the pleas for help to get us out of Russia? Had she forgotten all the facilitator stories I had shared? The extreme (and I've lived in Texas and I do mean extreme) heat? The gazillion bugs that feasted upon us because Russia hasn't discovered screens? The biggest, noisest 'city crows' that I've ever seen cawing relentlessly at the rise of sunlight which was about 4 a.m. The country that uses little snow brooms to clear (or try to clear) the mountains of snow off the sidewalks? A country that has yet to find salt for icey sidewalks where each step could be your last? The country where I was sure I wouldn't return until Sasha was at least 16 but more likely thirty or forty years old??
So ... after investigating a bit more, we have decided to return to Russia (hopefully not in the middle of summer) to adopt a little girl. The agency that we've selected is awaiting their accreditation (the process that allows agencies to work in Russia for the purpose of adoption). Unlike the first time we adopted, where we weren't told that our agency wasn't accredited, we are going into this knowing their status. Usually accreditation, lasts a year so selecting an agency that will be newly accredited in the next couple of months has its advantages over choosing one that received their accreditation several months ago. As agencies lose their accreditation again, the Russian government has taken a long time to re-review all the needed documents and the lag time can be up to a year. That having been said, international governments are constantly changing their processes so everything could change in the future.
We have all the paperwork necessary for the Russian government to provide us a referral (or at least we think we have it all ;). This package of documents (32 notarized and apostilled various bits of paper like our marriage certificate, finances, medical reports, salary information, deed, etc.) is called the dossier and has been sent to our adoption agency. Yes, they did comment on how organized I am. You know, being organized somehow makes me feel more in control of a situation that I know that we have no control over.
Please keep us in our prayers that we find the little sister that Sasha keeps asking for (no, I don't really think Sasha knows what he's asking for. I'm sure the first few months will be a hard adjustment period) and the daughter that is meant to be with our family.
We'll keep you posted as we know more. And, yes, believe it or not, Baba has signed up to go to pick up her granddaughter on trip 3!
Never say never ...
The first step was to complete our home study. We started our home study in April 2007 and we're waiting to see how the adoption climate in Guatemala was going to pan out. Unfortunately, the situation isn't favorable for proceeding in this country at this time. This was disappointing to us as the process is relatively fast and the children are, of course, beautiful.
In October, we started investigating alternative locations to adopt. We thought that the Ukraine might be a good place to go even though the children tend to be a bit older than Russia. During a zoo outing with our dear friend, Jan, and her beautiful daughter, Katy, I discussed our country selection and some of the criteria we had used to arrive at the Ukraine. She encouraged me not to rule Russia out as her experience, after leaving her first agency (the agency that we used to adopt Sasha) and signing up with a new agency, was very good.
I have to tell you that I probably wasn't as supportive of her ideas as I should've been. After all, Sasha is a wonderful little boy who is the light of our lives. How could any country have given us a better child than him? But Russia ... really?? Had she not read the pleas for help to get us out of Russia? Had she forgotten all the facilitator stories I had shared? The extreme (and I've lived in Texas and I do mean extreme) heat? The gazillion bugs that feasted upon us because Russia hasn't discovered screens? The biggest, noisest 'city crows' that I've ever seen cawing relentlessly at the rise of sunlight which was about 4 a.m. The country that uses little snow brooms to clear (or try to clear) the mountains of snow off the sidewalks? A country that has yet to find salt for icey sidewalks where each step could be your last? The country where I was sure I wouldn't return until Sasha was at least 16 but more likely thirty or forty years old??
So ... after investigating a bit more, we have decided to return to Russia (hopefully not in the middle of summer) to adopt a little girl. The agency that we've selected is awaiting their accreditation (the process that allows agencies to work in Russia for the purpose of adoption). Unlike the first time we adopted, where we weren't told that our agency wasn't accredited, we are going into this knowing their status. Usually accreditation, lasts a year so selecting an agency that will be newly accredited in the next couple of months has its advantages over choosing one that received their accreditation several months ago. As agencies lose their accreditation again, the Russian government has taken a long time to re-review all the needed documents and the lag time can be up to a year. That having been said, international governments are constantly changing their processes so everything could change in the future.
We have all the paperwork necessary for the Russian government to provide us a referral (or at least we think we have it all ;). This package of documents (32 notarized and apostilled various bits of paper like our marriage certificate, finances, medical reports, salary information, deed, etc.) is called the dossier and has been sent to our adoption agency. Yes, they did comment on how organized I am. You know, being organized somehow makes me feel more in control of a situation that I know that we have no control over.
Please keep us in our prayers that we find the little sister that Sasha keeps asking for (no, I don't really think Sasha knows what he's asking for. I'm sure the first few months will be a hard adjustment period) and the daughter that is meant to be with our family.
We'll keep you posted as we know more. And, yes, believe it or not, Baba has signed up to go to pick up her granddaughter on trip 3!
Never say never ...
posted by Tamara at 11:56 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home