This adoption journey that we have been traveling for the past six months has certainly been anything but straight forward. Just when we thought it was "all systems go" we are presented with another challenge, one that will keep us in suspense until our dossier is submitted to the NAC (National Adoption Centre) in Kiev in mid October.
We received our letter of approval from the NS Dept. Of Family Services the end of June. The approval states that we are approved for a healthy girl between the ages of 5-8 or two healthy siblings one being a girl between the ages of 5-8. That approval seemed fine to us until we sent it to our agency with our dossier. The agency called to say that the NAC in Ukraine considers all children living in orphanages to have at least some "minor correctable medical issues" due to living in an institution. There is a good chance that our dossier could be denied if it is sent with the word "healthy" used as criteria on the application.
We put in a call to Dept. Of Family Services to have them change the wording. Thus begins the run around.....No, they can't change the wording unless we go back to the social worker and have the homestudy amended. The social worker says that we would have to get the agency to write a letter to the dept. of Family Affairs with reasoning as to why we want the wording changed. In the end we decided to send the dossier as is.
The completed dossier was sent to Ukraine on August 18th for translation, notarization and authentication. It will not be ready for submission to the NAC until mid October. So until then we will have to pray and trust that the dossier won't be returned for amendments.
Debbie
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
Timeline
We have made some progress this past month and are pleased to announce that we are finished the paper trail. What a huge relief to know that we have finally collected all documents with only one paper having to be redone. Our dossier was sent to CARC (adoption agency in Toronto) last Wednesday and they have already checked it and sent it to Ottawa for authentication.
We did have to ask that our letter of approval from the Minister of Family Sevices be redone. We had asked for approval for a healthy child but the NAC(national adoption center) in Ukraine considers all children to have minor correctable health problems due to the fact that they are living in an institution. So it just means we have to change the wording as the children do have certain physical and mental delays that we need to be aware of.
Our Timeline to this point is as follows:
February 2005........Sent application to local Family & children services for approval to begin international adoption
March 1, 2005.......Began homestudy with Children of Choice Consulting
March 2005.......Completed fingerprints, medicals, reference letters, autobiographies, financial summaries, all required documents, interviews with social worker
April 2005..... More interviews with the social worker, Signed on with CARC agency in Toronto and requested the required paper work for Ukrainian Dossier.
May 2005.....Had home visit from Social Worker
June 2005..... Homestudy completed and approved; Applied for Approval to sponsor a child with Immigration Canada; sent homestudy to NS Minister of family Services for letter of approval to adopt.
July 2005..... Received letters of approval that were requested, completed dossier and had it notarized with lawyer.
July 20, 2005.....Sent completed dossier to CARC
July 26, 2005.... CARC sent dossier to Ottawa for authentication
The next step is to send the authenticated dossier to Ukraine where it will be translated, and again notarized and authenticated. Once this is complete our Ukrainian facilitator will submitt the final product to the NAC for registration. We don't expect to hear anything until mid October or November. We will then be asked to request a date to go to Ukraine to meet our child.
Hopefully we will be able to go in January as some of our paper work will begin to expire in February.
Debbie
We did have to ask that our letter of approval from the Minister of Family Sevices be redone. We had asked for approval for a healthy child but the NAC(national adoption center) in Ukraine considers all children to have minor correctable health problems due to the fact that they are living in an institution. So it just means we have to change the wording as the children do have certain physical and mental delays that we need to be aware of.
Our Timeline to this point is as follows:
February 2005........Sent application to local Family & children services for approval to begin international adoption
March 1, 2005.......Began homestudy with Children of Choice Consulting
March 2005.......Completed fingerprints, medicals, reference letters, autobiographies, financial summaries, all required documents, interviews with social worker
April 2005..... More interviews with the social worker, Signed on with CARC agency in Toronto and requested the required paper work for Ukrainian Dossier.
May 2005.....Had home visit from Social Worker
June 2005..... Homestudy completed and approved; Applied for Approval to sponsor a child with Immigration Canada; sent homestudy to NS Minister of family Services for letter of approval to adopt.
July 2005..... Received letters of approval that were requested, completed dossier and had it notarized with lawyer.
July 20, 2005.....Sent completed dossier to CARC
July 26, 2005.... CARC sent dossier to Ottawa for authentication
The next step is to send the authenticated dossier to Ukraine where it will be translated, and again notarized and authenticated. Once this is complete our Ukrainian facilitator will submitt the final product to the NAC for registration. We don't expect to hear anything until mid October or November. We will then be asked to request a date to go to Ukraine to meet our child.
Hopefully we will be able to go in January as some of our paper work will begin to expire in February.
Debbie
Sunday, June 19, 2005
Hurry Up and Wait!
I have heard the saying " hurry up and wait" several times while reading other Ukrainian adoption blogs. This past week we were able to experience the saying first hand. We were seeing the light at the end of the paper chase tunnel with only a few more documents to arrive. I had called to book the notarization appt. with the lawyer for the following week and made some phone calls to hasten the incoming documents. We were getting so close I could begin to feel the anticipation and excitement and envisioned us possibly leaving in November to go to Ukraine. When low and behold a news bulletin from Ukrainian Gov't stating that the adoption center would be closing down for 2 months. Needless to say my bubble burst!
The bright side of waiting could mean that the adoptions will be quicker and smoother once the center is up and running again. The new government is also working harder to make the system less corrupt and keeping the best interests of the many adoptable children at hand. So delays will hopefully bring progressive changes and also an agreement with the Hague Convention.
We will now be taking more time to get our dossier notarized and translated since we can't submitt it until Sept. It does take all pressure off and in the event we have to redo any papers we won't feel like we are losing the race. All this being said it is doubtful that we will be going to Ukraine before Jan. 2006. God's timing is perfect no matter how many bubbles burst along the way.
Debbie
The bright side of waiting could mean that the adoptions will be quicker and smoother once the center is up and running again. The new government is also working harder to make the system less corrupt and keeping the best interests of the many adoptable children at hand. So delays will hopefully bring progressive changes and also an agreement with the Hague Convention.
We will now be taking more time to get our dossier notarized and translated since we can't submitt it until Sept. It does take all pressure off and in the event we have to redo any papers we won't feel like we are losing the race. All this being said it is doubtful that we will be going to Ukraine before Jan. 2006. God's timing is perfect no matter how many bubbles burst along the way.
Debbie
Sunday, June 05, 2005
What made you do that?
The first question most people ask when Randy and I mention that we have decided to adopt is......WHY? Which is a reasonable question considering we are mid-forties and 2 years away from being "empty nesters".
I guess the easiest answer is....... we considered the idea a couple of years ago when Randy served on a short term mission in Ukraine and became aware of the plight of the many beautiful Ukrainian children that were homeless and orphaned. We tossed the adoption idea around for a couple of years but lacked the passion to follow it through. We did continue to support the work that World Hope is doing for homeless children in Odessa and remained in contact with Sergei , the Ukrainian director of that project. He and his family have been to Canada several times and each time we have had the priveledge of having them stay at our home.
In January as we were thinking of the future and taking stock of our many blessings the idea was birthed in us that we wanted to share our love, time and financial resources with another child. Since that time Randy and I have been actively pursuing this plan. We believe that God's timing is perfect and he already has a child in mind for us( hopefully a girl :) ). The paper trail for Ukranian adoption is long and complex and we will need to remind ourselves often that He is in control .
Debbie
I guess the easiest answer is....... we considered the idea a couple of years ago when Randy served on a short term mission in Ukraine and became aware of the plight of the many beautiful Ukrainian children that were homeless and orphaned. We tossed the adoption idea around for a couple of years but lacked the passion to follow it through. We did continue to support the work that World Hope is doing for homeless children in Odessa and remained in contact with Sergei , the Ukrainian director of that project. He and his family have been to Canada several times and each time we have had the priveledge of having them stay at our home.
In January as we were thinking of the future and taking stock of our many blessings the idea was birthed in us that we wanted to share our love, time and financial resources with another child. Since that time Randy and I have been actively pursuing this plan. We believe that God's timing is perfect and he already has a child in mind for us( hopefully a girl :) ). The paper trail for Ukranian adoption is long and complex and we will need to remind ourselves often that He is in control .
Debbie
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