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So, I have been promising to post this and have just not gotten around to it.
Well, the answer to that question is waiting....more waiting....
To quote our agency "3-5 months" of more waiting.
What are we waiting for?
Here's how it works in Ethiopian adoption. Once you formally accept your referral, our agency submits our paperwork to the Ethiopian court systems. Yes, back in early 2009, all of those months of paperchasing are finally doing their duty!!! Once the paperwork goes through who knows how many layers of beurocracy in the ET court system, we are assigned a court date. We don't have to physically be there for this court date (a representative from our adoption agency will represent us) but we do have to pass which doesn't always happen on the first try. Typically, if you don't pass it is due to the fact that the courts did not have time to get to your case that day (i.e. they are overburdened by the exponentially increasing number of adoptions from ET). If you don't pass, you are assigned another court date, at another undisclosed time at some random point in the future. If and when you do pass, in the eyes of the Ethiopian govt, we will be the parents of our little boy!!!!
Then the ball really starts rolling and we get to the good stuff. TRAVEL!!!
Travel is scheduled around standing appointments that our agency has at the US Embassy in ET. We have to be present for this appointment which occurs on our trip over to pick up our son and is needed so that we can get a visa for him to travel home with us on. He will already have been issued an ET passport since he won't officially be a US citizen until after we "re-adopt" him when we get home. So our agency has 2 standing embassy appointments per month and they schedule travel around these but also in groups of at least 5 families. This all being said, once you pass court we will likely travel in 3 to 6 weeks depending on the logistics. Not much time to pack, buy plane tickets for halfway across the world and notify work that you will be taking your maternity leave in a few short weeks.
So the one glitch in this plan is or course the fact that we are dealing a third world country, their government and court systems. And every year on unknown dates, for an undisclosed amount of time (typically 6 weeks) the court systems in ET close. Of course that closure has to happen shortly after we get our referral. This year, although the courts have not yet sent out their formal announcement, there are rumors that it will close on or about August 21st. So...if we don't get a court date before then, those average's go out the window and we not only have to wait through who knows how long of court closure, but also through the backlog that will have occured as a result of this closure. A backlog of scheduling cases and a backlog of hearing those actual cases.
Our paperwork was submit approximately 2 weeks ago (we hope) and I am praying and hoping that we sneak in before Aug 21st, but in my heart I know and feel that it will not happen. The difference means picking our little boy up in December rather than Sept or Oct. Ahhhhh....or should I say Ughhh?
Does this all make sense?
Well, the answer to that question is waiting....more waiting....
To quote our agency "3-5 months" of more waiting.
What are we waiting for?
Here's how it works in Ethiopian adoption. Once you formally accept your referral, our agency submits our paperwork to the Ethiopian court systems. Yes, back in early 2009, all of those months of paperchasing are finally doing their duty!!! Once the paperwork goes through who knows how many layers of beurocracy in the ET court system, we are assigned a court date. We don't have to physically be there for this court date (a representative from our adoption agency will represent us) but we do have to pass which doesn't always happen on the first try. Typically, if you don't pass it is due to the fact that the courts did not have time to get to your case that day (i.e. they are overburdened by the exponentially increasing number of adoptions from ET). If you don't pass, you are assigned another court date, at another undisclosed time at some random point in the future. If and when you do pass, in the eyes of the Ethiopian govt, we will be the parents of our little boy!!!!
Then the ball really starts rolling and we get to the good stuff. TRAVEL!!!
Travel is scheduled around standing appointments that our agency has at the US Embassy in ET. We have to be present for this appointment which occurs on our trip over to pick up our son and is needed so that we can get a visa for him to travel home with us on. He will already have been issued an ET passport since he won't officially be a US citizen until after we "re-adopt" him when we get home. So our agency has 2 standing embassy appointments per month and they schedule travel around these but also in groups of at least 5 families. This all being said, once you pass court we will likely travel in 3 to 6 weeks depending on the logistics. Not much time to pack, buy plane tickets for halfway across the world and notify work that you will be taking your maternity leave in a few short weeks.
So the one glitch in this plan is or course the fact that we are dealing a third world country, their government and court systems. And every year on unknown dates, for an undisclosed amount of time (typically 6 weeks) the court systems in ET close. Of course that closure has to happen shortly after we get our referral. This year, although the courts have not yet sent out their formal announcement, there are rumors that it will close on or about August 21st. So...if we don't get a court date before then, those average's go out the window and we not only have to wait through who knows how long of court closure, but also through the backlog that will have occured as a result of this closure. A backlog of scheduling cases and a backlog of hearing those actual cases.
Our paperwork was submit approximately 2 weeks ago (we hope) and I am praying and hoping that we sneak in before Aug 21st, but in my heart I know and feel that it will not happen. The difference means picking our little boy up in December rather than Sept or Oct. Ahhhhh....or should I say Ughhh?
Does this all make sense?
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