Going to Court
Well, we've been home six days now. You can tell by my lack of blogging that I've been a little preoccupied. I really want to go back and tell more about the process we went through in Ukraine. There are many people who like to read these blogs to get an idea of what to expect. I think the last post I did said that we were waiting on a court date. So from there...
Monday afternoon we were waiting on a letter from the National Adoption Center giving us permission to go to court. We knew we couldn't get this until 4:00 p.m. After we had permission from them, we could request a date. So... I guess I thought it would be at least a couple of days. About 6:00 p.m., Sasha (our facilitator) told us to be dressed at 8:00 a.m. the next morning to go to court! Wow! That was fast!
Tuesday morning, we were waiting in the lobby of our hotel at 8:00 a.m. I was so nervous! Lee wore a suit and I wore a dress appropriate for chuch. When we arrived at the Court House we saw two other adoptive couples from the orphanage. We all were very nervous. They were not dresses up like we were. While at the court house, we signed a request to adopt our daughter, then waited for about an hour. Then we were called into the judges chamber. There were about six of us in there: The judge, two women (representatives from the orphanage and the district), our facilitator, and us. The judge was a real character! He had gray slicked back hair, a big pot belly, a plaid shirt unbuttoned with a gold chain on. Behind him there was a picture of him in front of the Ukrainian flag, smoking a pipe.
When we sat down, one of the women wrote something on a pad and passed it to the other one. They both looked at me and smiled. Lee said that it probably said something about me looking like I was going to throw up or something.
The judge heard from the district representative, then the orphanage representative. They simply stated that all requirements had been met for this child to be eligible for adoption and that it was in her best interest to be adopted. Then he turned to Lee. He asked him why he wanted to adopt this child. Lee stood and said that we were very blessed with two boys at home whom we loved very much. He said that we wanted a daughter to love and to be a part of our family. Then, he said that we had met this child and fell in love with her and that we really wanted to adopt her. The judge asked if we had been told all medical and social information available about her. Lee told him that we had. When our translator said the word "medical", that was Lee's cue to say, "We respectfully ask for immediate execution of this judgement." Which means, "please waive the 30 day waiting period so we can get home!" Then the judge asked me if I agreed with my husbands decision to adopt this child. I stood in said, "Yes, Sir." (I had easy. Two whole words!)
The judge said that he remembered this child from a year ago when he ruled that she was to be regestered with the NAC. Then he said that our request had been approved and that he agreed with the adoption. This also meant that our thirty days had been waived. That was it! Anastasia officially became Anna Sophia Butler! She is our daughter.
After we received the papers from court, we literally ran to the old Volkeswagon van, jumped inside, and headed to Sophie's birth town about two hours away. For those adopting, this is when the expediting fees started. We had to get a temporary copy of her birth certificate. Then, we drove back to Odessa to get it certified. Then we had to take that copy to get a permanent birth certificate, have it certified, then notorized. (We do it the other way around in the U.S., but that is what we did.) All of this was done in different places, so we spent the entire day in that hot van! I was so car sick. We ran in the last building at 5:50 p.m. They close at 6:00. I didn't think we would get it done, but we did. That is where those expediting fees pay off! Our facilitators took us back to our hotel after that. We went to our favorite little resturant by our hotel to eat. We both were exhausted so we went back and went right to sleep.
The next morning, we had one last thing to do before going to the orphanage. We went to another office and applied for her passport. That took about an hour. We were finished! Now, it was just time to go get her.
Monday afternoon we were waiting on a letter from the National Adoption Center giving us permission to go to court. We knew we couldn't get this until 4:00 p.m. After we had permission from them, we could request a date. So... I guess I thought it would be at least a couple of days. About 6:00 p.m., Sasha (our facilitator) told us to be dressed at 8:00 a.m. the next morning to go to court! Wow! That was fast!
Tuesday morning, we were waiting in the lobby of our hotel at 8:00 a.m. I was so nervous! Lee wore a suit and I wore a dress appropriate for chuch. When we arrived at the Court House we saw two other adoptive couples from the orphanage. We all were very nervous. They were not dresses up like we were. While at the court house, we signed a request to adopt our daughter, then waited for about an hour. Then we were called into the judges chamber. There were about six of us in there: The judge, two women (representatives from the orphanage and the district), our facilitator, and us. The judge was a real character! He had gray slicked back hair, a big pot belly, a plaid shirt unbuttoned with a gold chain on. Behind him there was a picture of him in front of the Ukrainian flag, smoking a pipe.
When we sat down, one of the women wrote something on a pad and passed it to the other one. They both looked at me and smiled. Lee said that it probably said something about me looking like I was going to throw up or something.
The judge heard from the district representative, then the orphanage representative. They simply stated that all requirements had been met for this child to be eligible for adoption and that it was in her best interest to be adopted. Then he turned to Lee. He asked him why he wanted to adopt this child. Lee stood and said that we were very blessed with two boys at home whom we loved very much. He said that we wanted a daughter to love and to be a part of our family. Then, he said that we had met this child and fell in love with her and that we really wanted to adopt her. The judge asked if we had been told all medical and social information available about her. Lee told him that we had. When our translator said the word "medical", that was Lee's cue to say, "We respectfully ask for immediate execution of this judgement." Which means, "please waive the 30 day waiting period so we can get home!" Then the judge asked me if I agreed with my husbands decision to adopt this child. I stood in said, "Yes, Sir." (I had easy. Two whole words!)
The judge said that he remembered this child from a year ago when he ruled that she was to be regestered with the NAC. Then he said that our request had been approved and that he agreed with the adoption. This also meant that our thirty days had been waived. That was it! Anastasia officially became Anna Sophia Butler! She is our daughter.
After we received the papers from court, we literally ran to the old Volkeswagon van, jumped inside, and headed to Sophie's birth town about two hours away. For those adopting, this is when the expediting fees started. We had to get a temporary copy of her birth certificate. Then, we drove back to Odessa to get it certified. Then we had to take that copy to get a permanent birth certificate, have it certified, then notorized. (We do it the other way around in the U.S., but that is what we did.) All of this was done in different places, so we spent the entire day in that hot van! I was so car sick. We ran in the last building at 5:50 p.m. They close at 6:00. I didn't think we would get it done, but we did. That is where those expediting fees pay off! Our facilitators took us back to our hotel after that. We went to our favorite little resturant by our hotel to eat. We both were exhausted so we went back and went right to sleep.
The next morning, we had one last thing to do before going to the orphanage. We went to another office and applied for her passport. That took about an hour. We were finished! Now, it was just time to go get her.
posted by LeeandShannan @ 11:17 AM
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