Paper Chase is Done!

It is time for a long over due adoption update!

Here is a long one!  If you are interested in the details of our adoption this might interest you.

Things are moving long well so far.  Our homestudy report is done, proofed and signed. 

We have been busy collecting documents that Ukraine requires.  This stack of documents is called a dossier and once it is compiled, translated and apostilled it is sent overseas.  Once the dossier is sent to Ukraine our agency tells us to expect an invitation to travel within 1-2 months.  The agency’s goal is to send our dossier over in August to possibly have an October travel date.  This is much earlier than we had expected!  Here is the list of documents we have been collecting. 

-Immigration Documents for sponsoring this children into Canada.  This included lots of different forms.  The government has approved our application to sponsor 2 children.

-Copies of our pass ports

-RCMP Interpol (with fingerprints) check

-Criminal Record checks

-2 marriage certificates. (can you say highway robbery??)

-Option C print outs from Revenue Canada

-Medical forms and blood work

-Bank letters (to show that we are in good standing with a financial institution)

-Recent notice of property assessment

-Land title

-Letter from a real estate agent about the size of our home and the rooms in our home.

-Letters of employment

-Letters of why we want to adopt

These letters all had to be written exactly how Ukraine wants them written and they don’t make a whole lot of sense to us. They request really odd things but they have to be done their way!  We are very appreciative of the people who were very understanding and willing to do things over multiple times until they were done exactly right.   It was quite confusing at times but far from impossible!

Then there is a long list of requirements that our agency is collecting on our behalf.

We sent in our stack of documents (originals, no photocopies or e-mailing) on July 5th just before we left for holidays.  It felt like a big accomplishment to be done paper chasing!  Many of these documents are only valid for about 3 -6 months so if the process takes longer than that we have to redo them.  Because there are fees to obtain many of these papers a long adoption process adds up.  Those who wait years to adopt have to continually renew this list of letters and forms. 

Our agency has sent a copy of our letters to their team in Ukraine for pre-approval before they are sent to the government there.  They requested more photos of the back of our house and our living room.  Interesting!    

Once everything is approved and we are given an invitation to travel, we have a week or two to book our tickets.  When we arrive in Ukraine we will have an appointment at the ministry of adoption where they will present numerous files that match our requirements set out in our homestudy.  Those requirements are

-the children must be under the age of 12

-they must be siblings (according to Canadian law)

-If the oldest is 12 years old the child must be female

-Children may only have minor or correctable health issues

-Only 2 children

Some of these requirements we set, some the government sets and some our social worker added. 

The file will have photos of the children, some health information, some tidbits about the child’s likes and dislikes and possibly some history. 

Once we have chosen we will travel to the children’s area of the country to meet them.  We have a few days to interact with them before we accept the referral.  Following our acceptance a court date is set.  While our facilitator is getting all the paper work done we will have visiting hours typically 2x per day for 2 hours each time where we spend time with the children at the orphanage.  The Ukrainian team will rent an apartment for us to stay in while we are in our children’s region.  Our facilitator will be with us to translate with the children and the orphanage staff although there will be days when he/she will be working with documents and we will be on our own. 

Once the court has declared them officially Thiessen’s they will come and stay with us at the apartment until we are ready to travel back to Kiev to get their passports.  In Ukraine there is a 10 day waiting period after court is held before the new birth certificates can be issued.  Some regions will wave this 10 day wait and most will not.   

We are told to plan for a trip 4-6 weeks long.  That is a long time to be away!!!!!!  A lot of people have asked if we are taking our crew with us and the answer is “no.”  It would be very costly for all of us to travel and with all of the legal things that we will have to attend it would get very complicated.  So what are we planning to do with our kids left at home?  We are not totally sure yet.  We know that my folks are willing to help out and we have had friends offer to help out.  There have been conversations about finding a young single girl to help out with some of the schooling and daily tasks and we are praying about that.  We want to shuffle them around as little as possible to create as stable an atmosphere.  It will be a challenging time for them as well as their caregivers and so we are counting on the Lord to help us make the best arrangements for everyone involved.  

We are getting more and more excited all the time!  It feels like everything is happening very quickly and I'm feeling a little nervous about everything that we will experience.