The Adoption Rollercoaster Continues

Well, I haven’t said much lately about the progress in the adoption of our son because there had been no progress and nothing to report… until now.

On November 18, 2010 in his birth country, we signed the paperwork declaring our wish to adopt our son. From there we knew we needed one final approval from his government which we were told to expect around New Year’s. So we waited and waited until today, January 27, 2011, with no approval having come our way. Instead, we got a phone call from our agency this afternoon telling us that our son’s government just requested an updated local criminal background check for Craig, including a rolled fingerprint card. Of course, these documents need to be apostilled and rushed to Eastern Europe so that our case is not considered abandoned by our son’s government. Did you hear that? Abandoned! As if there were anything we want more in this world than to adopt this cherished child! If you need a reminder, just look at this photo of my little guy and his daddy:

So here we are. Ten weeks have gone by since I last held my little boy and we are not one step closer to bringing him home. This isn’t the first time that government bureaucracy has cost us time. The Ohio child abuse check took more than six weeks when other states are able to turn these requests around next day. Trust me, I know, we have to get this particular clearance from five different states. The NBC process took over three months because our adjudications officer had some very subjective and imaginative ideas on how to interpret the verbiage of our home study. Meanwhile a little boy is an orphan waiting for his parents and for the medical treatments and therapies he needs.

The bottom line is this: We love our son and we want him home as soon as possible, so we have rushed around this evening and will do so again tomorrow to get this newly requested paperwork assembled, apostilled, and overnighted to our agency. My hope is that in the next ten days or so, we will finally have the approval we need to move forward with this adoption state-side.

IAC 167 Results

The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 167 which was held on 12/17/10:

1) German dossier from 2006 referred a child up to 3 yo, male

2) German dossier from 2006 referred a child under 3 yo, female with characteristics in health status

3) Spanish dossier from 2008 referred a child under 3 yo, male, with characteristics in healthy status

4) French dossier from 2008 referred a child 4 yo, female, with characteristics in healthy status

5) Italian dossier from 2008 referred a child up to 5 yo, male, with features in health status

6) Italian dossier from 2009 referred two children aged 8 and up to 9 yo, male and female

7) Italian dossier from 2009 referred a child 4 yo, male, with features in health status

8) Italian dossier from 2010 referred two children aged 4 and up to 6 yo, female and male

9) US dossier from 2010 referred a waiting child (#576) with a profile on the MOJ site

10) German dossier from 2010 referred a waiting child (#1225) with a profile on the MOJ site

11) Swedish dossier from 2010 referred two waiting children (#1017 & 1028) with profiles on the MOJ site

12) Swedish dossier from 2010 referred a waiting child (#1150) with a profile on the MOJ site

13) US dossier from 2010 referred a waiting child (#1218) with a profile on the MOJ site

14) US dossier from 2010 referred a waiting child (#626) with a profile on the MOJ site

15) Swedish dossier from 2010 referred a waiting child (#1231) with a profile on the MOJ site

MOJ Adoption Data 2010

The Bulgarian Ministry of Justice has released statistics for 2010 international adoptions in a document entitled: “Statistics on Number of Administrative Closed Procedures for International Adoptions in 2010.” This document includes a three column table as well as a pie chart. I believe that column 1 shows the receiving countries for 2010 adoptions and column 2 the numbers of children for whose adoption consent was granted by the Minister of Justice. I am not certain about the information in column 3. It may refer to adoptions in process.

In any case, here’s the data: Italy 98, USA 43, Germany 21, Sweden 11, Spain 7, France 7, Canada 5, Netherlands 4, Norway 3, Greece 3, Cyprus 3, Luxemburg 2, Switzerland 1, Bahrain 1. This makes for a total of 211 international adoptions from Bulgaria last year.

At the bottom of the chart, the document notes a discrepancy in the total numbers which I don’t understand. Maybe someone else can take a look and figure it out.

Справка по държави за брой преписки с дадено съгласие за международно осиновяване от Министъра на правосъдието за 2010г.

The Joys Of Nauntying

Sometimes the cuteness I'm able to enjoy as a Naunty is just too much. This is what I saw when I checked in on my littlest nephew's nap time recently:

"The only thing worth stealing is a kiss from a sleeping child." - Joe Houldsworth

Fun In The Snow

I know it doesn't have quite the same ring as fun in the sun, but yesterday Craig did have a blast playing in the snow with our nephews and neighborhood kids. A snowstorm had dropped about six inches of the white stuff throughout the day and since we knew our nephews would be with us in the evening, Craig promised them some sled-riding after work. We have a decent hill in our backyard, so there's good potential for speed. Here are a couple of photos:

Craig was at the bottom of the hill catching the kids before they slid onto the frozen pond. In total, we had six boys aged 2-13 here, five of them riding their sleds.

I can't wait until next year when our son will be part of these snow shenanigans.

Into The Closet

On Monday, Craig and I accomplished another goal in preparing for our son’s homecoming as we installed dressers in the kids’ room closet. The project was intended to be fairly simple: one quick trip to Ikea, pick out two dressers, put them together, and be done. Well, not so fast.

During our first trip to Ikea we bought two dressers, a low one and a taller one to sit on top of it. When we came home and opened the boxes, we realized we had bought the dressers in two different colors: white (which is what we wanted) and birch veneer. A simple exchange could have solved this matter had it not turned out that one of the dressers is not made in white, so we had to consider other options to have the furniture match. Fortunately, the white looked to be much more of a yellowish cream color which made it easier for us to choose the birch veneer.

So, we kept the lower dresser in the birch veneer and Craig headed back to Ikea to exchange the white dresser for a four-drawer dresser in the same wood finish. Then we started assembling the first piece of furniture which was rather quick and easy with two people on the job. But after we put the lower dresser into the closet, I started having second thoughts about the four-drawer dresser on top of it. It would be too high to be fully useful to me and it would also pose a potential risk of tipping over. So, after some consideration, we decided on a three drawer dresser instead. Hence, Craig made his third trip in as many days back to Ikea.

Two days ago, we assembled the second dresser and stacked it on top of the first one. Craig bolted both of them into the closet wall (one side per chance even hit a stud) to prevent them from falling over if little monkeys should try to climb them. Then I moved all of the clothes I have already bought for the kids into the drawers and also organized various other items into the closet. Here’s what it looks like and there’s storage to spare (for now):

By the way, I would like to say thanks to Craig’s mom, sister, brother and brother’s girlfriend for the Visa gift cards they gave us at the baby shower. We put the money toward purchasing this furniture. What a great, practical, and long-lasting present!

IAC 165 & 166 Results

The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 165 which was held on 11/26/10:

1) Italian dossier from 2010 referred a waiting child with a profile on the MOJ site

2) US dossier from 2010 referred two waiting children with profiles on the MOJ site

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 166 which was held on 12/03/10:

1) Italian dossier from 2006 referred a child under 4 yo, male

2) Italian dossier from 2006 referred a child under 4 yo, male

3) Greek dossier from 2007 referred a child up to 3 yo, male, with features in health status including family history

4) French dossier from 2008 referred a child up to 3 yo, male, with features in health status

5) French dossier from 2009 referred a child up to 6 yo, male, with features in health status including family history

6) Italian dossier from 2009 referred a child up to 9 yo, male, with features in health status

7) Dutch dossier from 2009 referred a child up to 1 yo, female, with features in health status

8) Swiss dossier from 2010 referred a child up to 2 yo, female, with features in health status