First of all, we were notified last week that as of July 15 our agency's fees will increase by about $2,000! The increase will only affect those families that do not have a referral by this date, which unfortunately means us.
Second, right after our dossier was sent over to Ethiopia our agency announced that the attorney was working for them in Ethiopia was leaving and they had hired a new one. The transition was supposed to go off without a hitch because MOWA (Ministry of Women's Affairs---Ethiopia) said they will still accept the power of attorneys with the previous attorney's name on them even though the new attorney would actually be doing the representing. This new attorney, having full power from AAI should be able to represent all AAI families. Well, it didn't go so well and many families, if not all, had to go and get a new Power of Attorney notarized and certified and get it to AAI asap. This didn't affect us too much, we just took the new Power of Attorney form over to the Sec. of State here in GR and sent it in to AAI. It did affect the many families that already had court dates over there and it also affected the families that were soon to go to court.
Third, The Ethiopian Embassy is now requiring TB tests for all of the kids 2-14yrs. This is because the CDC is requiring it for all immigrants to the US. This only takes 3 days if the test is negative, if positive the child will have to have a chest x-ray. If that is negative the child is o.k.ed to travel, if positive the procedure will take approximately 3 more weeks and if the child ends up being confirmed contagious they will be detained for approx. 6 months as they will have to be on meds that long. So this could delay families anywhere from 3 days to 8 weeks to 6 months. The basic deal here is that the now required TB testing has pushed back everyone's Embassy appointments back from 4-6 wks after passing court to 5-7 weeks from passing court. So they are now saying that instead of traveling to get your child 2-4 months after you receive your referral, it may now be up to 6 months! Hopefully this won't affect us because our child will be under 2.
*When you pass court your children legally become yours and then you arrange to travel shortly after that to go over to Ethiopia to bring them home. The Embassy appointment is the appointment you go to when you are over there.
Fourth, seems that because of all of the changes that I just mentioned, and because a lot of families on the waiting list either switched their request or came off of being on hold and also because things in Ethiopia are always so unpredictable, the referral process has got a bit backed up.....at least for the girls anyway. Referrals for boys are now being given to families that submitted their dossier in January (09) and for girls whose families submitted their dossier last September. So that means instead of our wait being 6-8 months (it was at about 6 months when we started this process) our wait is closer to 8 months now. Add in the extra wait at the end and now our process has gotten quite a bit longer!
So essentially we are looking at receiving our referral no earlier than the end of November and possibly not being able to go and get her until next April-May!!!! This is how it looks now, things could change for the better or change for the worse.......gotta love the adoption rollercoaster!
Enjoying the Journey--at least trying to,
Wendy
1 comment:
"Slowly, steadily, surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled. If it seems slow, do not despair, for these things will surely come to pass. Just be patient! They will not be overdue a single day!" (Habakkuk 2:3) TLB
God's promises are the best hugs I can send your way. Glad we're on this journey together.
Love from Costa Rica
Post a Comment