Almost there
Tomorrow afternoon we are being visited by our Social Worker for her mandatory 6-month follow-up visit. This is our second last step in becoming a forever family (in the eyes of the law). The last step is our court date. After tomorrow's visit, Sandra files a report to the Ministry and our court date is assigned after it is reviewed. We are hoping to be in court before the end 2006.
This is somewhat similar to Russia (for those of you just tuning in, we were waiting to adopt from Russia when received THEE call about our son, a domestic, private adoption). The big difference between what we are doing and the Russian process is that we were able to have our son home with us from (almost) the beginning....definitely makes the wait for a court date a lot easier!!! One other significant difference is that we don't have to be present in court. Of course, we are going because we want to be there and it's a great opportunity to take a picture with the judge for N's Life Book...I really should start putting that together.
Even though N has been here almost the whole time, we are not considered his legal guardians. Our (his) lawyer is the legal guardian and he has the authority to name us the "caretakers". It's a bit strange because we can do just about anything we want. We can travel (in the country), as we don't have a birth certificate until after our court date to be able to apply for a passport. We are having him baptized at the end of September even though we haven't legalized the adoption. N has our surname. His health card is in our name, which was even issued to us before this day had passed.
So even though tomorrow's visit with Sandra is not stressful...not like the dust bunny inspection, I await it with a certain heightened anticipation. In a nutshell, she will be reporting on N's transition into our family, assessing his care and our ability to parent and whether he has bonded (attachment). Of course he's bonded...you would know that if you tried to hold him while Mommy was in the room!
I guess I'll tidy (the Angels were just here on Tuesday) up a bit to make sure the place is presentable.
posted by Mary @ 1:47 PM
5 comments
5 Comments:
That's interesting. It's different than the US infant adoption process.
Good luck with the Sandra meeting, by the way. It will go just fine.
I bet you guys will be so excited to completely finalize your adoption. It will be done pretty soon and it will all be official!
I love your list in your last post. Noah will love that you recorded that when it gets old enough to read it.
Good Luck! Although it sounds like this will be a breeze. I am sure you are anxious for the adoption to be finalized and it seems that will be soon.
Meeting went well, as expected. We tend to visit instead of do work. We have known Sandra for 2 years and she's really a friend more than just a social worker.
Even though the court date is like a rubber stamp on our whole adoption...it's not ya know. It will really give some closure for us.
A lot of people still say, so is he officially yours? He is, except in the eyes of the law. I hope this is done soon.
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