Hi everyone. I'm going to stab at answering your questions. First of all, thanks very much for all your help, research, support, calls and emails. It's great to have so many people looking out for us!!
We know that someone is going to tell the kids what's going on and not to worry. We don't know anything more than that. We will be sending them letters the encourage them also. We bought them some goodies today to send to them along with letters.
I don't know if the kids can get the citizenship by naturalization because of being stateless and parentless, as mentioned in Kathy's posts. That very well may be the rule that recently changed. The problem is that the mother's citizenship is KNOWN, which under the current rules, may mean that the kids technically aren't stateless, which would mean that they have to finalize their would-be Russian citizenship before they can be adopted. As for why they have to get a citizenship and then relinquish it or get permission to be released from it, I don't know. It makes no sense. I hope to find out more details on Monday.
The Estonian constitution says that any person (not citizen. Person.) has the right to leave Estonia. Fine, but then how do they get into another country? They need a passport or something, yes?
So if the kids are indeed considered stateless under current rules (parents being dead/removed of parental rights), then maybe they can be given Estonian citizenship. We have to find out. Additionally, if it can be found out that the birth father was an Estonian citizen, then they have Estonian citizenship that way. Both scenarios may not be possible.
The other thing we know is that, in addition to people over there being slow, they don't really want to have to deal with the Russians. So Diana said that if they don't want to deal with the Russians themselves, she will do it. She has high-up Russian friends and can get the people at the Russian embassy to release their citizenship. Diana said she would do absolutely whatever it takes to get this taken care of as quickly as possible, even go over there herself. After all, not wanting to deal with the Russians is not a good enough reason to not put pressure on them to release their citizenship, once they acquire it. This isn't just a minor thing - this is about the lives of two innocent kids.
We're so glad to have Diana. What would we do if we were going through just about any other agency? We'd hear "So we have this delay... We have to wait till they settle it over there. Sorry." But not with Diana. Diana is a real force... She adopted from the Soviet Union when she was in her 20's! She's a tough lady. And she's determined. And she understands how we feel. So what Melonie said in the comments on the last post is true. Diana will stop at nothing.
So on Monday, Diana has a lot of questions for Signe. Exactly how long will it take to get their citizenship (Signe currently says "Should be by the end of Sept.")? Once that's done, how long will it take for the kids to relinquish their citizenship, pending their American adoption and citizenship, or alternatively how long will it take for the Russian Embassy in Estonia to release them? Then how long after that will everything be completely final so we can have our court hearing?
Hopefully she'll find out the answers on Monday. But we're all prepared for an "I don't know, let me find out and I'll get back to you..." and no news every day for who knows how long.
Anyway, as far as how we're doing, we're holding on! We're not giving up, no matter what it takes. The kids deserve to come here and we promised them that we would come back for them no matter what. I told Diana that if we weren't so attached to the kids, we'd give up. It's just too difficult. But we are attached to them, so we will go as far as we have to to get them. We'll hire a lawyer. We'll write to the Estonian president (after all he seems like a really endearing man. He looks like a high school principal. And to listen to him speak English, you'd swear he was American. Not even an accent.). We'll get on the O'Reilly Factor!! LOL
So we're surviving, though bound to uncertainty and fierce determination.
What a mess.
Talk to you all soon.
Love,
Molly
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6 comments:
Your news is uplifting. Thank God for Diana. Neither you nor the children must ever give up. You must all fight for their right to have a family and they might have to also. They are old enough to be heard. Maybe THEY are the ones who need a lawyer to help get them out of there. Regarding the father, is there nothing known of his identity? From what I read if the parents were unmarried, he has no legal rights, but if they were and he was Estonian citizen, that would be the key to immediate naturalization as Estonian citizens and exit pass to the US.
This link is interesting.
http://www.mig.ee/index.php/mg/eng/citizenship_and_migration_board
Key seems to be born in Estonia and under age 15. Perhaps that they were born in Estonia entitles them to be naturalized, even if mother held Russian citizenship. She's dead anyway. I guess their guardians are the orphanage or the state of Estonia.
This is the whole website for Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
http://www.vm.ee/eng
Oh yeah I forgot to mention to the rest of you... Diana told me yesterday also that their bio mother died 2 weeks ago. She didn't know if the kids had been told yet. That could make all of this even harder for them to deal with. Even though I don't think they've had contact with her for many many months at least.
OH! My goo'ness! Could anything else go wrong?!? I'm sooo sorry for you and those children. But, I guess there's nothing to do, but, wait. Hang in there, you two. Jehovah will help you get through this. Lean on Him. :) deborah
molly , we praying for you and your kids that they get this all worked out and you and jason can go bring the kids home where they should be.
In talking with your mother, she says making them Russian is what bothers us most ... who's to say Russia won't then make them go to adoption there, if they would even consider letting them be adopted to Americans. Besides, they were born in Estonia, not Russia. hen Diana talks to Signe is there no way that they cannot circumvent Russian citizenship to get them out of Estonia. Unless they changed the law it still looks like what I read is regardless of the status of the parents, children born in Estonia after 1992have the right to immediate naturalized citizenship (NO TEST). I think this needs to be answered first, if the answer is YES, you are set. If the answer is Maybe or No, then what is the next step that doesn't involve being Russian even for a day.
Hello....we need news or updates, no matter how trivial. Love.....
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