You know that saying "It is better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all"? Well, I used to the be the kind of person who would say things like that. If you ever wondered what kind of event could possibly make a terminally positive and optimistic person suddenly feel like it's pointless... well, wonder no more! And also know that if you're trying to do something to make a difference in someone's life, you're going to be stopped at every step by some unfair, evil technicality.
Today we found out, instead of hearing about a court date, that we're in for a delay of completely unknown length because of yet another thing that "has never happened before." The kids' mother chose to have Russian citizenship, so the kids don't have Estonian citizenship, but they also don't have Russian citizenship because they were born in Estonia. Recently (of course) there has become an issue with kids with no citizenship to any country being adopted. Which means, now that they know this and now that it's a problem, the kids have to apply for Russian citizenship and then turn around and renounce it, or get released by Russia to be adopted through Estonia.
Sparing you some of the grueling details... When Diana found this out, she demanded that this be taken care of immediately with no dragging of feet because we've already previewed and waited 4 months to bring them home, and the kids are expecting to come home soon. So it's not like they can just start working on it, being diplomatic because of tension between Estonia and Russia, because it's just not acceptable to do this to them. Or to us for that matter - we deserve for something to go right and on-time for a change!!! Diana said she would do whatever it takes to get this taken care of. She assures us that this does not mean that the adoption will not go through. Of course now at this point, with all of the things that have gone wrong, that we kind of feel obligated to prepare for anything. But at this point we don't know how long it's going to take. A month? 10 months? Don't know. We should know more next week.
I asked why they couldn't have taken care of this years ago... The answer: it was never an issue until RECENTLY. Signe (the main lady at the Ministry of Social Affairs in Tallinn) said she just found out about this within the last few days.
What's weird is I was all positive and optimistic that things would work out fine, we'd get a court date in September, etc.... But then, all of a sudden a few days ago like I hit a brick wall, all that changed. I suddenly got a bad feeling, started crying all the time, saying that who knows when we'll be going, no one over there cares about the kids, we're just names on paper, everything goes wrong for us with the adoption processes, it's not fair it's not fair it's not fair... Bitter, angry, frustrated, sick, depressed... Nothing like my normal personality. I've never been that way for more than 10 seconds at a time in my whole life. Strangely this started right when Diana and Signe started becoming aware of a possible problem. But I didn't know about the problem. All I knew is that we hadn't received our court-generated document yet, and that's unusual. And this must be why. The kids have no citizenship and suddenly need one in order to be adopted!! Doesn't matter that it doesn't make sense. They have to have a citizenship so they can get rid of it immediately. Stupid rules and paperwork crap!
So finding out all this today basically made me feel justified in all the emotions I've been having, which means I'm only a little bit more distraught than I was to start with this week. I was almost expecting something like this, and Jason was too. I could just feel something going wrong.
Diana says that she really doesn't think it's going to be that long before this is resolved. Signe said they should have their Russian citizenship this month (I don't know why THAT part works fast supposedly but it takes 4 stinking months, or more, to schedule a stinking court date!!!), but we don't know how long it will take for Russia to release them or for them to renounce their citizenship officially.
We're considering going to visit the kids if we find out it's going to take a long time. If it's only going to be a month or two, we'll just wait I guess. But we can't go much longer than that without seeing them. Even though we'll all have to deal with the pain of leaving again, it's just too unbearable to be separated much longer.
I can only recall feeling this way ever before when it preceded a great sigh of relief, realizing it was just a bad dream.
Pray for our sanity and the kids to hang in there when they find out. God, they are going to be so upset.
Love,
Molly
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
7 comments:
Awwww, Molly!!! Im sooo sorry Molly and Jay!!!! My heart about broke when I read this... I know yall are anxiously waiting..... Just hang in there!!!!!! Stupid system!!! It just doesn't seem right that you should have to continue to wait..... ARGH!!!!
Love yall!
Neen
I figure that the adoption agency knows this, but I looked up stateless children in Estonia and found much info on this, from various websites:
Under the new law, stateless children born in Estonia after independence now become eligible for automatic citizenship. Some 6,000 will qualify within a matter of months and another 1,500 are expected to qualify in each proceeding year.
Law grants citizenship to stateless children born to legally resident stateless parents after February 26, 1992 (upon the parents' or guardians' application). During the year, parents submitted 1,331 such applications of which 1,211 were approved; since July 1999, 3,237 of the 3,536 such applications have been approved.
December 9 approved legislation that would amend the citizenship law to grant automatic citizenship to stateless children born after February 26, 1992 to legally resident stateless parents (upon the parents' or guardians' application). The President proclaimed the law in December and it is scheduled to go into effect in July 1999.
These kids don't have legal parents anymore, the state of Estonia is their legal guardian right? So why can't they do something to get them legal and quickly off their hands into yours? My mind is racing on this so I do what I usually do, research the WWW. What has the agency told you about this new Law or this lady Signe?
Me again. You should try to call me. This naturalization information on Estonia is very interesting.
INITIAL AND SECOND REPORT SUBMITTED BY ESTONIA UNDER ARTICLE 44 OF THE CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD
http://www.riik.ee/pere/konvent_ing.html
82. A minor under 15 years of age whose parents are dead, whose parents are declared as missing or divested of active legal capacity or whose parents are deprived of their parental rights acquire Estonian citizenship by naturalisation on the application of a guardianship authority or the minor's guardian who is an Estonian citizen.
Don't these children have guardians who are Estonian citizens? As in the State itself? They should be delighted to express these children out of the country. If they apply for Russian citizenship, they might continue to be stuck in Estonia. Why can't they go for Estonian citizenship directly? What did Signe and the Diane say? Call me if you read this.
Hi Guys,
AWWWW Im sooo sorry for this delay!!!! I know this is not much comfort to you but its better to find this out now than later. Trust in Diana, she will stand her ground and make this happen. She is an amazing Lady. We will pray for a quick fix in this matter:>)
Hugs to you both, Please call if you just need to talk.
Im so sorry for your pain,
HUGS...Melonie
I'm having major email problems from Vinny's machine.....This is actually from Encarta, but this is what it says.
In 1998 Estonia eased its citizenship laws so that children born in the country after February 1992 are eligible for automatic citizenship, regardless of their parents’ status.
This one says regardless of parents status, that's encouraging.
I'm sure Diana will get this all sorted out.
http://encarta.msn.com/text_761563693___18/Estonia.html
What if anything do the children know of this set-back?
Post a Comment