Relax this weekend.

Well we were supposed to find out this week what the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) would write in response to Liina and Rutt's letter about the laws. So we waited every day, hoping for some news... I told Jason that "this week" means at least Friday, as far as I'm concerned. Everything takes the absolute maximum (and then some) amount of time. So I asked Rutt yesterday if she still expected to hear this week. She said if she didn't get the letter by today she would call and find out what's going on. At 7:30 this morning I called Rutt (2:30pm in Estonia) and asked if she received it. She said no, and she said she'd call and talk to them. I asked her to see if they could fax her the letter, if it's been completed, so we don't have to worry all weekend. She agreed and said she'd email me as soon as she finds something out.

A few minutes later I got an email from her saying that the letter was mailed by the MFA but she hadn't received it yet, but she got an electronic version of the letter. So now we know what the MFA says! As we all hoped, they confirmed that CONSENT FROM RUSSIA IS NOT NEEDED for this adoption case. WOOHOO!!!

They said that the Russian Embassy should be notified that their citizens are leaving the country, but that's all. I called Rutt to get clarification. She told me that notification is simply that - notification. Not permission, not request, not anything that they would respond to. Seems to be a normal part of the procedure. I told her my only concern was that since Kersti was convinced by someone that the Russian Embassy has a problem with the adoptions of Russian citizens, that involving the Embassy at all might cause a problem. She said that was only in relation to getting documents from the Embassy (i.e. passports), was likely not true anyway, and there is nothing that is needed FROM the Embassy.

We did find out from Igor that the kids already do have travel passports. So as far as I know we'll just be leaving their names the same and using their old passports to exit, just to save time if nothing else. In the next couple weeks we should be learning more about the specifics of the document procedures. But the most important hurdle has been successfully jumped, finally. The MFA, who is the known authority on international law in Estonia, has said that consent is not needed.

Liina told me last week that if the MFA said that, then the MSA would absolutely have no problem proceeding with the adoption without consent from Russia. So I hope and believe that the only issues that will stand in the way now is minor stupid delays and the lawyers curbing any concerns that Kersti has regarding how to actually DO everything now. We're going to tell Liina and Rutt to impose their assistance continually until the end - making sure Kersti doesn't stall something in any way, and make sure that this notification to the Embassy is done properly so no problems come out of it. We're also going to ask them to aggressively push Kersti to do whatever she has to do to get us a court date before the court closing in July. It's been a year since we met the kids and submitted our dossier, and it would be completely unfair to have to wait until the fall again. After everything they've put us through, the least they can do is treat this like an urgent matter.

That's all the real news I have for now! I'll let you know what details I learn next week. Rutt is going to speak to Kersti on Monday and explain what the MFA said, and go from there.

Everyone can take a deep breath of relief for now, though, at least for the weekend! Finally some indication that we are winning this long fight!

Love,
Molly