Next Week Will Be “It”

 

Xenia & Anna just left our apt. They wanted a quick meeting to discuss what's going to happen next week. They are waiting for hard copies of our age revision paperwork, and as you know we've gone up to 6 years old, to cover our butts. I don't want to be in a position of possibly finding a great kid who is 4 years 9 months and then as we try to change our paperwork in Canada and then get it sent here, we lose the kid to another family. So we've gone up to 6, though we have no intentions of adopting older than 5.5…and truly, even that will be a stretch.

We asked how the files are coming for new children and if it's getting better or worse since we've been here for the number of new files coming into the IA system. She said that the thing we need to know is that the Dept is experiencing a wave of 2nd & 3rd appts from European couples who are now coming back from the early summer to complete their last appts. The law about the 3 appts says you don't need to take them all together one after the other, so if you live in Europe, it's much easier and less expensive to hop on a plane and in an hour or two end up in Kiev. If you live in NA though, of course it's another story- airfare is so expensive and you have much less holiday time off from work, that you are at a disadvantage in terms of having to really stay here and do it all at once. (Though theoretically it would be permitted to space your appts out over however many months you wish.)

So not are we battling other new families arriving for the first time, we are also going against all the other Europeans who are heading straight into 2nd & 3rd appts just as we are. Marvelous.

How it stands now is that the Dept wanted to give us our 3rd appt tomorrow, but Xenia was forced to say that we amended our age and we wanted to wait for the new paperwork. So now they *know* we are going up to 6, so most likely that is the age they will try to give us. Hey, if there is anyone in the world who will say they'll take an older kid, then they jump at the chance to do that at the Dept. They get way more requests for younger children, to the point where demand outstrips supply.

Xenia thinks we should shoot for our 3rd appt next week, either Monday or Weds when usually they get the new files in, though this is not gospel. So, it will be next week, folks. We'll either be heading out to get Mena, or we'll be flying home. I honestly do not know which way it is going to go.

In the meantime, we did have another brainstorm though. If Ukrainian citizens have first choice over any child in their state care system, could I be able to get a Ukrainian passport because of my great-grandparents? Ireland had a law like this in the 90's, though I believe it has changed now with all the EU migration. So we looked into that, but no, I am not eligible. The next thought was that I *know* I can get an EU/Hungarian passport bc my mom was born in Budapest, but Quebec only allows adoption through agencies accredited through the province, and Hungary is not a country Quebec deals with. Then we thought about what Oisin could get as an Irish citizen: could he adopt from Ireland? Yes, but we would have to live there a full year before we start any type of process. And finally, could Oisin adopt in Hungary as an EU citizen with a Hungarian wife, then somehow bring the kid to Canada? We've got more to look at for that option, although I’m certain it will be delightfully convoluted and violently expensive.

In any case, next week will decide everything. It’s calming knowing it’s out of our hands, but it’s also frustrating… knowing it’s out of our hands. Back to more Animal Planet for the next 7 days, I guess. Bring on my lion tamer!