Sunday, January 30, 2005
February...
When we made our first trip to Yekaterinburg in October to meet Elena, we were under the impression we would be returning sometime around February to complete the adoption and bring her home. We broadcast this to the numerous friends and family who expressed a natural curiousity as to the timeframe, offering to help during our travel and upon our return. With February just around the corner, here's what's going on.
In a nutshell, since October, many changes in Russian adoption law and procedures have occured which have brought "the process" to a crawl. This is not directed at Elena's case specifically; we are simply taking our place in line to get our court date, alongside many who have been waiting longer (in some cases as far back as June). In October, the system was working and the timeframes were reasonably predictable. Today, it's anybody's guess.
Right now, we know absolutely nothing about when this will be is happening. There are few clues given as to the progress of specific cases overseas, so we'll probably learn anything and everything all at once, then will likely be packing our bags to go. Could the call come next week? Next year? When she's ready for college? We simply don't know.
What's behind all of this? A few things:
1) A series of Russian adoptions by Americans gone bad, where children were abused by their adoptive parents has caused Russia to require what amounts to additional background checks on prospective parents in the form of psychological evaluations.
As difficult as it is to comprehend child abuse under any circumstances, it's absolutely unbelievable to think it's happening after the parents have gone through the extraordinary effort involved in the adoption process. But, unfortunately, it's true.
2) An effort by Russia to promote more domestic adoptions (which also means making foreign adoption more difficult). Why? First, any social system depends on younger workers supporting older retirees. Our Social Security works the same way and is projected to be broke by 2052; Russia's went belly-up sometime during the reign of Czar Nicholas II. Also, they view the number of adoptions by foreigners as something of an embarassment, as the world perceives Russia can't take care of their own. Just my two cents.
To paraphrase Louis Renault (Claude Rains) in Casablanca, Russia is "shocked...shocked to learn that so much foreign adoption is going on here." At the same time, they are quite content to make use of the dollars and euros that flow into the country as part of the process, knowing there are no consequences to biting the hand that feeds them.
Are we frustrated by the lack of information, complying with new rules which weren't in effect when we started the process, complying when they revise these new rules requiring more paperwork, time and expense, not being able to plan vacations, not being able to tell those willing to help us for an extended period when this will be happening (but that it will probably happen on no notice whatsoever)? Absolutely. Is there anything we can do about it? No.
As Robert Klein first explained the law of supply and demand (as it related to the oil companies during the 1970s), "We have the supply...we can demand whatever the f*** we want." Russia has Elena. They make the rules. We follow them. 'Nuff said.
With all the frustration, the good news is that Elena remains healthy in the orphanage and is, for lack of a better word, forever "reserved" for us. We are 100% confident that this extraordinary child who entered our hearts in the fall will be brought into our home...someday. ¶ 5:00 PM
When we made our first trip to Yekaterinburg in October to meet Elena, we were under the impression we would be returning sometime around February to complete the adoption and bring her home. We broadcast this to the numerous friends and family who expressed a natural curiousity as to the timeframe, offering to help during our travel and upon our return. With February just around the corner, here's what's going on.
In a nutshell, since October, many changes in Russian adoption law and procedures have occured which have brought "the process" to a crawl. This is not directed at Elena's case specifically; we are simply taking our place in line to get our court date, alongside many who have been waiting longer (in some cases as far back as June). In October, the system was working and the timeframes were reasonably predictable. Today, it's anybody's guess.
Right now, we know absolutely nothing about when this will be is happening. There are few clues given as to the progress of specific cases overseas, so we'll probably learn anything and everything all at once, then will likely be packing our bags to go. Could the call come next week? Next year? When she's ready for college? We simply don't know.
What's behind all of this? A few things:
1) A series of Russian adoptions by Americans gone bad, where children were abused by their adoptive parents has caused Russia to require what amounts to additional background checks on prospective parents in the form of psychological evaluations.
As difficult as it is to comprehend child abuse under any circumstances, it's absolutely unbelievable to think it's happening after the parents have gone through the extraordinary effort involved in the adoption process. But, unfortunately, it's true.
2) An effort by Russia to promote more domestic adoptions (which also means making foreign adoption more difficult). Why? First, any social system depends on younger workers supporting older retirees. Our Social Security works the same way and is projected to be broke by 2052; Russia's went belly-up sometime during the reign of Czar Nicholas II. Also, they view the number of adoptions by foreigners as something of an embarassment, as the world perceives Russia can't take care of their own. Just my two cents.
To paraphrase Louis Renault (Claude Rains) in Casablanca, Russia is "shocked...shocked to learn that so much foreign adoption is going on here." At the same time, they are quite content to make use of the dollars and euros that flow into the country as part of the process, knowing there are no consequences to biting the hand that feeds them.
Are we frustrated by the lack of information, complying with new rules which weren't in effect when we started the process, complying when they revise these new rules requiring more paperwork, time and expense, not being able to plan vacations, not being able to tell those willing to help us for an extended period when this will be happening (but that it will probably happen on no notice whatsoever)? Absolutely. Is there anything we can do about it? No.
As Robert Klein first explained the law of supply and demand (as it related to the oil companies during the 1970s), "We have the supply...we can demand whatever the f*** we want." Russia has Elena. They make the rules. We follow them. 'Nuff said.
With all the frustration, the good news is that Elena remains healthy in the orphanage and is, for lack of a better word, forever "reserved" for us. We are 100% confident that this extraordinary child who entered our hearts in the fall will be brought into our home...someday. ¶ 5:00 PM
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