Diddles in Ukraine :: Oct 9th - Court Day

[] Diddles in Ukraine Tuesday | October 10, 2006 Oct 9th - Court Day 9 Oct 2006 – Monday – Court Date. We received a called today from Vladimir at 0945L. He said that we have a court time scheduled for 1300L. Vladimir will pick up the children and Lydia and meet us at the courthouse. We attempted to post to the internet this morning, but after 30 minutes trying to open up email, I gave up. We left the apartment at 1215. We got a taxi for under $2US. The courthouse was about 3 blocks to the south of McDonalds. We arrived at 1230. The wether was cold and the skies were gray. We waited until 1306 to enter the courtroom. The courtroom was approximately 20 feet deep and 30 feet wide. In front of us was a table with 4 chairs. Two of the chairs were occupied by a man and a woman sitting . The west end of the table was up against a 4 foot wooden desk. There a lady dressed is dark conservative clothes was reviewing our court requests for adoption. We were directed to sit in the chairs that lined the eastern wall. Also present in the room was Vladimir, Lydia (The psychologist form the boarding school), and the director of the local education office. As best as I remember, we were asked to stand. The court was called to order and Natalie presented her authority and documents to translate. Then I was told my court options were to accept the court decision, or adjourn for another day. We of course choose to accept the court decision. I was then directed to stand back up. Introduce my self. Indicate my occupation, state that I would be financially able to support the children. I told them I owned my house. It was a separate dwelling. The boys would be sharing a bedroom. I would provide for their needs, and no, I was not receiving any financial benefit from anyone to adopt these children. I was also asked if we had bonded with the children and if I was healthy to assume the responsibility as parent. I stated that this past week, I had played several soccer games and survived and I felt healthy enough to be their father. Additionally we had faithfully written a letter every week to Zhenya and called him on his birthday. The court also asked if I had been told the medical history of the children. I stated as far as the SDA has told me. Then Nadine was introduced to the court. The court explained that the Mother will be raising the children. The judge asked if she intends to work out of the home. Her answer was “If needs be, I have skills, but the primary responsibility was raising the children.” Then Lydia presented the history of the children. Zhenya in 2000 was left in the care of his grandmother. The grandmother left him alone in a house. She was arrested and he was taken into state custody. He had never received a visit. Additionally, when the grandmother did get out of jail, she never visited Zhenya. Zhenya’s biological parents are recorded as missing. Ruslan’s case was that in 2005 he was removed from his alcoholic mother that had neglected and abused him. The parent occasionally visited at the orphanage, but was under the influence of alcohol. There is no record of his father. The mother made no attempt to get Ruslan back. The boys were asked who their parents were, and they stated that we were. Zhenya and Ruslan were asked if they wanted to be adopted. The answer was yes. We were asked if we wanted to change their names, we said yes, but we kept their first names as their middle names so they can remember their wonderful Ukrainian heritage. We then were asked if there were any further comments. I spoke that I apologize for not knowing their language; however, we love the boys, and request the court to find favor in us and to grant us our desire to be the parents of these two boys. We were then dismissed. We waited in the lobby for maybe 5 minutes. We were called back in. The court read the decision. The decision was positive, that we will be their parents. We have 10 days to change our mind, or to have someone contest the court’s decision. In less then an hour, by 1350 we were departing the court house. The plan…It is only a plan, because we have seen delays already, is to return on the Friday the 20 th to pick up the paperwork showing the positive decision. Then we will work on getting Ruslan’s paperwork (birth certificate) changed here in Sumy. Then on Sunday, the 22 nd we shall travel to Donestk to get Zhenya’s paperwork changed on Monday the 23 rd . Then travel back to Sumy on the Tuesday the 24 th . Prepare travel documents on Wednesday 25 th , and then go to Kiev on Thursday the 26 th to work with travel documents at the US Embassy and to get the children’s medical check up accomplished. This should take place on Friday, the 27 th and Monday the 30 th . Then we hope to fly out on the 30th at 1230L. It will be close. After court, we went to celebrate at a café across from the court house. The restaurant had a non-smoking children section. The room was cold. The boys had crab salad, french fries and a cutlet. Nadine and I had French Fries. She ordered Broccoli covered with cheese sauce, but it ended up being Brussels sprouts which she will not eat! The bill was 195 Grinya’s. We then returned to the boarding school. Roman and Bogdan saw Zhenya and asked the results. They were excited. We received permission for the boys to spend the night at our apartment. While at the school, we talked with the director. They wish to use our donation to the school in support of purchasing carpet runners for the children’s’ rooms. We scheduled tomorrow at 1030 to accomplish this task. Additionally, Zhenya’s group leader has asked for a vacuum cleaner. We shall see what we can find with our limited budget. Due to the late hour we returned, we did not get to the internet Café to post. Hopefully we can do this in the morning. The boys were excited. I finally got them calmed down as I told them the story of Goldilocks and the three bears in English. I must have bored them, because shortly after, they went to sleep. Posted by at 10:50 in | Link | Comments (0) Comments Write a comment Name: Email: Url: Comment: Remember info? Search My Advertisement Categories Archives October - 2006 September - 2006 Syndication RSS Atom Albums Kiev Sumy Ukraine Part 2 Sumy, Ukraine Random Blog