Adoption News

Here are some things that have recently come up....

1. The US has sent an official letter to the Vietnamese government requesting a meeting for the end of October. It is believed that they will be sending officials over from the US to meet with Vietnamese authorities regarding the new agreement. So this is very positive news that they are actually having a face to face meeting. No one suspect another agreement will be hammered out in one meeting however, at least they are starting the negotiation process. Heck, it's only been 35 days since VN closed it's doors to US adoptions and they (both governments) are JUST now getting their act together.
2. There is still no new information regarding the return of dossiers. It was originally thought that if families had their paperwork in before the Sept 1 expiration that they would be grandfathered in and let to continue their adoptions. That changed (no surprise) and unless a family had a DEFINITE referral by Sept 1 then the remaining families would have their paperwork returned. Apparently, we are all just waiting to see what's going to happen with our paperwork. I suppose NO NEWS IS GOOD NEWS, right?!
3. My agency is working with some orphanages to receive some special needs referrals. They are still in the process of taking them (the kids) to have their medicals, etc., to see what type of special needs they have and making sure they would qualify as a special needs child. Once they do they'll have all the medical information and will then try and contact both governments regarding these children before offering them to any families to make sure that the referrals will be processed. This is good news in my opinion. After the news on the returning of the dossiers it was thought that VN would continue processing special needs. WELL, as you might expect nothing has been said in these 35 days since the closing until right now. Not that my agency or any agency taking these steps will guarantee that VN & the US let special needs adoptions continue, but at least it's something being done in the right direction! SN adoptions do not fall under the same rules & regulations as healthy child adoption, so basically they are the exception to the closing.
4. My agency has re-submitted for Hague accreditation. The approval process can now take 15 business days and they can still be turned down, again. This little snafu happened long before VN was most definitely closing to US adoptions, but it never really had an impact on us since VN isn't a Hague country. This little snafu does effect ANYONE within my agency who is trying to adopt from China or Columbia. Any of those families that had paperwork in process are grandfathered however, my agency cannot accept new applicants until they are approved. That basically takes 2 of 6 countries off the table and with VN closed that's 3 down with only 3 left. Out of those 3, Russia and Kazakhstan are moving slowing and are having their own issues while supposedly Ethiopia is having no issues. This little diddy WILL effect VN if they reopen and agree to being Hague compliant since we as potential adoptive parents would then need to find a new agency to complete our adoptions because the processing agencies would NEED to be Hague accredited. Did you get all of that? Don't worry if you didn't. It's all bureaucratic crap that can send you to the looney bin if you get stuck worrying about it too long.
5. With the above little snafu (I hope you are noticing the sarcasm) it has led my agency to close, yes, I said CLOSE, all branch offices. No, they did not close their doors completely however, they no longer have office in KC, IL, OH, NY, etc. They will be working out of the St. Louis office ONLY. And that is for ALL countries. Needless to say, most people were very upset with this latest news (since a lot didn't even know it was happening until it was mentioned on the agency chat group) which led to rightful complaining and bitching on the chat group board which in turn offended their (the agency's) fragile sensibilities and they closed the yahoo chat group. As you can imagine that pissed quite a few people off and the agency decided that they would reopen the chat groups with the stipulation that you couldn't talk bad about them. EVER! Can I just say WHAT MASSIVE BABIES THEY ARE!!!!???? I'm on the boards and I read the comments and no one attacked any one person inside the agency. Everyone was simply stating how they felt betrayed and lied to in many different ways. If my agency can't take the heat from the kitchen THEY set on fire then maybe they should close their doors. Not that I really want them to close because that would SUCK for all of us out here waiting for our children however, my agency has personally ticked me off in a few ways and I'm none too happy with them regarding that.

Anywho.....that's what's been happening on the adoption front and why I haven't really posted much about it lately. Well, that and there really isn't anything news worthy. It's all very depressing and it's truly easier for me to not think about it too often. It's just one big cluster-f that I'm almost tired of dealing with. I hate to say that for as much time, effort and emotion that I've put in however, I'm also tired of simply living my life and not really being able to move forward in my life. That's why I'm super excited about the new house. It's moving forward. It's something new. It's something that I basically just shot the finger to my agency and home study agency and told them to go fly a kite that I was doing it whether they liked/approved or not. And, it feels good to do so.