So, we were blessed with a court date for the boys’ adoption….sort of. The court date was issued for the determination of the children’s FATHER on the birth certificate. In Ukraine and Republic of Georgia there is a law that REQUIRES any person who is adopting as a single person, to list a father on the birth certificate.  We each adopted as SINGLE people. Our home-study were each done as single people, all the fingerprinting, background info, and the INS and citizenship in the USA was authorized and approved as a SINGLE adoption. ….even though the birth certificate from the original adoptions, done in Ukraine and the Republic of Georgia, were shown with a father’s name.

The fact that we had to list a father was just “something you have to do”. Honestly, I NEVER realized it would cause such a problem, or I would have raised a stink about it when it was happening.  So, now, we are trying to re-adopt and the first step is the finalization of the foreign born child’s adoption. The judge is 100% a stickler for every law that was ever written….and that is precisely the reason that Hillsborough County is the ONLY county in NH that has NEVER granted a same-sex adoption. The fact that we are lesbians adopting is the UN-issue. …thank goodness……but, this issue of “The Rights of the Father” is unreal. We used our first initials combined as the first name of the “father”. In the adoption decree FROM UKRAINE it actually states that any unmarried person must list a father’s name “as the mother wishes”. It also states that there is a law that supports this practice.

We went to court WITH the boys and presented copies of all the Georgian laws and Ukrainian laws. The judge DID NOT accept them as enough proof. She wants a person from the US Government or US State Department to issue a statement that our documents, as she states “lean toward fraudulent”. I am appalled that anyone, particularly, a judge, would suggest that our adoptions were anything but legal, approved, and valid.

So, I tried to do what the judge asked. I stayed up until 3am and called the US Embassy in Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia and Kiev, Ukraine….and got NO WHERE! They refused to issue a statement that the country requires a father’s name on the birth certificate for a single adoption. So….I went to bed for 3 hours and got up again to call the US State Department in Washington, DC and asked for the same thing…again….Just someone, some where, that KNOWS the laws in Ukraine and the Republic of Georgia….to tell this judge that a father MUST be on the birth certificate. NO ONE WILL!!

SOOOO….now, the judge is asking for the ORIGINAL application for the I-600 form, the one that we filled out to get the approval for the adoption! We do not have the original! It is in a SEALED envelope that you must give to the embassy!!! They don’t give them back!

SO, what now??

Officially, we are supposed to be in Calgary in 19 days. We have to have the boys’ US Passports issued, rent our house, get my visa, and move, ….in 19 days! what do you think the likelihood of that happening is? um, I am thinking NOT.

The relocation is sort of at a stand still again. The relocation company required us to get 3 moving quotes on our own…then, after a LOT of time, they told us that they wanted to do their own quote. They came in, and gave us a quote that was a LOT more than the quotes we got. So…..what their solution was…..to take away ALL of our other allowances to pay for the difference!! UM>>>>>NOPE……not going to happen.

So, the idea of just leveling out after the holidays and wedding…well, has not happened yet! But, the upstairs is coming along SO BEAUTIFULLY! The floor is down, and all the trim work! The stairs are going in tomorrow! 

Accomplishment of the Week: 20 HUGE Contractor bags of stuff out of our house!!! PURGE PURGE PURGE! LOVE IT!

Anne