Finally our agency, Kids Link, is open again! YAY! I just HAD to call yesterday and see if I could find out any information on the situation in Kenya, our referral, the new Canadian citizenship process and any other adoption information I could get out of them. Hee Hee...I am so desperate!
Things I found out...
The High Commission in Niarobi is down to only a few Canadians. This is the office where all the immigration paperwork is done for Ethiopian adoptions. Families are needing visas, passports, immigration paperwork, medicals, etc...to complete their adoptions so they can travel to pick up their children. With all the horrific events happening in Kenya over the last few weeks, the Canadian embassy has pulled some of its staff in Niarobi. (Please correct me if I'm totally off base but I think this is what I understand to be right). This means things have SLOWED down at the High Commission and paperwork will ultimatetly get backed up with families' files waiting to be completed.
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Our referral still hasn't come BUT I did find out what happens when it does come. When we received our referral from China, it was sent to PEI first and then PEI sent it to our agency in ON to be translated and THEN it came back to PEI. Only after that (about 2 extra weeks) were Chris and I able to finally review our referral and see our sweet daughter's face! I was thinking it would be the same for the Ethiopian referral but luckily the referral comes already in English so we get to review it as soon as PEI gets it - we don't have to wait the extra 2 weeks!!! So, that's a huge relief for us!
Our referral still hasn't come BUT I did find out what happens when it does come. When we received our referral from China, it was sent to PEI first and then PEI sent it to our agency in ON to be translated and THEN it came back to PEI. Only after that (about 2 extra weeks) were Chris and I able to finally review our referral and see our sweet daughter's face! I was thinking it would be the same for the Ethiopian referral but luckily the referral comes already in English so we get to review it as soon as PEI gets it - we don't have to wait the extra 2 weeks!!! So, that's a huge relief for us!
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The new Bill C-14 is now in effect. Adoptive families can choose which process they would like to take
1. Canadian citizenship process - adopted child will be a Canadian citizenship before coming home to Canada. This process is BRAND NEW and no families have completed it yet. Do we want to be one of the first???? They are saying it could SPEED up the process to bring home our child but they are also saying it could take up to 6-8 months which is longer than the old way.
2. Permanent Resident process - this is the "old" way and takes a maximum of 6 months. The average time for this process is 4.5 months after court date to travel to pick up your child. With this process, your child is given permanent resident status in Canada and then adopting families apply for Canadian citizenship for the child once they return home. This is the process we did when we adopted Alyssa.
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So, we are trying to decide which process to take....obviously we want to choose the one that will be the quickest but right now, there is no way to tell which one that is! HELP!
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So, we are still praying we will here about our referral really soon....as are many, many other families!
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Please pray for the people in Kenya - so much horror and heartache there!!!
Little boy in Kenya
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