Scenes from Trip 2

Getting Ready for Trip 3

Trip 2 went by so fast that I didn't have time to write about it until now.  On the 2nd trip, we had our court session.  Everything went well.....no objections from anyone.  Now that it is over, it seems like it was all just a dream.  Of course, it was our dream come true!  :-)

Now we are back in the USA but we are preparing to leave again this weekend.  We fly out to Russia on Saturday, Christmas Day.  We will arrive in Moscow on Sunday morning.  We will drive to the Yaroslavl region and then complete paperwork.  We get to pick Jacob up from the orphanage on the 29th. 

We will travel to Moscow then...and complete the medical exam for Jacob and get ready for our interview at the Embassy.  Then....we get his visa.  We will fly home on the 31st.  We can't wait!

We are sooooooooooo ready to get over there and get our boy! 

Thanks everyone for taking this journey with us.  We will keep you updated.

Getting Ready for Trip #2

Lisa and I are so excited to be leaving for our 2nd trip to Russia.  We leave this Saturday, December 11th!!  We can't wait to get back over to Russia and see our little Jacob once again.

This will be our court trip.  We are excited but nervous.  Hopefully everything will go well.  We love Jacob so much and just want to get through the next few weeks and get him home with us.

We will keep everyone posted on our next 2 trips. 

Now that we are actually moving along with this adoption, we have news to post!  LOL!  We have been in a stalemate for quite a while....as you can see with older posts.  Now.....everything is happening!  Keep us in your thoughts!

Our First Trip to Russia

Wow!

I can't believe that is has been since last March since we last posted. So many changes have happen since then. I will be updating and changing things on the blog so stay tune to all that has happened to us in the last year.

Waiting, Waiting and More Waiting

All we seem to be doing is waiting for something to happen. If things don't get moving soon, that is how I will look when we do get Jacob.

The JCICS did announce this news this week.

As part of the Joint Council International Relations Initiative, we are honored to host a 9-member delegation from Vietnam from March 24th through April 2nd. The delegation, led by Vice-Minister of Justice Dinh Trung Tung, will attend the Joint Council Conference and Institutes, meet with adoptive families and participate in a planned series of meetings with leaders in U.S. child welfare and government agencies.

With a goal of advancing the relationship and understanding between the peoples and governments of the United States and Vietnam, this visit will include an exchange of information on the Hague Convention and child protections along with discussions on key elements of and opportunities for an interim agreement. Joint Council looks forward to learning of Vietnam’s plans in these very important areas.

There was more but this is the important part. Our agency thinks that this is a very good thing and will go a long way in helping with a new agreement.

Nothing else much new with us. We are on Spring Break today and tomorrow. Saturday, we have an academic competition.

Mixed Signals

As promised, more on the adoption front. Over the past few weeks there have been some positive and some negative news about adoptions. According to our agency, there are going to be several upcoming meetings in Washington, D.C. sometime this month between Vietnam and the U.S.

Some of the news we have been hearing is as follows:

This is from one of Vietnam's online newspapers:

US wants transparent cooperation with Vietnam in adoption
16:26' 16/02/2009 (GMT+7)

Assistant Secretary of State Janice L.Jacobs.
VietNamNet Bridge – Speaking to VietNamNet last week, Assistant Secretary of State Janice L. Jacobs said the US expects Vietnam’s early participation in the La Haye Convention to resume adoption cooperation between the two countries, which was suspended last September.

Signed in 2005, the 3-year Cooperation Agreement on Adoption between Vietnam and the US was halted in September 2008.

From 2005-2008, of 69 foreign adoption organizations in Vietnam, 42 belonged to the US. Around 1,700 disadvantaged Vietnamese children were adopted by American families, making the US the country that adopted the largest number of children from Vietnam.

Vietnam is adjusting its adoption policy, including making preparations for joining the La Haye Convention.

The US is very serious about transparency in adoption, including a clear fee table for adoption, said the US diplomat.

She said the US is willing to provide technical assistance to Vietnam to compile the Law on Adoption. The US can also help Vietnam train staff.

“It is wise to restrict the number of adoption organizations,” she said.



Next from the Center for Adoption Policy website:

February 17, 2009. U.S. Official Speaks on International Adoption from Vietnam. Assistant Secretary of State Janice L. Jacobs gave an interview last week to VietNamNet. According to the account published by VietNamNet, Jacobs said that she expects Vietnam to join the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption soon and that thereafter, she expects international adoption from Vietnam to the United States to resume. Moreover, Jacobs stated that the U.S. has offered technical assistance to Vietnam in order to make its IA law Hague compliant. Among other things she cited the need for increased transparency in fee structures and a reduction in the number of accredited agencies from the 42 U.S. adoption agencies (out of a total of 69) that operated in Vietnam prior to the September 2008 shutdown.

Then today the bad news from Ethica’s website:

March 1, 2009Recently there have been rumors circulating claiming that Vietnam will be open to Americans adopting by the end of this year. Conversations with the U.S. Department of State have confirmed that adoptions are not likely to reopen for some time. Negotiations for a new Memorandum of Understanding have not been successful and Vietnam has indicated that it will be preparing to sign and ratify the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption. Given that Vietnam has considerable progress to make towards adoption reform and transparency, particularly in regards to how children come into care and the need for a fee schedule, Ethica advises families to be aware that this process will most likely take as long, if not longer, than the 3 years that it took for the second Memorandum of Understanding to be approved.

So now the million dollar question is who do we believe? We are choosing to believe somewhere in the middle of all these statements. Maybe not as fast as the Assistant Secretary of State would have you think but not as long as Ethica doom and gloom statement.

Who knows?