Day 4

We just left the orphanage for the last time this trip.  Kind of a perfect ending so there were no tearful goodbyes:

 I was singing "I've Just Seen a Face" and she just leaned in and relaxed completely and fell asleep!

We are now going to nap and then head to the airport for Moscow.  I will go into all of the boring details I didn't provide yesterday lol!
First, as we were waiting for Dania to be brought to us this morning, we see a train of kids coming down the stairs (they have a railing specifically for tiny people on the main staircase!) and I make eye contact with the child at the head of the line.  It was HIM!  He has fairer hair, and even his eyes look lighter, but I knew it immediately.  He smiled and said 'hi' in Russian.  Then, outside, he kept running over to us.  I didn't feel a tug in the heart or punch in the gut as I expected I would.  I was just happy we saw him and he looked so happy to be running around outside.  And boy, did he run!  He was the kid that had to keep yelling at to make him come back!

I'm not sure if the home study is still being done on his mother, but CHOC said he wasn't on any registry now.  Either way, he looked happy.  All of the kids do, actually.  It's nice.  They were all outside playing with their little groups of 4-7 kids.  The orphanage psychologist was walking around taking photos and she even took one of the three of us.  The inside of the orphanage has nice bulletin boards, much like an elementary school, with photos plastered all over.  E was pointing out all of the Canadian adoptees to us!

Ok, so, the details.  First of all, I think CHOC is confused about things.  Either they don't understand how things work over here or they keep getting the cases confused and giving us the wrong info.  Most of it is the same procedural info, just wrong cities.  This trip is the ONLY time we go to Moscow.  Court is in Ufa.  The only reason we have to go to Moscow is for the clinic appointments that we have tomorrow (that are the only thing making me feel barfy now).  Also, we do not bring Dania to court with us.  Just photos of the three of us interacting.  CHOC sent me all the fee lists for Moscow and listed it as needed for trip two, so you can see how I was confused!

Yesterday, we went to the notary and gave power of atorny to V, our lawyer, so he can pick up or request any documents, make signatures, appeals, speak for us, etc. while we are in Canada.  He then went over the format of the proceeding.  First we are all introduced and we say we trust our lawyer and translator.  Then the translator makes a declaration that they understand what it is to provide a false translation.  Then we state our purpose and say we have no appeals to change our case as stated.  It is all very formal and to the point.  On our side of the room will be us, our translator, A, and our lawyer, V.  The other side will have the prosecutor, the inspector (aka, social worker, who will observe us three together one day next trip) and the director of the orphanage speaking on behalf of Dania's interests.  After all of the introductions the judge asks us for our statements.  We have been given templates to follow as she will be looking for specific points to be made.  Mike speaks first and his is very informative of our living situation, why we are doing this, what annual income is, the basics to it all.  My speech is more about the child and our visits (aka, the emotional speech).  Then the prosecutor's side states if it is Dania's best interest to be adopted or not (by the way, we found out yesterday that Dania's mother is currently in prison.  Our rep here, E, looks at us and says 'well, that's good for us! lol!) and the inspector says her opinion as to whether we were seen to be a good fit.  We show the judge our paperwork showing our request to visit the child in the baby home, our request for formal adoption.  We state what her new name will be and request permission for the new birth certificate. The prosecutor side will show the papers that terminated parental rights of Dania's parents, and that no other family accepted the offer of her.  They will also be showing her medical files here.  Once all this is done, the judge asks us for our final word.  We basically say that we love her and want to include her in our family.  Then the judge will go to her chambers, go through our file, 10-15 minutes V says, and comes out to make her ruling.  

That's it.  Today, E,A,and V are taking our signed request to the ministry of education and it will be forwarded to the supreme court of Moscow for approval for court.  When the minisitry gets it back is when we get our official date.  V says it should be between the 10th and 20th of July.

 Here is a full shot of her outside outfit!

Our second trip should have at least 4 days before court, for us to spend more time with Dania.  Russian law states 10 days are to be spent but V says it can be give or take a few.  These days will get us reacquainted with Dania, and allow the inspector to come visit.  We are also encouraged to bring photos of her spending time with us to add to her album that we left with her tutor.  We are also supposed to schedule one day after the court date in case the hearing needs to be pushed back a day (this has only happened once, due to illness of the judge).  So, if all goes well tomorrow and at court, at this point she is ours providing there are no sudden claims from her family.  We then leave and V will gather up all the proper documents, get Dania a passport, and we come back in 30 days to bring her home.  

Yes, mum, she pretty much has all her teeth and I think she is obsessed with the size of mine...

We were given a lot of paperwork regarding how to behave and what to say or not to say in court.  Pretty straight forward.  We were also warned not to be alarmed at her new name on the birth certificate since, like ours, it isn't a direct translation as there are sometimes no latin characters for our English pronunciations.  I never would have known!  We were told never to ask questions of the prosecutor's side, even if prompted, because it may show that we are not familiar with Dania or her case.  We shouldn't be alarmed when they read out her medical file because there are several different Russian words for everything and it may sound different from the ones the doctor at the orphanage said to us.  There was more, but it will all be mentioned in future blog posts with specific details when they occur.  

That is it for now.  I may or may not post in Moscow until the airport home.  I am glad we have the extra day now since we will not be returning on the next two trips!  Hopefully tomorrow goes smoothly (BARF!) and I look forward to being a tourist for a day!

Our family, hopefully!  It already feels like    

                                                                                                                                                    one!