Stahlke Adoption

Court Now

Back in early December, I recounted our 2005 court experience with the oldest five children. My plan had been to compare it immediately with court in 2008, but I had temporarily misplaced my notes from that visit. Now that the notes are found, and on the one-year anniversary of Kola's adoption, here is what happened on Tuesday, September 23, 2008:

Jonathan and I entered the judge's office (not a courtroom) for our appointment. Accompanying us was our lawyer Tatiana, as well as a young female translator whom we had met only moments before. Masha, our facilitator, could not join us that day because her young son had taken very ill. Also present were an administrator from the orphanage (not the director), a representative from the social services division of the state government, a secretary for the judge, and a citizen's advocate to witness the proceedings.

After a very long discussion between all of us and the judge, our interview ended. The pleasant nature of the judge's demeanor changed as he rose to his feet to make the formal announcement. Everyone in the room immediately stood up, as well. At exactly 5:01 pm, the judge read through the adoption decree. I couldn't understand the words, but about half-way through his recitation, he declared "tak" [yes], and the Ukrainian speakers in the room all smiled. At that moment, Kola became our son.

posted by Stahlkes @ 1:23 PM