A Storm Cloud of Suspense (and finding some silver lining)

So I began writing this post almost a week ago and in writing it and all the other commotion happening between now and then, I mistakenly thought writing had meant I’d posted it.  Nope. But here it is now.

Last week we got some…delaying news.  On Wednesday, it was announced that the country that Melissa is living in is doing a fairly major overhaul to some of the laws regarding international adoption.  The agency that handles adoption cases is shutting down as of July 11^th for “approximately 3 months.”  They are basically doing an overhaul and will be reopening under new management around October, if things go smoothly.

In short, only special needs children that are 5 and older can be adopted by foreign families.  A younger child can be adopted only if he or she has a diagnosis specified on a list released by the Ministry of Health. 

The list is dramatically shorter than the previous list and many families in the Reece’s Rainbow community have been put at a huge risk of losing the child they were hoping to adopt.  While it is heart-wrenching to read other families’ posts and sit in on chats with these brokenhearted and frustrated parents, we are extremely fortunate that Melissa’s age should make her eligible for adoption, regardless of CP not being included on the eligibility list! 

How it does affect us though, is a longer wait to our dear little angel.   We can complete our homestudy (which needs to be revamped to include specifics relating to Melissa’s condition and situation) and complete the USCIS immigration paperwork as those will be mandatory regardless of changes.  What we cannot complete is one of the lengthier chunks of the timeline: our dossier.  The dossier is the large paperwork packet with documents ranging from marriage certificate originals to Interpol clearance petitions!  We could opt to continuing to gather these documents, but with the department in overhaul, there is no guarantee that the requirements will stay the same.  Instead, we will spend more time pinpointing where we will hunt down these documents should the new department still require them.

One of the hardest parts is not knowing for certain if the wait combined with her age will mean that she may be moved to the mental institution in the meantime.  It appears that it will just depend on the orphanage director and if he or she sees it fit.     

Although we would hop on a plane this very minute and go get her right now if we could, we are trying to see the silver lining of our situation.   First and foremost, we could not be more elated that it appears Melissa will still be eligible for adoption after the department re-opens.  Second, it will give us a little more time to prepare financially and physically.  We are going to dedicate this ‘hurry up and wait’ period to fundraising and getting our home and family ready for our new addition!  There are walls to be painted, a twin bed to seek out, bedding to choose, and plenty of crafty projects to begin (and hopefully finish) as we await the green light to appear again!