Accreditation again....

Well, I know what I posted last week.... but we have heard nothing yet on accreditation for our agency. Bummer. I was visiting another family's blog and they are waiting to pick up their little girls in Russia.... just waiting for a court date. They were informed this week, that until our agency is accredited that they will not get a court date. Double bummer. I know this family has waited a long time, and would love nothing more than to bring home their little girls.... Keep praying for the Russian government to release a new batch of accredited agencies soon, and that our agency will be one of the one's re-accredited.

Even though I know we have a long wait.... (over 1 year) it would be nice to see adoptions start moving more quickly in Russia again. Once more I can't thank you enough for your prayers. To know that people are praying for the children we will be bringing home....it is a comforting feeling. Thank you....

Jackie and Chris

More News...sort of....

All adoption agencies who work in Russia must be accredited. What this means is that they have submitted the paperwork and have been reviewed and given a favorable conclusion to work as agencies in Russia. While accreditation is not new, this process is. Prior to now agencies had to be re-accredited, but with this new application process, apparently the accreditation is non-expiring. It has taken a l-o-n-g time for the Russian government to implement this, and most agencies have still not been accredited. Our agency is one of them. But, in the adoption community, especially dealing with accreditation in Russia, even a little news of forward progress is good news. Today we heard from our adoption agency the news of forward progression. (Small steps, but steps none the less).

ACCREDITATION:
Many are anxiously awaiting news on accreditation. The Ministry of Internal Affairs finally prepared the positive conclusion about (our agency) as well as other group of agencies. We are now half step away from the Accreditation. We are now awaiting the order from the Ministry of Education to issue the Accreditation Certificate.
Some families already find information about this from the other agencies’ chat groups. We don’t want to confirm nor deny this information to families until we get the actual Accreditation. This can happen at any time.
We are anxiously awaiting news on accreditation.

I sure hope that we receive this certificate of accreditation soon. I bet it would speed up the process....maybe not for us, but for others awaiting court dates to bring their children home. Plus it would open up all the regions in Russia that our agency works with, so hopefully there would be more children available to adopt. Please keep praying for accreditation to happen so that these Russian orphans can find their forever homes!

Well, I called our agency representative on Monday like I said I would. I got someone in the department, who didn't know our names, where we were in the process, who our rep was.... and everyone was out to lunch. So, I left my number to have whoever call me back. They never did. Ummm.... not good.

So, I checked caller ID to make sure, and the machine of course. Then Tuesday I called in the afternoon..(giving a whole 1/2 day for them to attempt to call me back). They didn't so, I made the 2nd call. Again, the questions, "what is your name?" "How do you spell it?" (It's almost as easy as Smith) "Where are you in the adoption process?" Oh boy, I bit my tongue hard to be patient and polite. They transferred me to my representative, who of course began to apologize for not calling me back the day prior, saying she dropped the ball. My end ... silence. I had to consciously think don't say anything...because usually I'll say something inane like "That's okay", but in reality it was not okay with me. So, our rep informs me that a note on our former reps desk said our dossier was sent to Russia on August 13th. I immediately corrected that with August 3rd, and sent an email to back it up. Then she asks what we've requested to adopt.... Oh brother.... is their nothing there stating that? Really?! She gave me her contact information and then asked if there was anything else she could do for me today? I was very proud of myself for saying that I was disappointed in the lack of communication from the headquarters in St Louis. I was calling to find out if our dossier did indeed arrive in Russia, and if it was translated yet? Plus, I learned of the change in the Russian department, but no one had contacted me as of yet to inform me of it. Again I re-iterated that our communication and dealing with the satellite Nashville office has been stellar. I did all of this very professionally and politely, yet firmly. She heard me, and I think we have a new understanding of what communication will look like between the two of us.

So, that is the update on our agency. She did email the Moscow office and our dossier is there. It is not however, translated as of yet. I am not sure why they are waiting. For those of you who may not know... we are requesting two sibling girls under 4 years old or twins. When you request siblings our agency holds our dossier at the Moscow office until a referral is found in a specific region, and then they send it on. It can take 14 months or longer to find a sibling referral of girls. We are okay with that... (for now) lol!, but after we've been waiting 6-12 months well ask me again.

Please be praying for the children God has for us. Pray for protection for them, for their health, for the birth mother, and if they are in an orphanage already, pray for loving caregivers. Please also be praying for the accreditation to happen for our agency in Russia.

Adoption agency updates

Well, it seems like their is some upheaval at our adoption agency. They Russian Director and Asst. Director have either been fired or quit at the same time. No one is saying what the reasons are. Doesn't give me a real good feeling though.... especially since we haven't been contacted yet by our new representative. I suppose I'll be getting on the phone Monday to find out what the deal is. (Do I sound a little sarcastic?) Well I suppose I am, as I'm a little disappointed in the contact, and communication with the main agency headquarters in St. Louis. Don't get me wrong I think our agency is very reputable, and above board, and my dealings with our regional office in Nashville have been stellar. I suppose some good straightforward conversation is what's needed here. (Kind of like confrontation - and boy do I hate confrontation). LOL! :-)

Anyway, our dossier has been in Russia for 5 weeks as of yesterday. Slowly working up to the 2 month mark. It really has flown by, and for that I am grateful! There are so many things Chris and I need to be doing.... finishing our last adoption parenting test. (We got a reminder via email). Setting up our international doctor.... setting up our first consulatation with our pediatrician. The one who adopted 5 children from Russia! Way cool! And then there is saving for the adoption while at the same time trying to get out of debt. Never easy.... :-) A fellow adoption parent, Carey, will be traveling on her first trip to Russia to meet their little girl. She is also a list person, and she left a very detailed list on her blog. When it's our turn to travel, I'm going to go right to her blog and print it all off! (Thanks Carey!)

I read on a blog recently of a couple who had been waiting 16 months for a sibling set of two boys from Russia. They finally got a referral, and get this.... it's for two little girls. (See ya never know!) I am sure after waiting that long that were thrilled to receive that referral!

I guess that's the update for now. I'll keep you posted as we tackle some more adoption loose ends here on our end.