Sunday, June 15, 2008

Court Date....

Our court date is Monday, June 23. This is a HUGE day for us because, if all goes well, Kumesa will be legally ours. What happens is that a lawyer in Ethiopia representing our case will bring all of our paperwork and Kumesa's paperwork to court in hope that the court will pass the adoption. According to our agency, 80% of the cases pass the first time through. If we do not pass initially, the lawyer will reschedule a court date for 1 - 3 weeks after and try again. Usually, all goes through the second time.

We are crossing our fingers that all will go well on the 23rd. Our agency should notify us that Monday to the court's decision and, hopefully, we'll learn when our embassy date is shortly after. We travel based on our embassy date which is usually 4 - 6 weeks after a favorable court date.

I have high hopes that all will go well the first time through since the agency said they had much more information on Kumesa's background than they usually receive for their children. However, the following could potentially happen:

1. Even though Kumesa was a clear relinquishment where the orphanage now has all legal rights to the child, if his mother is still alive (She was very sick when she relinquished him.), she could be required to appear in court. If she doesn't appear, we will not pass.

2. If she is now deceased, does our lawyer or the court know this? If not and they expect her to be there, we will not pass.

3. If there is a question about the paperwork, we will not pass.

4. If not all documentation is present, we will not pass.

Okay, now I have it all out of my system, and I will remain positive. We will pass! We will pass! We will pass!

1 comment:

Cupcakes and Hairbows said...

Lisa - I am so happy to hear how things are progressing! That is SO exciting. You could be in Africa in the middle of summer! There is no better time. I can't believe that you all are going to Africa before China, but it's so exciting! This adoption thing is addictive, isn't it? Yeah! Thanks for the updates!