We got a chance to talk with our caseworker this afternoon about what's coming next for us in the adoption process! We were actually her very first "Next Steps" call since the new 2-trip policy has officially gone into place. :)
Here's a basic run-down of what we learned:
--Before the Ethiopian government will assign us a court date, several government agencies (there) need to review both our information/dossier, and all of the information they have on our little guy, and both of these agencies essentially write up recommendations - one saying that our baby boy was relinquished willingly and everything's on the up-and-up with his situation, and one saying that we are qualified to be adoptive parents to an Ethiopian-born child.
--Once those recommendations are in AND AGCI has his birth certificate in hand, THEN we are assigned a court date/can start planning to travel. At this point in time, AGCI's best estimate is that we will be waiting approximately one month before being assigned a court date. Could be sooner, could be later (of course), but that seems to be their best guess at this point.
--Side note: We are one of 4 families waiting to have our file opened/for those two recommendations and our kiddo's birth certificate.
--Within a few days or a week or so of having our file opened, we will be assigned a court date. This court date could be a little bit later than it was previously because, we just found out, that the birth family actually appears in court BEFORE we do. Therefore, the court now has to make time for 2 court dates for each adoption case; evidently, it's difficult to tell at this point in time exactly how quickly the courts will be able to deal with the increase in court appearances.
--As long as our little guy stays healthy and developing well, we likely won't hear anything else about him until we arrive in Ethiopia to meet him. So, likely no more photos or updates :( But we pray that all stays well with him.
--We likely won't find out until our 2nd trip whether or not we will have the opportunity to meet his birth family. Completely mixed emotions about that one! Our caseworker did ask us to put together a photo album for his birth family and to write a letter to them as well, and to get that back to AGCI in the next week or two. So, that'll be something good to keep us busy. :)
Other adoption news:
--We have our travel immunization appointments scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. It will be good to have those under our belts (and no, that was not an attempt at a pun :)).
--And something else I just wanted to throw out there: Maybe you've noticed that I rarely refer to our little guy by name which is intentional at this point. We use his African name at home when we're speaking of him...We intend to keep at least a portion of his African name, but will likely give him an additional first name as well. But we don't plan to share his complete name until after we pass court, and he legally becomes OURS! So, there you have it.
--I'll try and update about our immunization experience sometime soon. And we'll definitely keep you posted as we find out more info. :)
