Please Explain

Several people have asked me in the past few days to explain a little more about the adoption process from here on out, with the main question being, "Why don't you have a court date?". The reason I haven't posted on this subject is twofold:
one- because there are so many factors, and two- I don't know all of the factors.

Here is what I know...

We are waiting for a court date to be assigned. These are generally assigned in the order by which the families traveled for trip one. Remember, there are several other agencies working in our region, which means there are other families in "line" in addition to the families from our agency. We are next (along with another family) within our agency. The court will take 2 families from our agency per court day. Adoptions are only processed on Tuesdays, so there is one possible court day per week.

In order for a court date to be assigned to us, all of our documents (dossier) must first be reviewed again by our facilitator. He needs to ensure that they are all in his possession (he has his own copies and our regional facilitator has her own copies as well- hers are the ones that will physically be turned in to the judge), that they are all done correctly, that they are all current / not expired, etc. It is our understanding that this process is complete or nearly complete.

Next, our physical dossier will be brought to the courthouse by our regional facilitator and presented to the judge. The judge then reviews the dossier (checking for the same things listed above) and assigns a court date. This could happen in one day, or it could take several weeks for a date to be assigned, depending on the judge's satisfaction with the dossier. He may ask for additional support documents and/or for documents to be re-done before a court day is assigned or even after a court date is assigned. Basically, additional documents can be requested at any time- even during the time we are physically in court (eeek! hope that doesn't happen!).

After a court date is assigned, this information must be relayed to/confirmed by the adoption agency's staff here is the U.S. During this time, our entire itinerary is planned out and every day we will spend in Russia is accounted for. We will be informed of our court date once our court date is confirmed and the general itinerery is mapped out.
Here's a rundown of the general itinerary (approx 27-30 days)...

1) Medicals
Spend several days in Moscow, during which time the medicals will be completed. We are required to have several labs done here in the U.S. and bring the results to Russia with us. We will see 8 specialists (oncologist, neurologist, etc.) and they will sign off on some paperwork for us to bring to the region with us.
2) Pre-court visit
Travel to the region and have at least one pre-court visit with our son. This is required by the court. I am fully in favor of this one and look forward to fulfilling the wishes of the court!
3) Prepare for court
We will spend several hours with one of our facilitators prepping for court the day prior to our actual court date.
4) COURT!
This will take about 2 hours, during which time we will be questioned about all things pertaining to our life, who we are, and what kind of parents we will be to our son.
5) 10-day waiting period
Our region (along with most regions in Russia) requires a 10-day waiting period post-court before we can be forever united with our son. We are told the purpose of this is to allow parents and children to build a stronger bond before the child is taken from the only home and caregivers he or she has ever known. During this time, our son stays in the orphanage and we are allowed to visit as often as the orphanage allows (this seems to be just about every weekday in our region).
6) Gotcha Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This will be the day we get to take our son with us :0) It will be amazing to actually get to walk out of the orphanage with him in our arms!
7) Paperwork
We will spend a few days in the region after gotcha day getting our some of the identification paperwork our son will need- new birth certificate, etc.
8) Return to Moscow
We will spend our last few days in Russia getting more paperwork (U.S. Embassy, etc.)
9) Fly home!
Our son will meet the rest of his forever family!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, that's it! After we return home, we will be required to complete several post-placement reports over a span of 3 years. A post-placement report is simply a report that is written by our social worker, detailing our son's well-being and progress in his new family/home.

Please pray for a court date to come soon, so we can become a forever family as soon as possible!