Technical Progress

Tuesday night we got a telephone call. "We have dates for you," said the voice on the other end. Ah ha! The information we've been waiting for.

The voice gave us the dates of the next important technical steps in our adoption journey. We learned that we would meet social workers on Wednesday morning (today) and our lawyer in the afternoon.

Despite the time that Blogger adds to our posts, the real time here in Karaganda is coming up on 9:00 PM on Wednesday. So both of those meetings have already happened.

The social workers asked some fairly straightforward questions. They asked about our finances. They asked why we want to adopt a child from Kazakhstan. They asked what our child care arrangements will be. They asked if we have any relatives who are in need of an organ donor. They asked what our professions are.

"Whoa!" you say. "They asked about organ donations?" Yes, they did. They're trying to preclude the possibility that we are adopting Alexey for the purposes of harvesting his organs. A minute part of the international adoption world is that some sons of, er, unsavoury characters are attempting to create a supply side for the organ transplant market. (I can't believe that I'm writing this.)

Enough said about the visit to the social workers.

This afternoon, we met with our lawyer. He gave us information about the court process we will follow. We first have a pre-court hearing in front of the judge in her office on Monday afternoon. The main purpose of that meeting is to ensure that all of the documentation is ready for our court hearing, which will be held on Wednesday afternoon.

Our lawyer also told us that we have to give a presentation in court. For example, why we are adopting. Why we are adopting in Kazakhstan. Why we are adopting Alexey. What our ability is to provide financially for him. How we will ensure that he receives health care. What child care arrangements we will have. How Alexey will be looked after if we both pass away. And so on. And all of this in less than 15 minutes, including sequential translation. That is, not simultaneous.

And thus our careers as advocates in the Kazakhstani court system begin. On the bright side, we do have enough time to make our presentations short. Our technical writing friends will understand what that means.

Then the judge and, as our translator so charmingly put it, the state persecutors (prosecutors, we hope she meant) will ask us questions. Our lawyer said that some hearings are as short as 20 or 30 minutes. Others may last up to 90 minutes, or even more. Most of which time is taken up with questions. But nobody expects the Kazakhstani Inquisition. (Sorry.)

More news as it develops. Watch Court TV on Wednesday. We're sure we'll be on.