Going One Last Round in the Ring

I can’t believe I am doing this and may just be setting myself up for failure and more heartache, but I am staying here and going to fight for our son in a higher court on April 17th. There was so much information thrown at me today I can hardly keep it all straight. First, let me say that this scenario has never been brought to court in Ust-Kamengorsk and probably not in any other region here in Kazakhstan. I am certainly not happy to be the one breaking new ground as far as this is concerned, but I am going to see this through to the end so I can leave knowing I did everything I could in my power to bring our son home.

At court yesterday it was much more informal than I anticipated and although I expected Stephen’s biological mother to be there (or her Power of Attorney) she was not required to be there. This meeting was more of a formality to explain to me the situation, my rights and where things go from here. The judge explained that since the biological mother wrote an appeal objecting/contesting the legality of the adoption it is now being objected by the prosecutor in her defense. He must now defer this case to the regional court of East Kazakhstan who will have to decide. They have three options: decide in favor of the prosecutor and biological mother that her rights were infringed upon; decide in favor of me and Joe as the adoptive parents; Or they can throw their hands up and volley it back to the urban court (with a different judge presiding) and tell them to figure the whole mess out.

Here is the information I learned today about Stephen’s biological mother (some of which I already knew): She is presently 18 years old and will turn 19 in May. She was raised in an orphanage along with six other brothers and sisters after their parents were deprived of their rights (due to neglect or abuse). Two of the seven children were adopted and two of the children are still in an orphanage. The remaining children have “aged out” from the orphanage…including his biological mother. Her name is Inna…so now I can stop typed “biological mother” a hundred times :)

Inna’s “history” as far as residence and where she has been is a bit complicated to understand since they have various programs here for orphans (and translation is a bit difficult). Basically, she was living in an orphanage for older children and attended a sort of trade school. In 2005 she was finished with her school program and apparently was living in some kind of group home. I am not sure of the specifics of this setting, but she was no longer in the orphanage. This is where she was living when she gave birth to Stephen. She gave birth and did indeed leave the maternity hospital with him. She apparently brought him to live with her in this group home/dorm. After eighteen days the neighbors called the police and complained that the people living there were loud, partying, drinking and that there was a baby and he was crying all the time and they felt he was not being cared for. The police arrived and found drinking, strangers, unclean living conditions etc… and removed Stephen immediately. He was taken to the baby house and this is documented in a police report.

When a child enters the baby house in this manner the director must attempt to deprive the birthmother’s rights, but obviously cannot do that without finding her first. A social worker attempted to find the mother by obtaining her last registered address. Turns out the registered address she gave was the orphanage where she grew up and no longer lived. They also went to the residence where Stephen was taken from by the police and she was not there and nobody knew anything about her or where she was.

So now that makes him an “abandoned orphan” according to their laws. Children who are abandoned must be entered into a centralized database system regionally for three months and nationally for three months for a total of 6 months before they can be adopted by foreigners. This procedure was followed and has been confirmed. Keep in mind here that nobody knew where she was, but she knew exactly where her son was. To make this long story short ~ Stephen came off the registry the day we lost Stas (coincidentally) –March 1st. That is when he was shown to me and the bonding period clock starting ticking. When an adoptive family begins the bonding process, that information is registered in the government databank. This is how she found out that he was being adopted. She attempted to get information after our court date (which she did not know had occurred already), but was not able to access this information because it is private under Kazakhstan law. She enlisted the assistance of a man who was a friend of her parents, gave him POA and started a letter writing campaign complaining to every government agency here that her rights were bring violated and that this adoption was illegal. Her “petition” reached the court on the fifteenth day of our waiting period.

So, Inna and the prosecutor are claiming that this adoption is illegal on the grounds that she did not give consent for him to be adopted. Under Kazakhstan law (Decree #1346 of August 9, 1999 of the Government of Kazakhstan, Paragraph 5 of Article 209 of the law on “Marriage and Family”) minor children are eligible for adoption if their parent(s) either

1. died;
2. are unknown or were found missing or dead by the court;
3. were found incapable by the court;
4. were deprived of their parental rights by the court;
5. gave an official permission for the adoption of their child;
6. or for no good reasons avoid their parental responsibilities;
7. or do not live with their child for over six months or avoid upbringing and support for reasons recognized by the court as disrespectful [inadequate].

Furthermore, Article 82 of Resolution #1564 states that the biological parents consent is not needed if any of the above circumstances apply. I have been researching this non-stop (aren’t you proud Muriel…now I can be a partner in your law firm – lol).

So Inna and the prosecutor are claiming that although she falls under category number seven above…it is due to hardships and extenuating circumstances that have not been taken into account by the court. She states in her letter that she “may meet a good man who will adopt him and marry her.” However, PRESENTLY she has no home or apartment of her own and has no job…but even more SHOCKING…she is pregnant again and the father is in jail!!!

She is currently on a waiting list for public housing. She is hoping some time in the future she can come and get him from the orphanage, but for now ~ she just wants him to stay there in case her fairy tale imaginary prince comes and rescues her and the fairy godmother turns her into a REAL mother. Uuumm…yeah – someone was apparently read one too many Cinderella stories in the ol’ Kazak orphanage!

The judge that presided over our first court hearing (the one that granted the adoption) is standing by his decision and recommends that Stephen’s adoption be finalized. Furthermore, the representative from the MOE, the director of the orphanage, the head doctor of the baby house and the social worker of the baby house have all gathered documents proving that several of her statements are lies and ALL parties are requesting that the court finalize our adoption in the best interest of the child.

Her lies are as follows:

She claims that after she gave birth and left the maternity house she “fed and took are of him for several months.”

FACT: She had him for 18 days until the police came and took him away from her!

She claims that she was the one (with the assistance of her previous orphanage director) who took him to the baby house so he could be cared for.

FACT: Again, there is a police report proving that she did not bring him to the baby house out of some motherly attempt to get her child care…the police took him there!

She claims she visited him in the orphanage.

FACT: She has never been to the orphanage to visit her son. ANYONE who comes to the baby house must sign in and everything is documented.

She claims nobody attempted to find her or notify her.

FACT: She has not established a legal residence to date. The only registered address in the government address databank is the last orphanage she was in. The social worker did go to both of her last places of residence and she was not there and nobody could offer any information regarding her whereabouts.

Ironically, she also stated in her letter that her child was born on February 26, 2006…his date of birth is March 26, 2006!

So, if any logical governing body examined all of the evidence they would be on crack to rule in her favor. HOWEVER, this is Kazakhstan ~ a country where the motto should be “Never say never!” or “We make things up as we go along!” – one can never tell what the court’s decision will be.

Prayers and prayer chains are greatly appreciated :) We need all the help we can get.