May 2009 - Felt the call to adopt again. We chose to use Imagine Adoptions to adopt from Ethiopia.
June 2009 - Received application from Imagine. Went on holidays before I had time to work on the application. While on holidays, we heard the news that Imagine went bankrupt.
November 2009 - Received information on a great orphanage in Haiti. Had to fight with Alberta government, but finally…
December 9, 2009 - Received government approval to adopt from Haiti. Starting work on the dossier, the homestudy update is being done the first week of January.
January 12, 2010 - Haiti has devastating earthquake. Not sure if adopting from there will be an option.
January 21, 2010 - Homestudy is complete and in our hands, but what to do?? Do we invest the money to continue on our dossier? Rumours are that Haiti could potentially be closed to adoptions for years. We wait.
May 16, 2010 - our orphanage is approved to begin processing adoptions again. Moving as fast as possible on the paperwork!
July 26, 2010 - sent dossier to Quebec for legalization. NINE weeks for approval.
October 19, 2010 - our dossier arrives at the orphanage in Haiti. We have requested a baby girl, 0-6 months old.
November 5, 2010 - (my birthday!) we are asked if we will consider a referral of a 9 month old. YES we will!
December 2010 - Waiting… waiting… for all the paper work to be completed. Rioting because of corrupt elections are keeping government offices closed.
January 10, 2011 - Our government received Giselle’s referral. A document was worded incorrectly by a Haitian judge, and our local social services threatened to shut down the entire adoption and accused the orphanage of possible child trafficking. Ridiculous accusations… ones we were concerned would have to be fought in court.
January 20, 2011 - Social Services outlines requirements to change documents in order for referral to pass. I am told by our adoption coordinator that there is very little chance that the judge will admit to his mistake. Our social services will not accept Giselle’s referral unless the judge admits the error and does another document. We PRAY!!! Willem goes with Rachel to the judge, and the God of miracles comes through! The judge does everything we need.
March 2, 2011 - Our social services still looks for any way they can refuse our referral of Giselle (they really don’t want to do Haitian adoptions at all…). Our coordinator finally gives up trying to placate her and tells her we have done everything she asked for. Either give the Naus’ their proposal, or don’t.
This day I am on the rocking chair getting Amara ready for her nap. The phone rings, Kylar rushes into Amara’s room and LOUDLY whispers “It’s Christian Adoption!!!” The referral has been approved and Giselle’s proposal finally lands in my inbox! She is amazing and beautiful in every way!
This day I am on the rocking chair getting Amara ready for her nap. The phone rings, Kylar rushes into Amara’s room and LOUDLY whispers “It’s Christian Adoption!!!” The referral has been approved and Giselle’s proposal finally lands in my inbox! She is amazing and beautiful in every way!
May 2011 - Darren and I go to visit G for 5 days. On our last day there our orphanage director discovers our paperwork had been lost on someone’s desk at IBESR. She was told the file was sent to the President’s office for Dispensation 4-6 weeks before…it was discouraging, but oh how thankful we are that she discovered the error! We could have been waiting for months and months not knowing why it was taking so long…
August 24, 2011 - Presidential Dispensation has been signed! After 6 long, long months, we have finally passed the stage known as “The Black Hole” in Haitian adoptions. Good bye IBESR! We know we are blessed to have passed IBESR in 6 months, but it felt like forever!
November 7, 2011 - After 3 tries, and a total of 11.5 hours of waiting, I was finally able to have my interview with the Judge to receive the signature needed for Giselle’s file to move forward. Here we go!
December 12, 2011 - we receive news that Giselle’s file has exited Parquet and is in Civil Courts!
January 10, 2012 - An email from Rachel stating that Giselle’s file is out of courts, and she has Giselle’s Act of Adoption in hand! I believe that this means we are legally Giselle’s parents!! She is waiting for the document to be legalized before our file can enter MOI. It can take up to 2 months.
February 4, 2012 – We hear that Giselle’s Act of Adoption was issued with her name spelled incorrectly. It went back for correction, then Parquet went on strike. On the 6th Rachel is hoping to pick up the new Act of Adoption and then it will go to be legalized. A set back, but thankfully they discovered the error now and not while we were in MOI…
February 13, 2012 – Giselle’s file is in Archives.
March 28, 2012 – Giselle’s file exits Archives.
April 15, 2012 – still waiting for some paper work to be finished up before the file can be entered into MOI. Hopefully soon!
May 5th, 2012 – heard that our file entered MOI sometime this week! And now the countdown really begins :)
July 9th, 2012 – we exited MOI after only 9.5 weeks. We were told there were no errors in our documents – Praise God!
July 13-17th, 2012 – only 3 working days to have Giselle’s passport printed and we are officially DONE with the Haiti part of the adoption.
July 19th 2012 -our file entered the Canadian Embassy for the visa approval
July 27th, 2012 – Visa is in our director’s hands. I think it was ready before this, but she didn’t pick it up until today.
August 1st, 2012 – Our FAMILY DAY! Giselle is in our arms – never to be left behind again. The relief and peace that comes with knowing this long wait is OVER can’t be described. And now we begin the journey of becoming a family.
Denise and Darren,
Loved reading your blog. Love your heart for adoption, can relate. Some of the process sounds all too familiar. Our process took 2 full years, so many after us had given up. The wait and obstacles sometimes becomes unbearable/impossible for some. Not so here, not now, not ever. Diligence and faith… and though Giselle is not home yet, she is reaping the benefits of the fight that is going on on her behalf everyday. With you in thought and prayers…
Thank you for the encouraging words, Kim. You are right… diligence and faith… it’s what keeps us going!