Saturday, January 24, 2009
Things are Looking Up
Phone call from Erik reveals that prayers are working and progress is being made. Details to follow. Erik thanks everyone for their continued support.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
From the Bunker
Heidi, Erik and Vova (who did not sign up for a tour in a combat zone, but he is doing well)
We are working on the next step. We had court on Monday and after a three-hour court hearing the judge ruled in favor of the adoption. Only the oldest boy in the end said yes and the other three children said they want to stay at the orphanage. We are pleased the judge and the prosecutor were of their right mind and the Judge stated in his five-page decision which he read every word of - "that it is in the best interest of the children to be adopted and to stay together!"
Unfortunately while we are working on the next step, the orphanage, where the younger three live, is making an appeal. The reason given is because the kids did not agree in court. We hear it may be because if all three kids go it will put their levels (grade 1, 2, and 3) behind in the necessary numbers and the orphanage may lose those classes and eventually may close.
We are hopeful and will know more tomorrow. We also were able to talk to some legal advisers (offline) last night, for an hour an a half, and they gave us some ideas. We will be also meeting with the some offices tomorrow as they have an inspection going on today.
It is not pretty, but we are hanging in there! This is an all-or-nothing game at this point. If the appeal succeeds, the court process will last for months. The kids are very traumatized at this point. The middle two now will not make eye contact initially and their classes seem to be suffering collective punishment for their contact with us.
The Good News is we are being allowed to take the kids out of the orphanage this afternoon (we have been asking since mid December)! We plan take them to the local mall that has an indoor ice rink, small cars the kids can drive in, an arcade with a bowling alley, shops, and food. So this is our first chance in a month to show them something else than the only thing they know!
We want to recognized our special angels who have come to our aide here lately. Imagine being stranded in a foreign land, in a courtroom, settling your future, in a language you can not understand:
Ruslan, began as our cab driver but has grown into a Friend and protector, Heidi calls him our new older brother. He had us to his house on New Year's Eve; took us on a tour of a local Orthodox church, build in a small forest in the last 15 years; and for a sleigh ride on Tuesday (before the feces hit the air circulating device).
Vova (Vladimir, Masha's brother) came to help us with the kids and do some light translation, but has now bore the brunt of several very heated meetings with the director and her staff. He is invaluable in gaining insight to what's going on behind the scenes.
Svedlana, the librarian of the Intrenaut in Sevedonesk. She is a woman of faith who has taken several administrative beatings for helping us out. She is a friendly face, a voice of truth and a place of refuge in a very bitter and cold place.
Keep us in your prayers. Also that the care-givers see past their own self interests in this adoption, and the Kids most of all.
We are working on the next step. We had court on Monday and after a three-hour court hearing the judge ruled in favor of the adoption. Only the oldest boy in the end said yes and the other three children said they want to stay at the orphanage. We are pleased the judge and the prosecutor were of their right mind and the Judge stated in his five-page decision which he read every word of - "that it is in the best interest of the children to be adopted and to stay together!"
Unfortunately while we are working on the next step, the orphanage, where the younger three live, is making an appeal. The reason given is because the kids did not agree in court. We hear it may be because if all three kids go it will put their levels (grade 1, 2, and 3) behind in the necessary numbers and the orphanage may lose those classes and eventually may close.
We are hopeful and will know more tomorrow. We also were able to talk to some legal advisers (offline) last night, for an hour an a half, and they gave us some ideas. We will be also meeting with the some offices tomorrow as they have an inspection going on today.
It is not pretty, but we are hanging in there! This is an all-or-nothing game at this point. If the appeal succeeds, the court process will last for months. The kids are very traumatized at this point. The middle two now will not make eye contact initially and their classes seem to be suffering collective punishment for their contact with us.
The Good News is we are being allowed to take the kids out of the orphanage this afternoon (we have been asking since mid December)! We plan take them to the local mall that has an indoor ice rink, small cars the kids can drive in, an arcade with a bowling alley, shops, and food. So this is our first chance in a month to show them something else than the only thing they know!
We want to recognized our special angels who have come to our aide here lately. Imagine being stranded in a foreign land, in a courtroom, settling your future, in a language you can not understand:
Ruslan, began as our cab driver but has grown into a Friend and protector, Heidi calls him our new older brother. He had us to his house on New Year's Eve; took us on a tour of a local Orthodox church, build in a small forest in the last 15 years; and for a sleigh ride on Tuesday (before the feces hit the air circulating device).
Vova (Vladimir, Masha's brother) came to help us with the kids and do some light translation, but has now bore the brunt of several very heated meetings with the director and her staff. He is invaluable in gaining insight to what's going on behind the scenes.
Svedlana, the librarian of the Intrenaut in Sevedonesk. She is a woman of faith who has taken several administrative beatings for helping us out. She is a friendly face, a voice of truth and a place of refuge in a very bitter and cold place.
Keep us in your prayers. Also that the care-givers see past their own self interests in this adoption, and the Kids most of all.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Setback Encountered
Via message from Erik and Heidi who have come so far,
yet challenges remain...
Your prayers and kind thoughts urgently requested.
yet challenges remain...
Legal difficulties continue. Complex and frustrating.
Will provide details as time permits. Love to all. - E&H
Reader comments posted below are welcome too!
Monday, January 19, 2009
We Won!
So, Sunday night, the full court press. Our facilitator, Max, sat down with Sasha and Christina to go over the pros and cons of court.
We had known that the middle children where becoming an issue. It was not that they did not like us or trust us, it's just it was so far outside their safety zone that they felt they did not want to leave their friends, and routine here for the unknown.
Some of the things they had been told: "you will be stabbed," "you will be turned over to organ brokers," "if you go into a shop you can get killed," "your new parents will beat you," "you will be used as domestic servants," (the last one was asked to friends of ours when they adopted a few years ago by the judge).
We had them speak to Masha (at our home) in D.C. She asked them what they liked to study, what they liked to do. They asked her to tell them about the house?, the neighborhood?, they where surprised by the concept of time zones as it was morning in the US when they called from Ukraine and it was night for us.
Then Max used his secret weapon, William. A young man he assisted in the adoption of to the Krebs Family of NY less than three months ago. William spoke to us for 20 minutes answering hard questions like "Do your parents beat you? Do they love you? Do you have a bicycle? And from the youngest girl (Tanya) is it better here or there?
The evening was indecisive but it had made America "more real" in some ways.
Court.
Monday started with breakfast at the hotel with Maxim and two staff from his Internaut who drove him in. We met up with the other kids at the Courthouse. We waited for the proceding to begin and watched the children interact as four siblings for the first time in several years. This was very amusing, but I just wish it was not such grim surroundings or ominous pretenses.
We filed into the court room, Max at our side as our translator. We went for three hours, with three recesses, and it was summarized by the judge reading a 5-page court finding.
The testimony by the prospective parents was the first hour and fifteen minutes, then the fun:
They Asked Maxim, the eldest, a series of questions. He promptly curled up and could not be made to state his name, let alone if he wanted to go to America (much later he stated "Da!" when asked again). Sasha could not be made to answer either, but Christina was ready with a hearty Nyet!. When asked why, her response was "all her friends are at the Internaut," of course this lead to a vote of one abstain and 3 No's.
The rest of those two hours became a bit of a blur.The judge, male late 40's, sent his two jurors, female, 40's, to poll the kids during a recess. Many sequence of questioning, reasoning and cajoling ensued. At last, the kids were released at a 1 to 3 vote by the kids against leaving the Internut.
Then the last hour of the tribunal. The court reconvened without the three children from the local Internut and asked us to state our position. We simply said that the we loved these children, we understand that for the last 3 years they have lived in two institutions with 24 mothers and no fathers, and we wanted to have them join us to create a family.
At the end of the five-page decree, three hours into the process, he granted us our motion.
So the 10-day appeal period begins, and we prepare to move out with the new family at the conclusion of that time.
Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers.
Yeah!
We had known that the middle children where becoming an issue. It was not that they did not like us or trust us, it's just it was so far outside their safety zone that they felt they did not want to leave their friends, and routine here for the unknown.
Some of the things they had been told: "you will be stabbed," "you will be turned over to organ brokers," "if you go into a shop you can get killed," "your new parents will beat you," "you will be used as domestic servants," (the last one was asked to friends of ours when they adopted a few years ago by the judge).
We had them speak to Masha (at our home) in D.C. She asked them what they liked to study, what they liked to do. They asked her to tell them about the house?, the neighborhood?, they where surprised by the concept of time zones as it was morning in the US when they called from Ukraine and it was night for us.
Then Max used his secret weapon, William. A young man he assisted in the adoption of to the Krebs Family of NY less than three months ago. William spoke to us for 20 minutes answering hard questions like "Do your parents beat you? Do they love you? Do you have a bicycle? And from the youngest girl (Tanya) is it better here or there?
The evening was indecisive but it had made America "more real" in some ways.
Court.
Monday started with breakfast at the hotel with Maxim and two staff from his Internaut who drove him in. We met up with the other kids at the Courthouse. We waited for the proceding to begin and watched the children interact as four siblings for the first time in several years. This was very amusing, but I just wish it was not such grim surroundings or ominous pretenses.
We filed into the court room, Max at our side as our translator. We went for three hours, with three recesses, and it was summarized by the judge reading a 5-page court finding.
The testimony by the prospective parents was the first hour and fifteen minutes, then the fun:
They Asked Maxim, the eldest, a series of questions. He promptly curled up and could not be made to state his name, let alone if he wanted to go to America (much later he stated "Da!" when asked again). Sasha could not be made to answer either, but Christina was ready with a hearty Nyet!. When asked why, her response was "all her friends are at the Internaut," of course this lead to a vote of one abstain and 3 No's.
The rest of those two hours became a bit of a blur.The judge, male late 40's, sent his two jurors, female, 40's, to poll the kids during a recess. Many sequence of questioning, reasoning and cajoling ensued. At last, the kids were released at a 1 to 3 vote by the kids against leaving the Internut.
Then the last hour of the tribunal. The court reconvened without the three children from the local Internut and asked us to state our position. We simply said that the we loved these children, we understand that for the last 3 years they have lived in two institutions with 24 mothers and no fathers, and we wanted to have them join us to create a family.
At the end of the five-page decree, three hours into the process, he granted us our motion.
So the 10-day appeal period begins, and we prepare to move out with the new family at the conclusion of that time.
Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers.
Yeah!
Ukraine Times Two
Bill and Stefanie are now a family of six... a Father, a Mother and 4 little Boys from Ukraine living the American dream.
Here's their story:
krebskids.blogspot.com
Here's their story:
krebskids.blogspot.com
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