Pastor Dongo recommended a lawyer for us to help navigate the court process in Uganda. Our lawyer, Victoria Katamba, will prepare our dossier and present our case in court to receive legal guardianship of the children. Uganda doesn't have extremely clear laws regarding international adoption and instead gives judges leeway to interpret the Ugandan constitution's coverage of minor's rights. The judges are supposed to look out for the best interests of a child when deciding legal guardianship. After we receive legal guardianship of Maureen and Alex, we will return to the United States and finalize the adoption.
I had a meeting with Victoria in December and was very impressed with her experience, knowledge and organization. Since the children were born and raised with their parents near Amuria in eastern Uganda, our lawyer filed our court papers in Soroti. Soroti is the largest town and the administration center in this region and has a population of nearly 60,000.
Links
Amuria - Wikipedia
Soroti - Wikipedia
Traveling to Soroti will be the most challenging part of our trip. It will take several hours to drive there from Kampala and there won't be a big selection of hotels compared to Kampala. The positive of this trip is that we will be near Alex's and Maureen's extended family and will try to visit their home village. It sounds like it is in a fairly remote area, so Angie and I have received our yellow fever shots and are packing anti-malaria medicine.
Both Angie and I need to be present in court and the judge will ask questions of us and the children. We've been told by Victoria that she has requested a court date in March. We hope to hear sometime this week when the court hearing!
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Friday, January 21, 2011
Paperwork, paperwork, paperwork!
We started our homestudy in early October with Angels Haven Outreach and had a fantastic experience. It took us six weeks to pull together birth certificates, marriage certificate, social worker visits, family interview, medical exams, financial documents, recommendation letters and more! Cara at Angels Haven Outreach was very supportive in moving the process along quickly - I feel for her having to deal with two engineers!
With the homestudy complete, next up was filing an application with the U.S. Customs & Immigration Service. The USCIS looks at the homestudy, does a criminal background check and verifies whether or not a family is suitable to adopt. We got our application filed in mid-November and periodically checked with our case officer on the progress. I assumed that contacting a government agency would be a nightmare but was pleasantly surprised to always speak to a cheerful person who had access to information and seemed interested in helping me out!
In mid-January, we found out that our application was approved and everything was complete on the U.S. side. Now we needed to shift our focus to Uganda and get our court date.
With the homestudy complete, next up was filing an application with the U.S. Customs & Immigration Service. The USCIS looks at the homestudy, does a criminal background check and verifies whether or not a family is suitable to adopt. We got our application filed in mid-November and periodically checked with our case officer on the progress. I assumed that contacting a government agency would be a nightmare but was pleasantly surprised to always speak to a cheerful person who had access to information and seemed interested in helping me out!
In mid-January, we found out that our application was approved and everything was complete on the U.S. side. Now we needed to shift our focus to Uganda and get our court date.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Introduction
Our adoption story started on October 25, 2009 when we attended an information meeting at our church, Calvary Community Church, in Westlake Village, California. This meeting was for prospective families interested in hosting an orphan child from Uganda for two weeks. Karen Hardy and Theresa Jepsen led the meeting and told us about the God Cares School in Kampala, Uganda and the wonderful work that Pastor Dongo and his wife, Florence, were doing there.
Fast forward to May 2010 and our family had completed all of the necessary fingerprinting, fundraising and praying and finally got a name and picture of the child we would host - Alex Etole! He would be coming to stay with us in July for two weeks. It would be a roller coaster ride for the next two months as we learned in June that the tour would be postponed a year since the children were unable to get visas from the U.S. embassy. God intervened at the last possible moment and the embassy called God Cares School with an appointment time. In late June we learned the children were going to be coming after all!
For two weeks we introduced Alex Etole to the beach, swimming pools, Wii, Sugar Daddy candy and chicken nuggets. During that same time, Alex introduced us to a smile and a joy that is able to overcome the circumstances he faces in Uganda. Family and friends who interacted with Alex could see this little boy who was full of joy as he went from one experience to the next. Two weeks went by quickly and soon we were back at LAX, waving goodbye and making plans on how we could adopt this boy who made such an impact on our family's lives.
After the children arrived, we were told that one of the other girls in the Summer Tour, Maureen Ogwel, was Alex's sister. Maureen stayed with another host family and we got to know her during the group outings when all the kids would get together. What originally had started as an adoption of a young boy had turned into a brother-sister adoption.
In August, we received word from Pastor Dongo that the legal guardian and other family members were supportive of the adoption. Simon Peter Emolu, the brother of Alex's and Maureen's father, is their legal guardian but he is also supporting his own children and the children of another brother who had died. The children's mother, Hellen Aigo, passed away first in 2005 and their father, John Amodoi, died in 2007.
After their parent's deaths, the children moved to Kampala to live with their Uncle Simon and started attending school at the Bright Junior School. In February 2010, they were sponsored at the God Cares School and have attended school there ever since.
Pastor Dongo with Alex (smallest boy in front) and Maureen (girl in blue shirt)
Fast forward to May 2010 and our family had completed all of the necessary fingerprinting, fundraising and praying and finally got a name and picture of the child we would host - Alex Etole! He would be coming to stay with us in July for two weeks. It would be a roller coaster ride for the next two months as we learned in June that the tour would be postponed a year since the children were unable to get visas from the U.S. embassy. God intervened at the last possible moment and the embassy called God Cares School with an appointment time. In late June we learned the children were going to be coming after all!
Alex prior to his visit in July 2010
For two weeks we introduced Alex Etole to the beach, swimming pools, Wii, Sugar Daddy candy and chicken nuggets. During that same time, Alex introduced us to a smile and a joy that is able to overcome the circumstances he faces in Uganda. Family and friends who interacted with Alex could see this little boy who was full of joy as he went from one experience to the next. Two weeks went by quickly and soon we were back at LAX, waving goodbye and making plans on how we could adopt this boy who made such an impact on our family's lives.
Angie, Cailey & Jillian welcoming Alex at LAX
After the children arrived, we were told that one of the other girls in the Summer Tour, Maureen Ogwel, was Alex's sister. Maureen stayed with another host family and we got to know her during the group outings when all the kids would get together. What originally had started as an adoption of a young boy had turned into a brother-sister adoption.
In August, we received word from Pastor Dongo that the legal guardian and other family members were supportive of the adoption. Simon Peter Emolu, the brother of Alex's and Maureen's father, is their legal guardian but he is also supporting his own children and the children of another brother who had died. The children's mother, Hellen Aigo, passed away first in 2005 and their father, John Amodoi, died in 2007.
Alex & Maureen with Uncle Simon in December 2010
After their parent's deaths, the children moved to Kampala to live with their Uncle Simon and started attending school at the Bright Junior School. In February 2010, they were sponsored at the God Cares School and have attended school there ever since.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
