Court Delays

Sisa, You seem to be very well informed as I've read through many of your replys to others of late. What information have you obtained as to the status of new referrals for those under the new laws? I submitted all necessary paperwork and approvals in early Jan. 04, yet like so many others, have heard absolutely nothing, nor can my agency give me any information. (My agency is very familiar with the Bulgarian program and facilitates many adoptions each year from there and I have only read positive feedback regarding them). I have only been advised that my application, etc. was given to the MOJ. Is there any other info for which I should be requesting from my agency? Have you been advised of any timeframe as to when referrals will begin? And lastly, does the MOJ ever release public information updates, as I've been to the official website of the MOJ, but due to my inability to read Bulgarian, I'm pretty much lost on this site. Thanks for any information you can provide, as I know my wait has been short to this point, compared to so many others. Thanks again. Kim

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Hi, yes I'm very familiar with the system, as I believe I've read everything remotely related that's ever been written recently (it's my new unproductive hobby). There are just so many "versions" of how things are progressing, I was just curious if you had any new or more accurate information. I guess I just keep hoping someone, somewhere will have a very definitive answer, but oh well...I just need to practice waiting patiently like everyone else. Thanks for your reply!:) p.s. - I tried the website you have posted - all I get is the Bulgarian IBM website that has information about IBM's business there ; is this correct? thanks again

Try again the web site. It contains information about a Bulgarian adoption association and explains the procedure. You could see there the Bulgarian laws in international adoption if you hadn't seen them yet. The problem is that everything depends on the MOJ, which means very slow movement and lots of bureaucracity. And of course you can't get easily to more information, most of the things are secret. But in Bulgaria there are lots of abandoned children, so you just have to be patient, as you've already know. Kind regards

Cris, We accepted our referral in very early July; our attorney pushed us to get there to accept so we'd be working under the old laws as he wasn't sure what to expect with the new system. Did you travel to Bulgaria yet? It really seems like there are no answers being given to any one regarding their status. Our agency director is coming home from Bulgaria tomorrow. Hopefully she'll have some answers. My prayers are will all who are waiting and way "overdue". Jeannie

Dear Jeannie, dear all! yesterday we finally received our referral (Alena, a girl of four....we are so happy!!!!) and will travel to Sofja on Sunday. Friends of us, who had received their referral last August and travelled to Bulgaria on January (and their court term on April, 6th) will come with us and bring their Sali back to Germany. I will try to get so much information as possible from our lawyer about how things work over there...I have promised it to all friends that are still waiting! I'll write as soon as I am back! Kind regards! Cristina

Cristina & all who are waiting, Finally, finally, we have a court date set for Friday 5/21. It took the director of our agency flying to Bulgaria and meeting with the Ministry of Justice. She called yesterday morning with the good news. So if the judge doesn't want our left arms we'll be travelling back to Sofia soon! I pray the families still waiting hear soon that they can go to pick up. Cris - Congrats on your referral! It's such an exciting time. Remember to take lots of pictures & a video camera if possible. We were so wrapped up in our little girl I almost forgot to take photos; those are the only things that help to ease the frustration of missing her during our long wait. We found the Bulgarian people to be wonderfully helpful and very pleasant. Post pics & your experience when you return. I can't wait to hear how it went. Jeannie

Congrats to both of you. I just want to make sure I understand correctly...Christina, you have a referral under the new system? Who is your agency and when did you submit everything? And Jeannie, your finally getting a final court date after being lost in the old system laws? I'm so very happy for both of you! This is also so very promising to the rest of us waiting, as I had read and heard so many negative "rumors" that there was no action due to politics with the war and other Hague ratifying issues, so my outlook had grown grim. Christina if you wouldn't mind giving a few details I'd really appreciate it, as I've just been an emotional basketcase the last couple of days and I'm sure my husband would be very glad to see me smiling and happy again. Thanks so much!!! Kimberly Allen

Kimberly, You have it right for our adoption. We received our referral & travelled last June/July and have been awaiting a court date ever since. We are operating under the old system. Our director had to go over there to get the process moving again for us. They have a couple of families in the same spot we are. I completely understand your frustration, anger, sadness, etc. I would be just fine for a while knowing that the whole things was in someone elses hands & that we could do very little other than wait patiently. Other times I would be such a mess that I couldn't sleep at night and would be up emailing our agency at 3 am. Due to the lack of sleep & the anger I felt, I would sob constantly, & get mad at my husband because this whole thing didn't bother him as much as it was me. I'm thankful he & I could talk about it; I would have left me if I was him, at least temporarily. Then I'd be fine again for a while. The roller coaster was and still is awful. Unfortunately, it's part of the adoption process. My family & in-laws have been a great support. You'll also get tired of good intentioned people asking about the status of your adoption. I liken it to the stage of trying to get pregnant but it just doesn't happen. When you do get your referral you will forget this waiting period. Then during the wait between your first & second visits you'll remember again. Hopefully, the wait between trips will be shorter and things will go more smoothly. I'd better get back to work. Feel free to email me privately if you'd like to vent your frustration a little. It helps. Jeannie

Is it the agency that makes things move in Bulgaria then? We traveled to Bulgaria the first week of June and are still waiting for our paperwork to go to court. In fact we know of several families that traveled even earlier than us and our still waiting on court dates. Is there no rhyme or reason to how the process moves? We can not figure out how two different families can turn their paperwork in at the same time, and everything appears to run at the same pace, and then all of a sudden one family goes to court often months ahead of the other.

Karen, Our attorney in Bulgaria was getting no information as to why we weren't getting a court date; the agency director went over to find out what was going on. She did say that the person she wanted to talk with at the ministry was consumed with trying to get 5 Bulgarian nurses who have been sentenced to death in Lybia free. Truly a life or death matter. I don't know if they just don't have the staff to deal with the numerous adoptions, deal with the law changes, and try to help these nurses all at the same time. Unfortunately for our children and us, we seem to be the ones who are put at the bottom of the priority list. It breaks my heart to know there are all of these families waiting to be united again for forever. Today is my day to pray that all goes well in the Bulgarian courts and we receive good news this afternoon. I'm going to be extremely disappointed and sad if I hear that for some reason our case hadn't been heard or if they request additional documents. To all who are waiting for court dates, we must keep the faith that things will be moving along soon! Jeannie

Jeanine, WOW!! We did not realize that the nurse's issue also has an effect on our adoption process. Hopefully the MOJ and courts will get the rest of us through who filed their dossiers in 2003. We do not know how many from 2003 are still left. Good luck on your court hearing.

To everyone who has been waiting soooooo long under the "old" system. Hang in there. Several of you have formed a support group specific ONLY to families waiting to adopt their kids from Bulgaria who started under the old system. If you are not a part of this group and want to find out more, email me at terrymand@aol.com with your email and I will foward your message to the appropriate person. Terry Mandeville proud mom of 14 year old Velizar adopted 1993 from Shoumen Dom (it took 13 months) and 11 year old Anton adopted 1995 from Gabrovo Dom (it only took 5 months)

Hey all, Our court date was supposed to be last Friday, but......someone didn't sign our paperwork on time and it has been delayed. I guess I'm not surprised. We're hoping to hear something Wednesday of this week. I too was surprised that the detained nurses might have an effect on the MOJ and adoptions, but it does make sense being thay we're waiting on the Justice department of Bulgaria. Prayers to all who are waiting! Jeannie

After having our court date postponed from 5/21 to 5/28, we are finally approved and almost ready to pick up our little angel! We now have a 10 day waiting period (working days) which I don't understand; we've been waiting 10 months! After that our attorney has to get her new birth certificate & then her passport. After that, we go to the Embassy & finally she's ours forever! We should be travelling July 3rd; not my first choice of weekends to travel with all that's happening in the world but nothing's going to stop me now. Prayers to all who are waiting! Jeannie