Court Hearing

So as I posted previously the Court ruled in our favor after hearing from Kelly and me, the head of the orphanage, the representative from the Ministry of Education and the prosecution. The process basically went as follows.

Typical for myself and fellow attorney friends, we rushed to get to Court on time to then have to wait as the judge handled another matter before ours. We then entered the Court which I wish we could have gotten pictures of but cameras were not allowed, unlike the adoptions I had seen in the Juvenile/Probate Courts in Massachusetts. So we rise for the judge (Your Majesty as opposed to Your Honor), they call the case and then one of has to talk. I answered most of the questions as this was something I was more comfortable with than Kelly. I figured if I could handle Appellate judges, I could handle one judge in a matter which was a foregone conclusion.

The questions were simple. Although the Court expected more than just yes or no answers. Why adoption? Why Russia? What will our parenting schedule look like? How did our family react about us adopting? Are we happy with this child? How much money did we make last year? Do we understand her current health issues? Will we keep her current birth date, name and place of birth? The last three are weird. We could have chosen any birth date and place of birth. We decided to stick with her actual birth date and place of birth (Moscow). As for name, we chose to name her Katerina Nargiza Bartolomei. Nargiza, pronounced Nar-gee (hard G) - za, was her birth name so we chose to keep it as her middle name. It means flower in Persian.

The Judge and prosecutor, who wore a uniform unlike our prosecutors, laughed at the pictures of our cats which were included in the photo album for the Judge. She kept a few pictures for the file and gave us back the album after the prosecutor and head of the orphanage had had a chance to look at the pictures. This means the many pictures of our family and friends will not make their way into the Russian Court system.

After I spoke, Kelly spoke to put her name, date of birth and occupation on the record. The judge then said we had two very good professions. The prosecutor stated she had no objection to the two of us adopting Katerina. The head of the orphanage, who was also a doctor, explained to the Court how Katerina came to be in her orphanage and that she thought we were good adoptive parents. The Rep from the Ministry, wearing jeans a hooded sweater with holes in it, then mimicked the orphanage head and that was that.

The Judge left the Court to finalize her decision. About two or three minutes later she came back to say she would grant our request to adopt Katerina and that if we did not agree with her decision we had ten days to appeal it to the Russian Supreme Court. Of course we agree, but technically others have ten days to appeal the decision as well. As such, the judge's ruling does not become official until the ten days pass without any appeal. This is not going to happen considering the circumstances of our little girl being in the orphanage.

All in all it was a relatively easy and quick process. As I told Kelly when we decided who would speak, the Court room is one place where I feel comfortable. We really wish we could have taken pictures. The Court house and court room were very nice. It also housed their intermediate level appeals court (Mass. App. Court or the Circuit Appeals courts equivalent). Makes me think about the Massachusetts Appellate Court/Supreme Judicial Court house and the US Supreme Court which are absolutely beautiful inside.

At the end, I had mixed feelings. On the one hand, very little had changed as we will not get to bring Katerina home for another two plus weeks. Part of me though was near tears (this is a big step as tears do not come easy for me) as we were now parents. This beautiful little girl is now our responsibility to care for and provide for; to give her as much as we possibly can and help her grow up a good, kind, caring child, young adult and adult. The people in the court room congratulated us as Momma and Poppa. We will go with mom/mommy and dad/daddy but here in Moscow it is Momma and Poppa.

She is our little girl now. Our little Katerina!

IT'S OFFICIAL!!!

Some time around 10:30 local Moscow time this morning, Kelly and I became parents.

For Kelly's parents, this means they are grandparents for the first time. For my parents, it means they are grandparents again.

For my siblings and their spouses, you are aunts and uncles again!!!

And to my many nieces and nephews, you have a new cousin today!!!

I will post more on the process later but for now we are eating lunch and then heading out to get Katerina's picture for her passport and visa.

Big day Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the big day. We have court in the morning and then get to see Katerina in the afternoon. I think we will even be bringing her out to get her passport picture taken in the afternoon. We are told that the hearing should last about 45-60 minutes. It starts at 9:30 so hopefully we will be finished by 10:30 so we can take care of the other necessary business.

Taking Katerina to get her passport picture will be strange. It will be the first time we have to take her anywhere. I am not sure what this will entail and who will be accompanying us, if anyone. But it will be a big step in the process of completing the adoption and taking her home next month.