I couldn’t not share this..
For our adoption, we need to submit a dossier (packet of documents) to the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine. We have been working for months to gather all of these documents.
On September 30th at 3pm, the Ministry of Social Policy would stop accepting applications or new documents for 2 weeks (a process that happens 4 times a year and allows them to catch up on accumulated paperwork). The thing is.. if we didn’t get our dossier submitted before then, the two weeks would be enough to ensure that we don’t get to return to the US before Baby Sage’s birth and would leave us in Ukraine with the girls having no education. We needed to get these in ON TIME.
So this is how it went.
We just needed 4 more documents.
A notarized copy of the “technical passport” of the house that we are renting
A letter from the owners of the house stating that we live here and outlining the specifics of the house
A letter from the US Embassy
Notarized translations of our apostilled marriage certificates that were DHL express mailed from the US (thanks Dad!)
It was Thursday, September 24th. We had six days to gather 4 documents. Do able, right?
I emailed the embassy to request the letter. 3 days go by.. no response.
I called our landlady to ask for the letter and the technical passport. She didn’t answer. I texted. 3 days go by, no response.
On September 27th, our landlady called back and told me that she cannot write the letter without the technical passport, and that document was in a safe in a man’s apartment in downtown Kyiv, but that he had gone to a funeral and wouldn’t return until Wednesday. My brain was running. Maybe I could get this information from our local village council?
September 28th. The Embassy emails back. To issue their letter, we need the confirmation receipt from USCIS that we had submitted our I600a form.
We had never gotten it.
I call USCIS, “Ma’am, I don’t know why you don’t have the receipt, we have processed your application.”
I email the Embassy and give the reference number that the man at USCIS gave me.. Not enough. They need the receipt.
A few hours later, my dad emails me from the USA, he just received the snail mail receipt for our I600a application. He scans it to me, I email it to the embassy. It worked! They’ll write the letter, I just need to provide them with some information.
September 29th - one day left, I still do not have ANY of the required documents in my hand.
I decide to go to the village council because my landlady doesn’t seem to be helping. I have been there many times before and they know me well, however the last time I went, I wasn’t pregnant. So when I arrived, I was congratulated on the baby, had tea poured for me, and was offered cake. Only after the celebration did they ask what I needed. I quickly explained the letter and the urgency with which I needed it.
“No problem," they said. And began to type it up.
Now I just need to get it signed by the Deputat of the council. But she’s not in the office. She''s not answering her phone. After 15 minutes, one of the ladies decides to call the Deputat’s husband.
He answers. She was sitting next to him and it turns out, her phone was on silent.
Not wanting to come in, she asks me to come to her house to gather her signature. Turns out, she lives on my street.
I went, she signed, she asked a few questions. “What do you do here?” she asked.
I answered with my standard speech about Occupational Therapy.
She wept. “My son has autism and I am exhausted and don’t know what to do.”
Numbers were exchanged, we thanked each other for our work, and I left to finalize the document back at the village council with a stamp (that could ONLY be added AFTER the deputat’s signature).
One down.
The embassy emailed back. The letter is ready and it is at the guard house for me to pick up.
I speed there and grab the letter given to me by a guard outside who quickly walked right back into the fortress that is the US Embassy- I took a photo and sent it to our facilitator to check before leaving.
There is a problem. The letter in English is perfect. The Ukrainian translation uses the wrong tense and it is a detrimental mistake.
I knock right on the “no knocking” sign (I did try to call first, but no one answered).
The same guard came back out and I explained the issue. He ran back and forth (they can’t allow me in because of the quarantine) until it was perfect (and verified by our facilitator).
Done. 2 documents. Now I could pick up the girls from school (I was late, but I had no choice - praise God for our wonderful friend who is homeschooling them and allowing me to be late!).
Wednesday came. The deadline. We have until 3. The facilitator and I agree to meet across from the Ministry of Social policy at 1:45. She could pick up the notarized translations of our marriage certificate on the way, and we had learned that the man returned from the funeral and the technical passport of the house was at the notary - I could pick that up on the way.
I made copies of all of our documents and left my house at 12:15.
I make it to the notary and grab the notarized copy of the technical passport. Done.
One to go.
We meet where we had agreed. Our facilitator had realized that getting the marriage certificates herself would have made us miss the 3 o’clock deadline (Kyiv traffic is a mess!) Apparently you can Uber documents!?
The Uber arrived with the final documents in tow.
We pay, we thank him, we walk across the street in the rain.
Submitted at 2:45.
Done.
Breathe.
