One down . . . three to go

This cold, dreary May morning I had the pleasure of driving to our wonderful capital city, Montgomery, Alabama, for a visit to the Secretary of State's office.  Why, you ask, did I make this approximately 180 mile round-trip journey all before noon this morning?  I had to get Maggie's first post-placement report apostilled (i.e. get the seal of the Secretary of State showing that it is an authentic document) and mailed to Lighthouse Adoptions in Ann Arbor for them to mail to Moscow to get translated and then filed in the Moscow City Court with the judge who approved Maggie's adoption.

We knew that they post-placement reports were part of the deal.  We agreed to doing them well before we even met Maggie and told the judge that we would file them on time and per the schedule (which is at the 6 month, 1 year, 2 year and 3 year marks).  We met with our social worker who talked to us for a while and observed Maggie with us and with the other kids.  It was pretty painless especially since I love showing Maggie off to others.  Our social worker had to write a detailed report regarding everything that had gone on with Maggie since we adopted her, as well as a report on us as a family.  I also had to gather pictures to show us all together as a family and show Maggie thriving (which was easy).  That report is the one I took to get apostilled today.

Part of me was screaming inside as I did all this.  One of the reasons for these reports is to help future families . . . in that the better the kids are doing here, the better for future adoptions.  And now because of all that has gone on with the politics between Russia and the United States those future adoptions will never occur.  And my mind goes directly to the orphanage to all those precious faces of those children who will NEVER have families.  They will never have a mommy or a daddy.  They will never have a brother or a sister.  They will never have a home - other than an institution.  Most of them will be moved from orphanage to orphanage (based on age) and then when they are 17 they will be let out to fend for themselves.  The boys almost always go directly into crime, and the girls are picked up by pimps and become forced prostitutes.  And that is how Russia takes care of its orphans.

Yes, I know that there are stories out there about people here in the United States who have adopted some of these precious children and bad things have happened to those children.  Some of the bad things were criminal, and those parents should be punished to the full extent of the law.  But some of those bad things were pure accidents and I mourn with those parents.   The VAST majority of us love our Russian children like they were our biological children.  I don't even think about the fact that Maggie is adopted in the way that I feel for her.  There is simply no difference between her and Ward, Ann Park or Sam.  She is MINE and I am her mommy.  Forever and for always.