Apr
3
Adoption Journey – Day 440 (That’s 1 year, 10 weeks, and a bit)
So, I picked up the mail the other day, and there, in my mailbox, was an envelope from the Ministry of Children and Youth Services/Community and Social Services — so, provincial government.
I was curious. Qu’est-ce que le hell?
I didn’t even wait until I got home. I sat there in my car and opened it. And it was a Letter of No Objection from the Ontario government, addressed to the Canadian High Commission in Nairobi, Kenya.
I confuse.
I thought, wait a second, we had to get a Letter of No Objection during our homestudy. A knot of panic started in my stomach. I thought, surely to doG this document has not been sitting in transit on some bureaucrat’s desk ALL THIS TIME? Surely it hasn’t taken them over 6 months to get this done?
So I emailed our agency.
Now, let me pause here and say, because I don’t know if I mentioned it or not, that our opinion of our agency has much improved in recent times. Our horridly unhelpful and uncommunicative adoption worker no longer works for our agency, and our file is now in the hands of a new adoption worker with years of experience and a VERY helpful demeanour. We have been THRILLED with her. BDH chats with her almost weekly and she is always helpful.
So within one working day of my inquiry to her, our worker emailed back and told us that this document isn’t the original, but rather one that is required as part of our immigration paperwork. She told us that the Letter of No Objection is essentially the province’s agreement to treat your future child as an equal part of your family and a resident of
Look at us! Ahead of the curve! Whee!
Needless to say, the knot of worry vanished. As a matter of fact, it was replaced by cautious optimism when I read the line:
It is great timing! I look forward to having something even ‘GREATER’ for you soon!
I can’t tell you how those words jumped off the page. I forwarded the email to BDH and that was his first reaction, too. “Do you think she’s trying to give us a hint about something?” he asked.
Probably not, I conceded. It’s not like they get advance warning that a referral is coming. It just arrives on their desk once things are done in Ethiopia, from what I understand. So it’ll happen when it happens.
But here’s something to chew on: In a recent conversation with our worker, BDH was trying to feel out how long we still have to wait. “So, within the next two months?” he asked, trying to give her a ballpark. “Oh yes,” she told him, with an indication that two months was more than enough time for us to see our referral.
I know that they cannot promise anything. And I know that there are no absolutes. And I know that, when it comes to starting a family, the worst possible thing to do is to get one’s hopes up.
But still.
It’s kind of hard not to be optimistic after this sort of news, don’t you think?
