The Last 36 Hours

Our celebration on Tuesday was quickly interrupted by some frustrating (although not devastating) news.

Yesterday (Tuesday), I (Pam) was with a girlfriend painting pottery when an email came through my phone from our agency. The email advised us that there has been a policy change within the agency: the agency is no longer willing to accept the Citizenship Process for adopted children, and will only accept the Sponsorship Process.

When did this change come into effect? In December.

When were we told? Yesterday.

What the difference? Here's a chart from Citizenship & Immigration Canada's website (please see site for more details):

Will the adopted child ever be a Canadian Citizen? Yes. Once we are home and the entire adoption process is complete we will be able to apply for our child to become a Canadian Citizen.

So . . . what's the big deal then? This issue is that:

1. We spent money on the process, and
2. We wasted 8 weeks which now needs to be re-started at a time by which this should have been completed.

What do you have to do? The paperwork for Citizenship was straight forward (more or less); you simply needed to prove that one (or both) of the adopted parents is a Canadian Citizen(s).

For Sponsorship you need to prove that you can provide for the child (financial documents needed), provide proof of Citizenship status, marital status, employment and tax returns/pay statements. There are also more forms to fill out.

Okay, so you know what you need to do, so do it. We are! We are! However, there is frustration that comes from this.

1. The guide that explains the paperwork step-by-step does not cover certain specifics for adoptive parents. So we needed help with this. So we did our best and then called CIC. 
1. They can't help you fill out, or review a form to be sure it's filled out correctly, in the sections where you have to make presumptive guess.
2. The local CIC office in Nova Scotia is by appointment only, as deemed necessary by the processing Centre. You cannot walk in or call.
3. Called CIC back. The gave us a list of places in Nova Scotia that can help.
4. We called every single place. Sure they help - except for adoption applications.
5. So we called CIC back again. Still can't help.
6. We called the Nova Scotia Immigration Office. They help for family reunification, and without having a child assigned(??) to us with passport and birth date they don't know how to fill out the forms.
2. So we did our best and guessed where we had to. We included as much information as we could and hope it doesn't get sent back!

(If it gets sent back for missing information, the process is put on hold and no verification or progress will be made until it is returned to the office).

So are you done the paperwork? Yup! Because I'm a control freak I had made sure we had duplicate notarized copies of our identity proof, extra original employer letters and copies of all Citizenship paperwork.

Adam and I worked on it from last night 4 pm to 1:30 am, at which time he went to bed. I continued working on it until 5 am, and continued when I got up from noon - 3:30 this afternoon, when all the paperwork was sealed in a package and sent via UPS over-night service.

So what about the agency? Can they just change to process without telling people? You had already been though it!! The short answer? Yes, they can. The long answer? They can but given that our contract, and written instruction from them, specifies what we were to do, and does not say that they can alter the terms without contacting us, they shouldn't of.

So why did they? They have recently had some issues in-country when families who have gone through the Citizenship Process had trouble getting paperwork done in-country. In these cases the families were stuck in country for many days longer than they should have been, paying much more money than they should have been, and had no recourse. While everyone made it home eventually, it was more complex than it could have been.

But still - why didn't the tell you before now if it changed in December? Good question! I've spoken to our representative and her superior. Our representative was frustrating and made excuses but gave no reason. Her superior, on the other hand, was fantastic. He explained a few more details (which I can not share) and was very sympathetic. He offered to do whatever he could to make it better for us and understood how "pissed off" we were (his words!) and had every reason to be. He certainly eased my frustration and annoyance.

They should reimburse you for the money you spent on the first process! We thought about this at first too. But given that the Citizenship approval is good for 2 years we should still be able to use it when our Little One comes home and apply to make him/her a Canadian Citizen.

So you just let it go then? Hardly! I was a little too mad to just comply. C'mon - you know me! However, in keeping perspective, if this is the worst we get through the process, it's pretty darned good. I did, however, want 2 things from the agency.

1. A sincere apology, and
2. An agreement that they would contact all their other clients and advise them of the change.

You mean, they haven't done that yet? The supervisor apologized profusely. As for notifying people, the representative told me that they didn't intend to. Her reasoning was that they don't know who has chosen which one (since no one was required to advise them of their choice), so she would deal with it when she got each person's paperwork.
Her supervisor advised he will ensure she advises everyone. Again, he was very helpful.

So . . . they sound like a stellar agency *sarcasm*. . .  Truth be told, we only have 2 options for agencies. And we chose this one very carefully. This whole situation has made us a bit nervous about dealing with them (will they pull a 'fast one' on us when we're in country?), but overall they do have a stellar reputation. They also deal with 8 regions in Russia, whereas the other agency only deals with 2.
All-in-all, while we aren't thrilled with this last couple days, we stand by our choice of agency.

So how long will the Sponsorship Process take? Is it a BIG set back? It can take 2-8 weeks, we have no way of knowing. We did include proof of the Citizenship approval, and a letter explaining the situation, but all we can do is keep our fingers crossed.

Okay, this is a L-O-N-G post - are you done yet? Yup!