May 15, 2008
It's Official! Meet Victor & Kristina Hrenko!
Court Day
Today is it, this is when we find out if we are able to adopt these beautiful children we have come to love. Court is scheduled for 11:15 and Sasha will pick us up at 10:30. Mariya and Svetlana will already be at the court as there is still paperwork they need to take care of. Nick and I are very nervous as the Judge can decide she does not want to split the children and deny us to adopt any of them. We get ready this morning and then sit on edge waiting to be taken to court.
Sasha is here promptly at 10:30 to take us to court. Alyona and Tatiana (the social worker at the boarding school) are already in the car. It is a short ride and as we drive up we immediately see Mariya and Svetlana. They take us in the building where security scrutinizes our passports and then allows us to enter. We take the steps up to the third floor and down a hallway and are asked to wait on the bench outside the room. We recognize several of the other people that will be attending court also. We wait for only a few minutes and the Judge tells us to come in and we can get started. It is about 10:55. In the court room is the Judge, a prosecutor, court reporter, the department of guardian rep for the orphanage and the boarding school, Tatiana, the assistant director of the orphanage, Svetlana, Mariya and of course me and Nick. It was actually a full room.
The Judge began by reading our rights to us and then asked Nick to stand and began asking him questions. She asked why we were in court today (to adopt), why we want to adopt, if we already have two children why do we want more, can we financially support them, his birthdate, where he lives, what is his job, and I think that is about it. Then she asked me to stand and asked me most of the same questions. We were to answer all questions based on adopting three children. Alyona had been waiting in the room right outside the court and they now asked her to come in. The Judge started asking her questions and she told the Judge that she wanted Victor and Kristina to be adopted but she did not want to go to America. She told the Judge this is where she was born, her friends are here, it is her language, her country and this is where she is comfortable. The Judge questioned her long and hard. The conversation got a little heated but Alyona stuck to her story. She said she is already 16 and she can make it on her own now but Victor and Kristina are still young and should be given this opportunity. The Judge told Alyona that the law does not allow them to split families so this is an exception the Judge needs to make if she thinks it is appropriate. The Judge also told Alyona that if she did not allow the adoption that it would be on Alyona’s shoulders that Victor and Kristina were not given this opportunity and that she did not think Alyona would ever be able to take care of them. The Judge was very tough on Alyona and Nick and I were getting pretty nervous by this point. She continued to ask Alyona what she would do when she turns 18 and the state no longer supports her. She told Alyona that we could give her the opportunities and that she needed to think about it. Alyona continued to say no. Alyona was excused to go back outside and wait while the Judge asked us more questions.
The Judge asked if we agreed with Alyona’s decision. Nick told her we did not and we have spoke with her and tried to convince her to come with us but she has made up her mind and will not change it so we do not have a choice but to support it. The Judge asked if Alyona changes her mind in six months will we be willing to come and do this again, how will we continue to stay in contact with her, do we want to choose other children if Alyona will not come, why do we want these children, and many other questions. Nick and I answered the best we could and hoped it would be enough.
It was now time for closing statements and for each person in court to speak and tell the Judge is they thought we should be allowed to adopt. Svetlana asked if Alyona could come back in the court to hear and that was granted. Svetlana, the prosecutor, the department of guardian reps and Tatiana all spoke and said the Judge should grant our adoption of Victor and Kristina and deny the adoption of Alyona. Svetlana told the Judge this is the first time she has come to court and asked for an adoption to be denied. The Judge listened and then said she would make her decision at 4:00 as there is a lot to think about and we should return at that time. We left the court room at noon. This was the longest the Judge has waited to give her decision in any cased Svetlana has worked on, which of course made Nick and I very nervous, again.
However the decision would go Nick and I knew how hard everyone there worked to make this happen so we asked if we could take them to lunch. There were eight of us that went to lunch at a restaurant not far from the court. It took quite a long time to receive our food, but it was very good. Nick and I were brought back to the apartment at about 2:00 as Mariya and Svetlana had to prepare some documents the Judge had asked for. We were told we would be picked up at 3:45 to return to court. When our ride had still not arrived at 4:00 we were very nervous. The mind can think of crazy things when you are worried about something. Sasha finally arrived at about 4:10 and we were off to court. We did not see Mariya or Svetlana anywhere but the security people remembered us and let us go to the court room. We thought we were late so we went into the room outside court and the Judge and department of guardian rep were standing there talking. The Judge tried to speak to us in French, but of course we did not understand. The Judge was smiling and laughing so we were hoping that was a good sign. Svetlana and Mariya arrived a few minutes later and we were soon called in to the court room.
The Judge said she was not going to read the entire document but that our adoption of Victor and Kristina has been granted and our adoption of Alyona has been denied. She asked if we understood and we said yes. As we were leaving the Judge told Svetlana she had waited until 4:00 hoping Alyona would change her mind. We had all hoped that, but we knew Alyona’s mind was set and would not change. It was bitter sweet, we are so thankful and blessed to welcome Victor and Kristina to our family but wish we could bring Alyona with us also. Mariya and Svetlana had another family come in yesterday so they needed to get with them and get things moving so we came back to the apartment.
Tomorrow we will sign documents and go to the boarding school to present a gift to them. We will then spend some time with Alyona and say good bye to her. Saturday we will go see Victor and Kristina for the last time at the orphanage. It will be hard to say good bye and we wish we could take them with us, but we know we will see them again in about a month. Then we fly to Almaty on Sunday. We will take care of business at the US Embassy on Monday and if all goes well we will fly to Orlando on Tuesday.
The Hrenko Family
Adoption Journey to Kazakhstan
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