Our Court Experience

Someone asked me to give a little more information on our court experience and on what happens now.  It’s a good suggestion, and if I don’t write it down chances are that I will forget.

The court hearing was held in a very modern building in a spartan, but comfortable room. There were 8 people in the room:

• My wife and me
• An interpreter
• The head doctor of the orphanage
• A social worker reporting on our interaction with the child and delivering a recommendation if the adoption was in the best interest of the child
• The Judge
• A Prosecutor, whose role is to listen to the proceeding and see that the law is followed
• A court recorder

All, except the recorder could speak, though the interpreter didn’t deliver testimony. All had the right to ask for questions to be repeated, and to ask questions of other participants.

Orphans in Russia have the right to be adopted, so the hearing was to determine if our petition for adoption was in the best interest of the child.

The hearing began with introduction of all participants, an introduction of the purpose, some other administrativa. We then spoke, first me and then Rachel. Our “speech” gave our motivation to adopt, the timeline of our adoption activities in Russia, a description of our trips and meeting with the child, our parental philosophy, preparation to parent, our understanding of the medical condition of the child, our understanding of the legal consequences of the adoption and our legal responsibilities, a description of our home, etc. It was prepared from a list of questions and issues provided by our agency.

My part lasted approximately 20 minutes (40 with translation), and then Rachel spoke for approximately 10 minutes. Throughout, the Judge would interject with questions as she saw fit. After Rachel was done speaking, the Prosecutor opted to question her further for a total of about 20 minutes (with translation).

After we spoke, first the Social Worker, then the Head Doctor spoke. We learned some additional history of our boy through their testimony.

By 11:00 (the hearing started at approximately 9:20), all but the judge exited the room while the Judge quickly deliberated her ruling. At 11:10 we were called back in and she delivered her ruling. It was all quite businesslike and, in some places, I rather got the impression that participants were going through the motions of a ceremony that had been repeated so many times.

We understand that the Judge could be quite harsh with her questioning. Her questions for us were quite reasonable and few, and focused mostly on confirming we understood our obligations, had been given medical information, and understood what care for our child was required, given the medical information.

The preparation for this even was quite stressful. It was the focus of our lives for 8 months. Now that it is over, we need to re-focus on doing what is needed to become a family.