19 May 2007

not my kind of excitement

I thought I was going to have such an exciting post for you today.

I've been asking and asking my agency if I could be registered as an independent. They kept saying no. Finally, I told them that I knew a family who was about to be registered as independents (well, the "family" was actually me...another agency was willing to do this) in Leningrad Oblast (the area surrounding St. P, but not St. Petersburg itself). I asked again if they could help me with this. They said they'd check.

Three weeks later, and after a few prompts from me, I heard that yes, it did seem possible. Wow! Exciting post in the making! I was to speak to my facilitators here today to get the details. This all sounded great. The agency said it would be "no problem" for me to come back under their wing, so to speak, once accreditation was granted. Until then, it couldn't hurt for me to be independent.

This morning I called the number they gave me for N. It was actually G., who speaks no English. I told her who I was and she gave me N's number. I called N. at 11:30 a.m. and woke her. Oops. Russian time--I miscalculated. She told me to call V.

I called V. who repeated the same information I'd been e-mailed. And then said that

they still did not have my dossier in the office.

I was gobsmacked, flabbergasted, amazed, bemused, incredulous and just plain unbelieving.

Didn't I just say that I should verify earlier reports that my documents were where they should be? I thought there was a slight possibility that they weren't translated, but never thought they hadn't arrived. I thought with all this time that my agency has now that they're unaccredited, that they'd be extra-on-top of all this paperwork. And that recent plea they made to get all dossiers in so that they could be translated and waiting seemed to me to indicate they had time on their hands.

This is not the sort of excitement I had in mind for this post.

On Monday, the office here will call me and tell me what they have and what they are lacking. I've sent e-mails to the US facilitators and the agency itself (who do nothing, but I still thought they should know) asking if they have confirmation that my documents arrived in Russia. Wouldn't you think that would be part of their job? Making sure paperwork arrived? It's not like they gave me a tracking number so that I could see where things were.

I guess this qualifies as exciting...in an agitating sort of way... Sheesh.

18 comments:

6blessings said...

Oh my goodness. That's all I have to say.

(I have tried emailing you several times but am not getting through.)

Deb said...

Ugh! I'm so sorry for your delays with this. So sorry that all the people aren't working together to help you.
I hope you have some good news on Monday.

Maggie said...

Oh, now that's officially annoying. You work and work and get your dossier ready and it's just sitting in someone's in box -- and you don't even know which country it's in. Grr. I'm angry on your behalf.

Lisa said...

Oh good grief! That makes me crazy too... I generally turn myself inside out to get paperwork done and on to the next step within one or two days, but my first agency definitely did not share any sense of urgency about that! They acted much like your agency. I'm happy to say that my new agency is a whole 'nother story!

I DO know another single mom whose adoption is in process in Leningrad as an independent. If you want, I think I can dig up her email address and put you in touch with her. She doesn't have a blog as far as I know. She's already been on trip 1.

Rachael said...

UN-freakin-BELIEVABLE.

Elle said...

Oh Kate, now that is crap. No accreditation and they are sitting their hands. WTF?

Anonymous said...

I am livid. I am calling you.

Tami said...

That's RIDICULOUS! Unreal!

mommyto5 said...

Oh Kate that is unbelievable. I can imagin your complete frustration ,not a good way to start off the weekend..ugh. Praying you hear some brighter news on Monday.Prayers this mess gets resolved asap!

votemom said...

oh kate.

kitchu said...

Agitating in a balled up fists and who do I smack sort of way I should say! Hope your agency comes through and does their job!

Jenni said...

NO WAY! I am completely frustrated and angry for you! Your agency really needs to get their act together. You've more than done your part, now they need to do theirs (especially since I'm sure they are not working for free)!

So sorry you have to deal with this.

Calico Sky said...

GRRR!
But, let's hope this is moving FORWARD!

Melissa said...

Oh Kate...man, I hate that for you. I reeaaallly hope your agency can get it together - I'm so angry for you!!

Esther said...

I'm sorry ;o(

I hope they figure out what they are doing and where your documents are right quickly!!!

Maura said...

Oh, Kate. This is insane. And you weren't even allowed to confirm things earlier with V? I so wish there was something I could do to help. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for better news tomorrow.

Holly said...

Jeez. I don't know what else to say, except for sorry.

Lea said...

This is just unbelievable, that they could be this bad!! How terrible! I feel for you and hope to hear soon that things are looking up. Hopefully you can move forward as an independent.