Good News from Taraz

Just got an update on Facebook from the Sterks. The court decision from the judge was a Da! What great news to recieve on Christmas Eve. For those of you keeping track of the goings on in Taraz, that now makes 4 yeses in the last month. Two were of the Taraz Ten (B, J and N, hope you are enjoying being home as a family now)and two were new families (one from France and one from US). Two more of the Taraz 10 (2 Canadian families) had court as well and hope to hear an answer before the month is over.

Taraz 10 Update...not a Yes, not a No, Back to Taraz they go

The first Canadian couple had their preliminary hearing before the supreme court on Thursday. This is my best understanding of what happened. A and E arrived in Astana with their Kaz Attorney and were basically told that the Supreme Court refused to hear their case and that A and E needed to go back to Taraz and re-start at the Municipal Court the same way B and J did. I pray this is a good thing for them with the exception of having wasted energy/money with paper work for the Supreme court and the extra time, stress and anxiety in the process.

I also learned today that the 2nd Canadian couple, F and M, going the Supreme Court route is scheduled for November 18, 2010. It is believed that the Supreme court will refuse their case as well because they will ask them to re-start their process at the municipal court.

My understanding is the reason why they are asking the families to re-start at the municipal court is because they now have the signatures of the locals who refused to adopt the children and these signatures are only valid at the municipal level.

The silver lining in all this for these two couples is that they will be reunited with their children for the coming weeks in Taraz. Please keep the remaining 7 families and 9 children in your prayers that they follow in B and J's footsteps this go round in the Municipal court and get the "DAs" that they deserve.

Taraz Ten...Family #2 Heads to Court

Thursday (Nov 11) the first of the families going to the Supreme Court in Astana will have their day in court. Please be praying that A&E finally get the yes they have been fighting for so they can begin the final part of the journey to bring their little boy and girl home.

Finally...some good news on the Taraz Ten

I am happy to report that the couple from Philly, Becky and Jeremy, had their adoption approved by the Municipal Court in Taraz. Of course it was not without it's drama.

Here is the summary from the proud papa:

"After 8 days of repeated delays, this morning we were told we would receive our
decision. Instead when we arrived this morning, the prosecutor announced her
recommendation, against the approval of our adoption petition. The court
adjourned for 2.5 hours before the Judge announced his decision and so we had
more fraught hours of pacing before we returned to court at noon.

The judge decided to disregard the prosecutor's recommendation and to rule in
our favor. The prosecutor could still file a protest to the decision and we're
not sure what that would involve yet. But for the time being, this is the first
positive decision to come out of Taraz in an international adoption case in
about a year. I'm really hoping that: (a) the prosecutor's objections either are
not filed or don't go anywhere and (b) the other Taraz-Ten families will quickly
get their own positive decision, whether from the Municipal Court or Supreme
Court."

The first supreme court case in Astana is scheduled for November 11th for a Canandian couple, A&E, who are adopting a sibling pair.

May the positive court decisions keep coming and families be able to get on with their lives together.

Taraz Ten Update

For those of you who do not read Becky and Jeremy's blog directly they had their court hearing and everything appears to have gone well. However, the judge has stated that he needs time to write up the decision and he has a heavy case load so they will have to wait a week to get the actual court decision.

So, we will all have to wait another week to see what happens.

All Ways...Taraz Ten update

TARAZ TEN UPDATE
I haven't posted anything about the Taraz Ten for a while as there wasn't much happening while families worked out their next steps after the final no came down from the Cessation panel. During that time the families chatted with the State Department Liason, a delegation from Kazakhstan and Kyrgystan visited the US and spoke to the State Dept and met with APs and PAPs, and supporters and family continued contacting Congressional Reps at home and in DC. One of the Taraz judges was a part of that delegation and appears to have had a change of heart.

The Taraz Ten families are facing two possible options on how to proceed at this point in time. First, a quick review of the story so far: 7 of the 8 families were denied at the municipal court level. All 7 of those families lost their Regional Court appeal. 6 of the 7 asked for a rehearing with a cessation panel of the Regional Court and one family decided to appeal directly to the Supreme Court. All 6 families lost their cessation appeal. The 8th family has not recieved a ruling yet at the municipal level.

After the Regional Court the next step on the appeal ladder is the Supreme Court of Kazakhstan. Some coordinators and judges of the regional court suggested that if instead, the other 6 families, refiled a new petition (for the same child) with the municipal court, they would be successful. Refiling would involve getting signed statements from all (or nearly all) of the local families who were on the waiting list to adopt during the 6-month period that the Taraz Ten were only eligible for domestic adoption. Each statement would say that they were not interested in adopting the child in question.

At this point it looks like 3 families are definitely going to the Supreme Court (either they have already filed or are about to), 2 families are definitely going to the municipal court. Two other families seem to be leaning towards the municipal court option but are waiting to see what happens with the initial 2 families. The 8th family will be refiling with the municipal court rather than waiting for their denial from their original hearing.

The first hearing of a re-filed petition has been scheduled for October 25th. The coordinator believes the family will be informed of the court's decision on October 25th at the conclusion of the court hearing. PLEASE be praying for this family as they go to court on Monday and safe travels for the father who is traveling back to Taraz later this week for the court hearing.

If they get a positive decision on the 25th it is expected the other Taraz Ten families will try to follow through the MC. If they lose, they still have the right to appeal their cessation court denial to the Supreme Court.

In following the various blogs, even this process has been quite involved. They did not have to start the bonding period over again but did have to go before the Guardianship Council process again and the Council was making sure everything was in proper order.


ALL WAYS
On Sunday the gospel reading from Luke really struck a cord with me in terms of the Taraz Ten. (DISCLAIMER: My posting this is not a statement on whether the judges are corrupt or not. That is not my word, just the one that the author who wrote this about the gospel reading chose to use.) The following was on the back of the bulletin.

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All Ways
Today's gospel begins with an explanation. "Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart" (Luke 18:1). It's a good thing we have this little introduction so we don't get sidetracked during the story, which is complicated. We have an intense legal case, a corrupt judge, and a stubborn woman-plenty to be distracted by.

In which moments do we find it difficult to "pray and not...lose heart"? Perhaps when we are in a journey of grief, in a situation so lonely we feel no support, or so angry there seems no room for joy. If we were in a legal battle impossible to win because our judge has no interest in real justice, we might feel this kind of heart-deep discouragement. The weight of it might push us to give up trying.

In moments like these, perhaps we can hear Jesus' words to "pray always" also as the invitation to pray all ways. When our rhythm of prayer is disrupted by heavy things, we can cry out outside our typical prayer: flooding God's mailbox with cards, letter, and e-mails demanding help and justice; allowing ourselves be lonely for a time, calling on others to pray on our behalf--these can all be ways to understand a life of prayer. Maybe for this season of life we sing our prayers, drum our petitions, light candles for hope, or create some new way to pray. Maybe this is what it looks like to grow in faith.

Returning to the introduction of this odd parable can give the people of God great hope. Jesus' words of intention assure us that God is at hand and that God does not wish for us to be discouraged. With Jesus, the author of our faith and our holy friend, we can pray always and in all ways.
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So, as you go about your day on Sunday afternoon/Monday morning, say or sing a prayer, drum a petition, light a candle or find some new way to pray for the family going to court on October 25th and for all the Taraz Ten so that they may finally be reunited and come home.

On a lighter note, there was another crabby t-shirt sighting in late August. This time it was the younger brother's turn to wear the t-shirt.

The Taraz Ten

If you have been following this blog you are aware of the eight families I have written about previously who have been in the process of adopting 10 children from the Umit Baby House that Lukas lived in prior to our adoption. Five of those families have now had their regional appeal hearing and been denied again on the same frivolous reason, the children were not shown to enough local families during the 6 months prior to be placed on the International Registry. The law only states a time period a child must wait before being placed on the International registry, not a number of families. It also does not give any specific guidelines on how this is to be documented. At the time we adopted Lukas it was sufficient for the baby house to just verbally state that he was shown to x number of local families. Lukas was in Umit for over a year before being placed on the International Registry so it does not appear that there is any rhyme or reason to how the process actually works of moving a child from the in country registry to the international registry. Recent posters have mentioned some regions requesting a minimum of 3 local families and the information being written down as to the name and address of the families and why they turned down the child. From what I have learned of these recent decisions, the municipal and regional courts don't seem to care that this information was presented to them, they are stuck on the excuse that however many families they were presented to is not enough.

These families have been working hard to fight to bring their children home inspite of the current decisions. Some are already in the process of appealing to the next and final regional appellate process prior to the final step which will be appealing to the national court in Astana. One of the families has started a facebook causes webpage. They are not asking for donations, only moral support in this fight for justice for these 10 children stuck in limbo. If you have a facebook account please join this cause. If you don't have an account consider creating a basic one so that you can join this cause to lend support to these families.

You can link into the cause here:

http://apps.facebook.com/causes/friends/causes