Court Process

The ten days following our referral were filled with lots of paperwork.  First, there was the Taiwan paperwork that had to be turned in immediately.  So, after getting everything notarized, Jeff and I made a trip to the Secretary of State’s office in Des Moines on April 20th to get some documents State Certified.  We put them in the mail to our agency the same day.  Then there were a bunch of agency documents to sign and have notarized.  After our agency received the Taiwan documents they had to have another certification done on them and they were sent to Taiwan on May 2nd.  We received word on May 8th that they had been submitted to court.  This starts the official court process which will finalize the adoption!  Here are the steps in the court process as I understand it.  Now that our documents have been submitted to court we will be assigned a court date.  Between now and the court date a social worker will interview the birth mother and visit Ciana at Hannah’s Hope to document things.  At the court date, the Taiwan staff from our agency will represent us before the judge.  The birth mother will also be present.  The judge can then decide if he needs more information or if he is satisfied.  If he wants more information a second court date will be set.  Then a first decree will be issued.  The birth mother will receive a notice from the judge and if she agrees to the adoption as it is stated she will sign the decree.  She has 10 days after the 1st Decree to change her mind about the adoption.  If she agrees and signs the papers then the judge will issue the Final Decree.  The Final Decree makes Ciana officially our daughter!  Once we have the Final Decree we will get an appointment with AIT, which is like the US Consulate in Taiwan.  This will establish our travel dates!  Our agency is estimating approximately 5-6 months for the court process.  So, I’m guessing we could be traveling in October, like we did when we brought Maya home.