The Canadian family that is a month ahead of us, has had a difficult time with their case. The judge has been making an issue of Canadian adoption and immigration laws with them, so we were really on edge.
Accompanying us in court, was the Guardian Ad Litem, the agency's social worker and a representative from the Children's department. One at a time, they all rose when they were called and stated that they have done interviews, home visits etc., and find it in the child's best interest to be adopted by us.
The judge then asked the clerk to schedule our final court date (the judgement). This is where my nerves started to fizzle. (We had a hell of time getting an extension for our visas, and was only able to obtain a 2 month extension, meaning we need to be out of the country by the 23rd of June.) The clerk started to flip through his calendar... and said," May 10th."
May 10th!!!!
It actually took me a second to realize that was only in 2 weeks. Amazing. All I can say, is that our lawyer is AMAZING. We have always heard wonderful things about him... and I realize now how well regarded he is and how he manages to get things done.
We are looking at 4 weeks after our judgment to get all of the necessary paperwork, passport and visa to take Zahra home. So, realistically... mid June! We cannot wait to introduce you all to this spunky little girl. Everyday she amazes us with something new. She is blossoming so much... so completely different than the little girl we first met 6 months ago.
As far as the in country adoption process here - I have an amazing write up, done by a fellow adoptive parent. I wish I had this prior to coming here... we were really in the dark about the process.
On another note... I was told by our agency that there are 2 Canadian families that were just recently sent referrals. Who are you?? Please contact me!! If any adopting family is looking for an affordable 3 bedroom apartment (in new, safe compound close to Runda) to move in to.. let me know. We plan to be out by June 15th.
Procedures and protocol for International Adoption in Kenya
November 2012
Please note that the information
below is a compilation based on formal documents produced by the four adoption
societies in Kenya and legal texts by various departments, institutions and
ministries of the Government of Kenya. Although the facts below have been
cleared by a law enforcement professional in Nairobi and there might be some
differences from case to case depending on the current situation in Kenya.
•
Once you
have arrived in Kenya and been greeted by one of the four Adoption Societies
which exists in Kenya and which your Adoption Organization at home has a
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with, standard procedures is that you will
visit the child at the orphanage between 2-6 days before you are allowed to
take the child with you (this depends on the rules of each orphanage). Your
Adoption Society in Kenya will also appoint one of their social workers who
will be your contact person during your stay in Kenya.
•
Once you
have received the child from the orphanage and signed the Care Agreement with your
Adoption Society in Kenya you are formally legally fostering the child for
90 days. Please remember to ALWAYS carry the Care Agreement with you
in case someone stops you and wants to see that you have legal justification to
care for the child. You have the right by law to only show the care agreement
to a law enforcement professional i.e. if a civil person ask you to show proof
of association with the child you do not have to do so.
•
During the
90 days the Adoption Society which you belong to will suggest a Kenyan
lawyer and a Guardian Ad Litem to you. The
Guardian Ad Litem is usually a retired social worker. Standard
procedures are that the lawyer and the Guardian Ad Litem will contact you
during the 90 days and plan for the 1st Hearing in High Court which
will only take place after the initial 90 days of fostering. You can also
contact the Guardian Ad Litem yourself and invite her/him to meet with you and
the child before the 1st Hearing, so that you get to know each other
before the 1st Hearing.
•
The sole
purpose of the 1st Hearing is for a judge of the High Court to
formally appoint the Guardian ad Litem as the Government of Kenya´s
representative to undertake a home study of your family.
Please remember to always dress
formally (no sandals, jeans etc.) while meeting with your lawyer, Children´s
Department, appearing in High Court etc.
•
After the 1st
Hearing there is a suggested standard 45 days period before the 2nd
Hearing should take place. During the 45 days the Guardian Ad Litem
normally visits you at home a few times to write a so called home study report.
This report is very similar to the one which the authorities in your home
country have already carried out so it can be quite useful to give the Guardian
Ad Litem a copy of this report from your home country.
•
During the
same period of time, your lawyer is to contact the government´s body dealing
with international adoption i.e. the Children´s Department (CD). CDs
role is to appoint one of their officers to be responsible for your case and
your lawyer will make an appointment for you to meet with the officer at the
CD. This meeting/ interview usually take up to 2 hours and you are not
to bring your child/en along with you. Once again it can be quite useful to
bring a copy of the report with you from your home country. The officer at the
CD should already have a copy of this report, and should have read up on its
content to be familiar with your family background. This might not always be
the case. To come well prepared to the interview it is very useful in advance
to list down for each parent the name of your Primary School (grundskola),
Secondary School (gymnasium) incl, University and what year you finished each
of these, including the titles of your various positions and what each of them
enfolds. Before you leave the meeting at CD you should have agreed upon a date
when the officer will visit you in your home. It is good if you ensure
that this visit takes place as soon as possible after the meeting/ interview.
Please remember to ensure that you have the mobile number of the officer, in
case you need to call them at a later stage.
The purpose of the home visit is for
the officer of the CD to have a close look at your home arrangements and see
where the child sleeps and eats, as well as security, sanitation, clothes and water supply in your home.
•
After the
home visit, the officer of the CD and your Guardian Ad Litem will each
write a report which your lawyer will collect and hand in together with many
other documents to the High Court. Your lawyer will then make an
appointment with the High Court for a 2nd Hearing.
•
The purpose
of the 2nd Hearing is for your lawyer to present to the judge ALL
documents collected so far. The judge
can according to the Kenyan adoption procedures already give you a judgment at
the 2nd Hearing. This is however very unusual. Most common is that IF ALL papers
are in order the judge will give you a new date for when the Judgment will be
read out. This can take anything from 2 weeks to several months, all
depending on which judge you get.
•
Once you
have the date for Judgment, please insist to your lawyer that you want to
attend the Judgment in the High Court. This is not necessary but in the case the
judge has several judgments to read out and not enough time, he/she will in
most cases prioritize those families who are there that day.
•
Because this
is towards the end of your time in Kenya and MANY documents now have to be
organized BEFORE you can go home it is a good idea to ask for a meeting with your
lawyer to sit down and do a time schedule for what dates you can expect the
remaining papers to be ready by and what is expected from your lawyer and what
is expected from you.
Also, you can ask your lawyer to see
a draft of the Adoption Order to make sure that the content is correct and no
misspellings are done. Please NOTE that it is crucial that you during the
remaining period read through every document meticulously to avoid any misspellings, as this can seriously prolong your
stay in the country.
Please note that it can be very
useful after you have had the meeting with your lawyer and you have a tentative
time schedule ready, to check with the airline, which you have your return
ticket with, that they have seats available for those dates you are planning to
go home. At least try to make a tentative booking. This is extra important if
you are planning to go home during peak season.
•
On the day
of the Judgment the lawyer based on the content of the Judgment goes back to
his/her office and writes the final version of the Adoption Order and hands
it in to the High Court for the signature of the Deputy Registrar. The protocol
says that this should take not more than 5 working days.
•
When the Adoption
Order has been signed by the Deputy Registrar the lawyer collects the Adoption
Order and hands it in to the Office of the Registrar General to
get a Certificate of Entry in the Adopted Children’s Register. The
protocol says that this should take not more than 7 working days.
•
On the 8th
day in the morning (or any day before that) your lawyer will pick up the Certificate
of Entry in the Adopted Children’s Register. You shall now meet your
lawyer to get a copy of the Adoption Order and the Certificate
of Entry in the Adopted Children’s Register, these two copies MUST now
be certified (stamped and signed) by your lawyer to ensure to the Children´s
Department that they are real copies. Your lawyer will keep the 2 originals and
hand them into the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to be stamped. The
protocol says that this should take not more than 24 hrs.
•
At the same
time you must take the certified copies of the Adoption Order and the Certificate
of Entry in the Adopted Children’s Register and hand them in to the
Children´s Department. Please call your officer at the CD a few days in advance
alerting him/her that you most likely will be able to hand in all the documents
requested by a certain date, just to make sure that they are available when you
come.
Also, ask you lawyer for a copy of
the form which you need to fill in to apply for the Certificate of Conformity aka
Hague article 23. Upon request, you lawyer can assist you in filling in
the application form. Please bring with you in a nice folder the following
documents when visiting the CD:
•
The application
form for Certificate of Conformity aka Hague article 23
•
Adoption Order
•
Certificate
of Entry in the Adopted Children’s Register
•
Copy of your passport/s
•
Copy of Freeing
Certificate. Your lawyer should have this document, if not, ask your
Kenyan Adoption Society to give it to you
•
Copy of Approval
Letter by the National Adoption Committee (NAC). Your lawyer should
have this document, if not, ask your Kenyan Adoption Society to give it to you
•
Copy of Certificate
of the Consent by the Social Welfare Committee of your home country. You
should have this paper with you from your home country when you come out to
Kenya
•
Certificate of
Conformity aka Hague Article 23
Please note that the Certificate
of Conformity aka Hague Article 23 has to be signed by two officials
i.e. the Director for Children´s Department Mr. Ahmed Hussein Ahmed and the
Chairman of NAC (National Adoption Committee) Ms. Faith Waigwa. The person at
the Children´s Department in charge of writing the Certificate of Conformity aka
Hague Article 23 will also ensure to get the two signatures above.
•
Once you
have all the documents above you can now apply for Swedish (or any other)
travel document for your child. If you would like for your child to also have a
Kenyan passport, you can apply for this at the same time. Only
remember that the Swedish Embassy in Nairobi accepts taking copies of the
requested original documents listed below while you are at the embassy, while
the Kenyan immigration authorities request the originals only and will keep the
originals with them until the Kenyan passport for your child is ready to be
picked up. It is advisable to ask an agent to assist with the Kenyan
passport. This can be done within just a few days (express) or weeks
(standard), depending on how much time you have. The express Kenyan passport
costs more. Ask you agent what documents are needed to proceed with a Kenyan
passport for your child.
One very efficient agent with a
registered company assisting expats in Kenya is Ms. Rebecca Lusweti (mob:
070 311 96 81)
To get the Swedish travel document
for your child, call the officer in charge of travel documents at the Swedish
Embassy (mob: 0733 12 16 65) and ask for an appointment. You are requested to
bring with you the following documents to the embassy:
•
Receipt of
transfer/travel documents from CBA bank
Please call officer in charge of travel documents at the Swedish embassy and ask how much the current price of a travel document is. Then go to the Commercial Bank of Africa (CBA) and pay that amount. There is a branch of CBA at the Junction. Bring the receipt of this transfer to the Swedish Embassy.
Please call officer in charge of travel documents at the Swedish embassy and ask how much the current price of a travel document is. Then go to the Commercial Bank of Africa (CBA) and pay that amount. There is a branch of CBA at the Junction. Bring the receipt of this transfer to the Swedish Embassy.
•
Copy of Birth
Certificate (if this document exists)
•
Adoption Order
•
Certificate
of Conformity aka Hague Article 23
•
Parent/s
passport. The embassy will take copies while
you are there
•
3 new
passport pictures of the child
•
You will
also need to fill in a requested form from the Swedish tax
authorities called:”Anmälan namn”. The Swedish embassy will give you a
copy of this form.
It
can take anything from 1 to 3 days to get the Swedish travel document.
•
Once the
Swedish travel document is ready you must get a stamp in it from the Kenyan
Ministry of Immigration before you can leave Kenya. The easiest thing, once again, is to get an agent to
assist you with this. It should only take, at the most, half a day. You must
accompany the agent to the Ministry of Immigration. Please bring with you a
copy of the child’s ticket and you need to fill in a form at the Ministry if
Immigration to request for the stamp.
•
Before you
are ready to leave Kenya, please ask your Adoption Society at home for a Letter
of Approval, this document can be useful to have while leaving Kenya as
well as entering your home country.
Good luck!
Info compiled by Mali Nilsson Nairobi November 2012
1 comment:
Oh my goodness!!! I am so excited for you!!! Congratulations!!! :) You're almost at the finish line mama. :)
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