Joe and I left at about 7am this morning to take a taxi to the camp where Vacya has been staying for the last few weeks. It's about an hour drive from Simferopol. We had to go pick him up and bring him back into town for the court hearing. Unfortunately, the hearing never really happened. We were all there at the court building waiting for about an hour after our appointment time. Apparently the prosecutor (the same one from last time) said that her boss wanted her to look through all of the documents in our dossier, including the 2 new documents (updated home study and proof that we own our home). She didn't get there until 30 minutes after our scheduled appointment and the judge didn't have time to wait for her to look through the documents, so he said that we would need to reschedule. We don't know when the next appointment will be, hopefully next week. Andrei said that our documents are all correct and there should not be any problems with them. Everyone, including the judge, was surprised by what happened today.
We don't have to have Vacya back at the camp until 8:00 tonight, so he's spending the afternoon with us. We took him to McDonald's for a Happy Meal and hot fudge sundae after we left the court. Then he came back to the church with us where we've been staying. We were going to ask the orphanage director for permission to keep him with us during the 10-day waiting period, but since we still have not been approved by the court yet, he won't be able to stay with us. We're really worried about sending him back to the camp. There are some kids from another orphanage there that have been beating some of other kids. Someone, we're not sure if he is from Vacya's orphanage or the other one, burned him on the back of his neck with a cigarette lighter. He also has a bruise at the top of his nose from where somebody punched him. We're concerned about his safety there because there is very little supervision. We think some of the kids will be even worse with him now that everybody knows he left with us because he is going to be adopted. Please pray for his safety while he's back there. We told the representative from the orphanage what had happened and showed her the burn on Vacya's neck when we saw her at court today. She was going to let the director know about it, but I don't know if anything will be done.
4 comments:
So sorry for your delay. Hope things will move quickly. It must be so frustrating to not be able to be in control. Just rememeber who is ultimately in control.
Kevin and Tammy
Sorry things didn't go as expected. Sounds like they are not taking this too seriously, that's for sure...wondering why the prosecutor's boss didn't look at the paper work before today. :( Hopefully, everything will be in place for the next actual court date. Well, try and enjoy the rest of your day, and we will be praying that Vacya will be safe, no matter where he is.
Aunt Janet
Jaime and Joe,
I am sorry for the way that things happened with the court date. I was also wondering why these documents weren't looked over until the day of the hearing? I am shocked at the total lack of supervision at the camp. Poor Vacya, we will be praying extra hard for his safety. I pray for an early court date to arrise. Love Ya, The Hartley Clan.
Wow - if it isn't one thing, it's another! Well, I have learned through your ordeal that sometimes the best thing you can do is to expect the unexpected. I hope you get a new court date assigned quickly, and that you get to spend time with Vacya while you're waiting.
Aunt Julie
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