Wednesday, April 4, 2012

EP Update - Some Answers to Many Questions

Folks,

Many of you have commented with questions on the EP process.  A typical example would be why one agency's EP batch has been submitted and the others have not.

The Ministry is now in the process of accepting March/April EP submissions from each adoption agencies.  It appears that the Ministry contacts one agency at a time giving them permission to submit the EP applications.  I believe this is the reason why there is confusion as to why one agency is going through the process while another agency has not been given the go ahead with the EP submissions.

Also, the Ministry is now taking around four weeks to review, process, and approve the EPs as they have to deal with some transitional issues brought up by the new adoption laws that will be implemented this coming August.  In addition to the roles played by the Ministry, the family court now comes into the equation, as they will get involved with some decision making process to qualify the adoptive families. 

The whole thing is still in a flux and nothing definite has been established yet, and I believe that is one of the reasons why it takes longer to review and process and approve the EPs by the staff at the Ministry as they are working with new procedures and forms and other changes.

I am sure this will introduce more questions by some of you, but at least this posting offers some answers to many questions that have been asked.

Thanks for all the great comments and questions.
Let the children come home without further delays.

Steve Morrison

 

42 comments:

  1. Thank you for posting this. Do you believe that the other agency will have their second batch submitted sometime this week? Also, it seems that the 4 weeks to approval seems to provide some consistency or predictability even though it is a bit long. Do you believe that we will consistently see EP submissions each month? Do you believe we will see any other major delays this year in the EP process?

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    1. Steve, Thanks as always. Information answers questions and therefore extinguishes fears.

      When you say that "The Ministry is now in the process of accepting March/April EP submissions from each adoption agencies, " Does March /April relate to when we accepted or referral for our child ? meaning if weaccepted our child in April , our EP will be submitted ?

      Thank you for clarification.

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    2. March/April doesn't have anything to do with when you accepted your referral. It's my understanding that the Ministry had the agencies divide their EPs for this year by 12. In March they submitted the Jan/Feb EPs, then in April they will submit the March/April # of allowed EPs. Starting in May, they will just submit one month's worth of EPs at a time.

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  2. Thanks for the clarification. I'm still waiting to hear if SWS truly submitted their second batch of EPs, no confirmation yet from my sources. I also hope it doesn't take the full 4 weeks to start accepting them! No more delays! :)

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    1. SWS will submit the second batch (meaning Mar/Apr submission) this week.

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    2. Thanks for the reply! Glad I found your blog. Gives a lot of people insight and lots of hope. Don't like being left "in the dark" on stuff like this.

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    3. Is this true with Holt, as well? (Meaning submission of their next batch sometime this week?) Your blog is priceless to all of those waiting, Steve! Bless you and your work!

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    4. Yes, I am wondering about Holt as well. Also, should we expect submissions every month?

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    5. Holt is expecting to submit their EPs this week.

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    6. What about SWS? When will they submit... Or have they already?

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    7. We are a Holt family and were submitted to the ministry today!

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  3. I am with ESWS and our referral and acceptance date is June '11. I was told ESWS accepted late January/early February EPs in the last batch. In your post you stated "The Ministry is now in the process of accepting March/April EP submissions from each adoption agencies". I'm hoping this includes ESWS, but I've been told differently (Jan./early Feb). Can you clarify, Steve? Thanks again for keeping us up to date! You're a god send!

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    1. The acceptance date is not what he's referring to- it is confusing with all these dates we have to remeber! ESWS submitted their March/April EP allowance last thursday, and that batch as a whole included familes with ATK dates from mid Jan to early Feb. Make sense? The ministry has their total number of EPs they will allow for each agency for the year- they gave that number to the agencies (no one knows that number, it's not released to us), and then allow the agencies to divide that number by 12 months. So, in theory, they will submit a set number of families for EPs each month, until they reach their quota. Since the ministry didn't allow submissions in January or February, on March 5th, they allowed the agencies to submit all the families that should have been in Jan/Feb. Then on Thursday, they allowed Eastern to submit their March/April quota allowance to get caught up. Ovbiously they haven't asked SWS or Holt to submit for batch 2 yet, possibly to spread it out a bit since it will be another large batch. So, again in theory, by the time they allow May's submission, the agencies will actually be submitting the familes that are slotted for May submission. Which should consist of the rest of Feburary and maybe some March ATKs.

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    2. The March/April submissions does not have to do with the acceptance date as every agency is in different place. What this means is that the March 5 megabatch was the January "batch" and February "batch" combined since they were so far behind. The Eastern megabatch (larger than normal) submitted March 29th covers the March "batch" and April "batch" of this year. Starting in May, the Ministry will revert to one "regular" sized batch per month. Hope this helps.

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    3. That makes sense. Does anyone know then if ESWS will submit another batch of EPs in a couple of weeks when Holt & SWS are supposed to? I believe the latest batch was pretty small.

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    4. Not likely. The latest ESWS batch was actually very large. It went from mid-Jan through the beginning of Feb, plus a few WIC.

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    5. Actually, based on our conversation with our agency stateside, last week ESWS submitted early (and possibly all) of February. They didn't say anything about March/April - but we're a Feb referral, so it could just be that since it didn't apply, they didn't say.

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    6. That's probably just your agency's referral dates, not all of the agencies that work with Eastern. Ours is a bigger agency, and only got through mid-feb.

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  4. Thanks so much, Steve! Your blog/website is such a great source of comfort and information!!

    Is there any indication from your contacts at MOHW if the approvals of the EPs will be staggered like the submissions? Meaning: will Eastern get approvals 2 weeks before Holt or SWS, like they were submitted? Or, will the entire Batch 2 approvals be released all at once? Thanks for all you do!!

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    1. I have been told that while the submissions of EPs to the Ministry may be different for each agency, but I have been told that the EP approvals made pretty much all at once.

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    2. Steve,
      I'm wondering if this will change now that the new 4 week system is in place. It seems as though this is a positive change that will help the court system run more smoothly once it begins (not all agencies approved at once in turn allowing VI appointments and court dates to be spread across the month). Just a speculation. Anxiously anticipating the news of batch 2. Thank you for all your help and encouragement.

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  5. Steve, do you know at what point the family court is now getting involved? We were under the impression that their jurisdiction only applied to those adoptions after the new law went into effect, but perhaps we're mistaken? Do they have any jurisdiction once the child comes to the States (e.g.: could they demand the child back (not that they would get it)?) - in other words, if they are satisfied for some reason with the post-placement home study reports or some other issue, could they try to intervene (I don't think they have any standing here, but they could try, we suppose)? Thx.

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  6. Steve, Do you think your contact will notify you when the remaining batch 2 EPs are submitted? :D

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  7. I think that it's important to remember that Steve does not know all the details about all the agencies and every individual adoption. I think he tries his best to gather as much information as possible, but a lot of decisions are not in his scope of knowledge and even if it is, it can very possibly change at any given month. I feel for every one of us who are desperate to know when our child will be able to come home and that is why we beg for any kind of reliable information, but we must remember that God is working in the details and we should continue to pray for His timing and intervention and not get caught up so much on when my child will be able to come home (and I KNOW that is easier said than done). I want to thank Steve for his voluntary efforts to keep us informed but also want to respect his efforts and know that he cannot answer every question for us.

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    1. Thank you for understanding where I am. I sure don't have all the information. If I don't respond quickly, that's probably why.

      As for the involvement of the family court, I believe they are already, but at the early stage, and will rely on the agency findings and that of the Ministry's approvals.

      As for the remaining 2 batches, I believe ESWS went in last week, Holt and SWS batches are being submitted this week.

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    2. Has there been any confirmation that the second batches were submitted last week?

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    3. We are with Holt and were submitted on Friday, April 6th.

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    4. Any news on SWS 2nd Batch submissions?

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    5. I was wondering the same. Hoping we all hear something soon. Just to know that they have submitted would help.

      Steve, thanks so much for all the info you find and share! It's a gift! :)

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  8. Anonymous Apr 5, 2012 03:45 PM Comments about Steve.

    I also agree with Anonymous. Steve is not our social worker/adoption worker. We need to be getting the information from our social worker/adoption worker from the agency you are adopting from. The confusion becomes, when Steve gives us more information compared to the agency, people tend to flock towards him to find answers. I am happy to find such a reputable man and blog to get the information, this is the only sense of hope people have.

    I feel the agencies need to give us more information than they are. We need to press the agencies for answers. In a nutshell, we need to be assertive and be an advocate for our little ones that are waiting. I found out, if we don't ask, we shall not receive. We need to keep asking questions, they are the ones that have the possible solutions to them.

    I just want to say Thank you to Steve for all the information he has given us. Some of the answers he found, it has assisted us on how to ask questions to our social worker for clarification. Thank you to all who have written in, this is also a great place to share and support each other while our precious little one is waiting. MM

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  9. Hi Steve,

    I'm wondering if you have heard if the ministry will be actually on a 1 month submission to approval schedule? I've heard some agencies have announced this, but wasn't sure if this is something the ministry had announced.

    Thanks.

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  10. Does anyone know if any of the second batch of EPs have been approved yet?

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    1. I'm wondering as well. Should we expect approval soon I'd they haven't been?

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  11. I heard there is supposed to be another EP submission on the 2nd. Does anyone know if this includes Eastern?

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  12. I'm also curious, Steve, if you have heard anything?...we are all anxiously awaiting EP approval and hoping that there is not another day...I'm not sure I can handle another one.

    thank you.

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  13. Ok, so this month's submissions were pitiful. I hope that they get through them quick and take another one this month.

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    1. Does anyone know which agencies were able to submit? We are with Holt but haven't heard anything as of yet. Praying for something by next week!

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    2. Holt and ESWS did. SWS doesn't tell their families, but they probably submitted as well.

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    3. Does anyone know when Holt submitted? I'm hoping maybe we haven't been notified yet. Was it today or last week?

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    4. We are with Eastern, but I think that Holt and Eastern submitted last week on May 2nd. Does anyone who is with Eastern know what they are up to?

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  14. We are an Eastern family and told this submission went through ATK's of Feb. 27 2011 (now I don't know if that is specific to our state-side agency or not)

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