Friday, April 12, 2013

The EP and Quota Situation

There has been no EP movement yet. 

I know how hard it is for parents to wait and wait.
I am sorry that I don't have a better news yet.

The EPs for 2013 has not even begun as the quota for the year has not been set by the MOHW.  It is expected that MOHW will issue a new quota, which normally comes out by this time of the year.

The Family Court process has been very slow, and I think the hang up is with the court mainly. 

They are requiring the agencies to translate all the documents into the Korean language before submitting to the court.  So an agency that may have processed 10-12 family files are now processing only one family and they had to hire additional translators to do the works.

The recent case with a couple from Sweden going to the Family Court was not something unexpeced as I have indicated before that the court reserves the right to summon any families even though they gave an umbrella direction that the families don't need to appear before the court.  I believe the Swedish couple is going through the 14-day waiting period, and they will learn the status of their child in 14 days.  I believe the couple made a non-refundable travel arrangement before there was an announcement.

I feel for all the parents that have to wait helplessly as their children are aging, and the older they get the harder it becomes for children to be separated from their foster parents. I think everyone, including the powers that be in Korea, know that this is not good for the children.

Also, many have asked the question on what if a birthmother cannot be located for the 14-days notification.  I am told that because she has already signed the relinquishment paper after the 7-day period right after the birth of her child, the intake agency will document their attempts to contact the birthmother.  If the agency can't locate her, then that information will be given to the court.  The court then verifies this information by doing an independent search for the birthmother, and if they don't succeed, the child will be granted adoption.

Also, I want all the readers to know that I appreciate all the comments whether they are related to the blog topic or not.  It just lets me know what is important to you as waiting parents, and it shows me where your hearts are - you just want your children home as soon as possible.  So I am OK if I post something (i.e. child abandonment in Korea) and you post your concern on when your children will come home, it is quiet OK with me.

This gives me even more motivation to try harder to be a voice on behalf of all the homeless children. 



41 comments:

  1. I don't normally comment, but I follow closely. Thank you for your candor and honesty, and most of all empathy and understanding.

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  2. Thanks for posting despite no news. We do appreciate your empathy and understanding. The silence is difficult from the agencies. Question for you Steve...isn't the quota going to be quite meaningless this year? Seems like at this point it's just going to come down to how many cases can get through the Court the remainder of the year. If the quota is just 10 percent than last year, I don't think the Court will come close to approving that many families this year. Thoughts?

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    1. The quota should be approximately 10% less than last year, but I am hoping that the court will come up to speed as time goes by and fulfill the quota. There is still a good chance that they will. So hang on.

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  3. I don't normally comment either, but I can't tell you how much it's meant to us to hear news periodically from you. Waiting is so hard, but waiting without any idea of what's going on is even harder. Thanks for keeping us informed, even if it's just another "nothing's happening yet"; at least we hear something. Thanks for all your hard work and time spent on behalf of the children.

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  4. Hey Steve! Thanks for the update. Will you clarify this part, "I believe the couple made a non-refundable travel arrangement before there was an announcement."?
    I am not sure what this means.
    Thanks again
    Liz

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    1. I think the couple might have been notified of the travel requirement and subsequently purchased flight ticket that was non-refundable, thus forcing the couple to travel as originally scheduled.

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  5. Thanks again for valuable information Steve:) One more question: How long time do you think it will take from the courtmeeting between agency and judge till the final judgement? As I understand the 14 days does not start until the judgment is ready? And do you think we as adoptionparents get to know when the 14 days starts, or do we only get a call for tc when everything are finalized?

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    1. Sorry I don't have information on this, but I would imagine at least a couple of weeks. That's my guess.

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    2. I think I read somewhere that under Civil Procedure law they have seven days from the court date to enter judgment, and then the 14 day period runs from that. So if they follow the law, the longest it would take from the hearing date would be 21 days (assuming they use all seven days to enter judgment).

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    3. There were a bunch of cases submitted to court on Thursday, March 21. As far as I know, no one from that batch has heard anything. They seem to think the courts are waiting to see what happens in the first batch. If that is the case, the 14 days would end this Friday. The first batch of cases were submitted in February and had court dates of early April. I hope the judges won't be taking that long with the rest of the cases.

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    4. Thanks for sharing this...it helps us to try to maintain perspective/hope.

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  6. Thank you for posting these updates. Not only does it break the silence, but your kind words and empathy has helped in validating my heart felt struggles as an adoptive mother during this extremely long process to bring our son home from Korea.

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  7. Steve, thanks, as always for the info. Do you get the sense that anyone in Korea (MOHW, agencies, etc.) are putting pressure on the court to get the process moving?

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  8. Steve, thank you so much for your blog, the MPAK team and your family (as I know none of this is possible without your family's support =))

    Your posts are such a comfort. Knowing that in addition to our agencies, MPAK is working to advocate for the children.

    Many, many thanks!

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  9. Hi Steve, do you know why the 2012 families that were court approved haven't been sent for EP? How does this process normally work? Thanks so much!

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    1. I believe the process is the other way around. 2012 families have been EP approved, but not court approved yet, and waiting. EPs are issued before the court approves.

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  10. Steve, thank you so much for your articles. I had sent you an email about the 2013 quotas. I am glad to see that they might be issued soon and that we are not left without answers. Our agencies here in France do not give us any information and this is frustrating. So many thanks to you and your team.

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  11. Thank you for all you do Steve.

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  12. Steve, thank you for all you do and especially your patience.

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  13. I have been wondering this: The court is contacting birth mothers before adoption of the child to ensure that she really is not able to parent her child. Will someone also contact the birthparents of children who live in institutions? I would almost assume that some parents relinquished children assuming they would be adopted one day, but for one reason or another their child was never adopted. Shouldn't these parents also be contacted? Maybe some of them are now able to parent their children.

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  14. Steve, thank you for the info. Our family is devastated...we cannot believe that our child is not home yet. Do you believe that anything will happen soon? or perhaps we will just be waiting for much longer?

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  15. Well here is a timeline. I'm a 2012 family and I haven't heard a word yet

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  16. Do you truly believe the children are going to come home this year?

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  17. I understand your concerns here below, I feel like you, and I am beginning to doubt that "our" children ever come home.

    Serious, I am beginning to prepare my selv that my child never come home. I have totally lost hope :-( and I am so sad and cry most of the time.

    I really do not know that a gouverment can be so cruel - and dont give us a word for information - I can not understand that our agency do not can give us ANY KIND of information - I am empty inside - and my child mayby is getting homeless - I really thought and hoped that they also think about the best for the children - but they only care about them self.

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    1. Who can doubt your love for your child. Your heartful expression is all the evidence that is needed to show that your deep love for the child in waiting. But please do not lose hope, as your child needs you to be strong at times like this. And I am sure you are not alone in this. Take heart.

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    2. I feel the same way, as if they are never coming home. It makes me feel very sad as we continue to get pictures and see our child growing older.

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  18. Why is it taking so long for 2012 family's to hear anything. This is crazy. If they haven't heard anything what does that say for the 2013 family's. these poor kids and family's

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  19. We wonder why the family court is taking so long to process the 1st group of children that were submitted in early January 2013. We understand that there were new judges that were rotated in, does this mean that the court process started from square one again for this 1st group?

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  20. Steve: I join the others in thanks for the information that you provide. I truly believe that the reason the agencies are not providing information is because they don't have any. The only information is that nothing is happening. As frustrating as this is, all we can do is ask God to watch over our children until they can come home. I really think that the hold-up is the doubled efforts by agencies and courts in trying to find birthmothers for the 14-day waiting periods. I am unaware of any limit regarding time taken to try to find birthmoms. I am hoping and praying that the courts will eventually realize that it is not reasonable to expect to have an unlimited amount of time to find birthmoms before releasing children. I understand why they are doing what they are doing, but a determination on what constitutes a "reasonable" search needs to be made.

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  21. Has anyone heard anything yet. Court dates? EP movement? Anything???????

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    1. Putting together a recap of things other people have commented recently:

      We have heard that some of the families in the pioneer group for the new system had a court date of April 5th, so the 14 days should be up this Friday - hopefully that means there will be some news next week!

      A second group was submitted to the court for review on March 21st, but they have not yet been issued court dates.

      The third group is in the process of having their paperwork prepared for EP submission.

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    2. Don't want to sound pessimistic nor want to get false hope, our agency told us that the previous court date (April 5) was meaningless. Sit tight and trust in God!

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  22. Thanks so much for what you're doing here! We received our referral in November of 2012 and have really only recently learned all about this new law and how much longer of a wait it may be than what we expected. I just discovered your blog this morning and I'm so grateful for your recent updates! Praying that it all speeds up very soon!

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  23. No agency's know anything!!! This is a joke. Our adoptive baby is over 2. Need to look into other countries to adopt I guess

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    1. Not to sound uncaring, but the wording of your comment makes it sound like you're willing to disrupt your adoption plan simply because it is taking longer than you expected and your child is over the age of 2 years.

      I realize that you are feeling frustrated and anxious due to the lack of movement and definitive information, but please don't make it sound like your child is an order you can cancel just because you're tired of waiting.

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    2. My guess is this is not an actual adoptive parent, just someone trying to log in and say something horrible while claiming to be an adoptive parent, in order to make adoptive parents look bad.

      Why do I say that? There's no emotion here other than anger, callousness and hate. No prospective adoptive parent would make it through today's process if they were actually like this. Adoptive parents have been saddened and frustrated by the recent process, but this level of bile and spite has thus far only been shown by the anti-adoption community. Plus, that last comment is just tailor-made to make the pro-adoption-in-Korea community disheartened from their efforts.

      I am disgusted that anyone would sink this low.

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    3. That's my guess also.

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  24. That was my first thought too. I have never heard anyone say that. We love the children we wait for. And we will wait.

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  25. Steve, can you help us? What is going on in Korea? Why is nothing happening? Why does no one know anything? Is there anything we can do? Our family is very very stressed...we are continuing to pray, but we are just so confused as to what is happening. Many of us families are very very tired because there is little hope to hang onto.

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    1. Please read my next blog shortly. No good news yet. Still waiting.

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  26. This has been the longest wait I have ever experienced in my life. Not knowing what's going on has created some insight of what I have learned over the past 1 1/2 years. I have learned a few things while waiting for our little girl. First, I have to be the most patient, understanding, and glutton for punishment parent. We anticipate there will be news and nothing (I feel like Charlie Brown and Lucy keeps moving the ball). I guess I should stop being Charlie Brown.

    Second lesson learned, "to expect something, then expect to be disappointed". I have been disappointed many times so I finally had to stop expecting something (updates, agency updates, Korea news, and so on) I can't control because I just get my hopes up and then get slapped/disappointed. Even when I do get some news, its still never good enough because I just want my daughter home. Such a viscious and crazy cycle we create.

    I just hope things start to move and we can get our children home to their forever family. I appreciate most of the comments in this blog. This blog is like my padded wall to vent without being judged (for the most part - stay away pozers). May God watch over our children and your families.

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