Thursday, July 24, 2014

Revision to Forego the Unannounced Family Visitation Requirement in the Law

Just recently, the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) has announced that it will forego the requirement in the Special Adoption Law that called for unannounced family visitations by the agencies during the home study period (Art 8, Sec. 3).

The MOHW has changed its mind upon further review of this issue that many times the agencies would waste their time visiting the families that are not at homes, and the unannounced visitation would amount to violating privacy rights of the families involved. In the litigation conscious country like the US, this is an important factor for both agencies and the families being visited unannounced. 
This issue has nothing to do with the death of Hyusu O’Callaghan and the mass it created aftermath.  But the unannounced visitation was articulated in the law well before the boy’s tragedy.
Instead of the unannounced visit, the MOHW has decided to accept a total of three (3) reference letters, signed and notarized.  Of the three letters, one can be from a relative, and the other two should be from close friends, co-workers, supervisors, pastors, etc.

How is this letter different from the reference letters requested by the agencies during the home study period?  Nothing. Except that the letters now have to be signed and notarized. So, for those who are already in the process, it may mean that you will have to obtain the original letters from your agencies, or write additional reference letters (as some agencies required only two letters before).  If you have already submitted the letters, you are required to have the original reference letters signed and notarized.

Fortunately, the letters may be from the same individuals who wrote them for the home study, but must be freshly signed/notarized - keeping in mind that only one may be from a relative.  The letters should be kept to one page in length.
If you are one of the families affected by this new change, you should hear from your agency soon.

13 comments:

  1. Hi Steve, what does MOHW mean by notarized? What qualifications does the person need to have to notarize these documents? In Australia a notary is a lawyer and it is very costly to get this done. I know that a notary has a different meaning in different countries. Thanks

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  2. In America, notarization is conducted by an individual who has a notary license, and he/she reviews the letter and verifies the letters are written by the individuals by checking identification, then writes down the person's information, signs, and stamps the letter, essentially saying that she has verified that the person submitting the document is genuine. It doesn't take a lawyer to do this. Please ask your agency on how to deal with this.

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  3. Thanks Steve, is that what MOHW want as well? The American equivalent sounds like our Justice of the Peace but if MOHW mean a lawyer than I don't want to get it confused.

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  4. No, a notary public, the person who notarizes a document as a witness, only charges $10 per signature (where I live). There are some that charge $20 or $30 per signature, and they are far less expensive than a lawyer.

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  5. Steve, do you know if the ministry will approve the June EPs as they receive the letters or will they wait until they have all the letters from the entire group then approve in 1 big batch?

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  6. I'm not sure on this. But if I were them I would approve them as the letters are received. I'm sure there are some letters that will take much longer than others, and there is no sense in penalizing the others because of it.

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  7. Does anyone have any news of recent EP approvals? Ours was submitted on 6/5 and I am just trying to get an idea of when we might hope to receive our approval. Thanks!!

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    1. Heard that some families from the 6/5 group were approved yesterday and some today. Hopefully yours will come today too!

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  8. Wow! Thank you so much for that news, Katie!!!! You can bet I will be glued to my phone every minute hoping for that phone call!! :-)

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  9. We just found out that our EP was approved!!!! Thank you for the info, Katie!!!!

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