Bunny's Coming Home

This is the blog post that I have been waiting to write for almost 4 years because almost 4 years ago I started this incredible, difficult, exciting journey of adoption. 

It is with immense joy that I can tell you that I have been approved to adopt a little girl from the Maharashtra state in India. Bunny is coming home. Adding to that, Bunny is almost 4 years old. Yes, in the same month that I officially started this journey my daughter was born. The last few weeks have been interesting to say the least. Wendy informed me about this little girl in April. This was a referral rather than being 'matched' from CARA in India. There are children that are on the CARA portal that people can see and reserve if they are interested to know more. Being matched from India would have probably taken another year at least. 

The referral came just as my home study needed to be reviewed as it had reached its two year period. This also happened to be while I was in Auckland supporting my mum through surgery. On the Tuesday morning I talked to my Oranga Tamariki Social Worker who had seen the file for Bunny and commented on this being a 'perfect match'. She said that there was very little that needed to be changed on my home study as everything I had previously put in there was perfect for this little girl. My Social Worker was going to send my homestudy off to the New Zealand Central Authority the next day. The New Zealand Central Authority have to approve the match, agreeing that this little girl can come and live in New Zealand and that I have the capabilities to look after her. No small step in the process. 

On Thursday 20 May I was rung by Wendy and told that I had been approved by the NZCA! Exciting news!! Unfortunately I was by myself in a motel room in Auckland with no one to share the moment with. I rang mum in hospital, then my dad and my sister in Christchurch. I then rang my friend Shannon who, along with her husband Alan, had adopted from Thailand 11 years ago. All of these people were very excited but it was still an interesting time hearing news that you have waited 4 years for... to celebrate by oneself. 

Since coming back to Christchurch it has been an interesting few weeks of visiting notaries to sign important documents amidst working hours, finishing a Welcome Book full of photos of Bunny's new family, choosing a middle name and slowly telling family and close friends the news. Those documents are now winging their way to India and I am waiting for other documents to arrive in New Zealand. Once I have signed these with a Notary and sent them off I will wait a few months to get NOC (No Objection Certificate) from India. The documents then go to the Indian courts. This is a long process which involves getting verbals, Writtens, Article 23, Birth Certificate and Passport. The rest of this process can take approximately 6 months but can be longer with the current Covid situation. 

I know many of you will have questions. Some of these I will be able to answer, but questions pertaining to Bunny's story I cannot. That is her story and I need to treasure that for when she is ready to hear it and give her the right to share it or not. I am keeping her name private until I at least have gained custody in India. I know that going forward I have to be very aware of her privacy. Thank you for your support through this rollercoaster journey. It's not over yet, in fact it has years more to go. You are more than welcome to continue on with us for the adventure. Let's bring Bunny home!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I Became a Mum Adoption Update #9

Image
I have discovered recently that I struggle to write on the blog when things are hard. And lately things have been hard. I knew I needed to write another post months ago. I eventually started writing this one almost two weeks ago. It's time to finish it. Over this time there have also been some amazing highs amongst the lows so I recommend you prepare a relaxing beverage of choice as this is a long one. In my last adoption update I talked about having my first court hearing and the only thing changing being the date. Well, that happened a few times, 5 to be exact. Different reasons were given such as 'other matters being dealt with in court' and 'emergency holiday' (that was my favourite). Each time it was disheartening but then I would remember that we were still one court case closer to being approved. I managed to prepare the new document they asked for, got it printed at the local printer and set off to the notary to have it signed. While signing it he noticed th
Read more

Adoption Update #10 The Flights are Booked!

Image
The title of this blog really lets the secret out, but it's the journey there that is the real story. Near the end of last year I started looking at flights and accommodation as I prepared to travel to India, hoping to leave in early February. At the time there were several depending factors including booking a space in MIQ*, isolating for a week in India and working out who was going to travel with me. MIQ was an interesting dilemma as I had to work backwards and forwards at the same time as when you go into a MIQ lobby you aren't guaranteed the date that you want. At the time isolation in India was just for some high risk countries including New Zealand. In order to book MIQ I needed to know how long it would take to fly to and from India (at the time I was planning on flying to Mumbai), stay in a hotel for 7 days in isolation, get a test on day 8 and wait for the results, work out how to get from Mumbai to Akola (train-10 hours, plane and drive-6.5 hours or just drive-16 hou
Read more

Our Family Day

Image
In writing this particular blog post there will be details that I will be rather vague or brief about. The reason for this is that some of the experiences shared with my daughter are very personal to us and I want to respect that. On Monday 7th March we boarded our Indigo Air plane just before 5am. I was rather nervous about taking this flight. I had flown internationally often enough but I had never flown domestically in another country. A slightly smaller plane on an airline that I hadn't flown with before and already feeling a large degree of nerves with knowing I would meet my daughter face to face that day. It could have been a recipe for disaster (if you know anything about how I fly) but it was amazing. The service from the staff onboard was amazing. I couldn't fault them at all. My aunty and I sat next to a man who was on his way to Nagpur for business. He knew straight away that we were from New Zealand as he had lived in Melbourne for a few years, studying. We were sh
Read more