The short life of Paperwork

I was thinking the other day that it has been nearly 2 years since I got provincial approval for my adoption. At the time I believed it would only be 6 or so months later that I'd become a mother. Well I'm still waiting and the paperwork is expiring again.

Since I began this process I've had 3 sets of fingerprints for RCMP and Interpol clearance, local police clearance twice, 4 medical forms, and 1 home study update. I sent a note to my agency last night asking about my provincial approval. I learned today that it is set to expire on the 20th of this month. Hmmm, is it my role in this process to stay on top of these things???? I've never had a provincial approval, I didn't know that they expire after 2 years. Good thing I wondered about the age of that document, eh? I have less than 18 days to do whatever I need to do. What do I have to do to get re approval (my agency is looking into this issue, they don't know exactly what will is required- I guess I'm the first to go through this process - not!)

The only problem with fingerprints is actually getting good prints from me. Who knew that hand washing dishes and forgetting to use gloves would make my fingerprints so hard to read. Do crooks know these things?My brother (as we share a house he has to be checked too) has no problem getting his prints read (read that anyway you want). Once I go to the fingerprinting office, I receive my clearance letter within a week.

Local police clearance is a little more challenging. I have to ask my adoption practitioner to give me a request for a police check. Then I go over to her office to pick up the paperwork. When I have the requests filled out, I go downtown to the central police station, where I stand in line to hand in my request and pay the fee. As I stand in line, I listen to the officer tell the others how long they have to wait for their request for clearance to be completed. Most are done in 3 to 10 days. Then it's my turn and they say it will be 6 to 8 weeks. Yah, lovely.

Thankfully, my doctor is wonderful when it comes to the paperwork for this adoption. All she does is fill in the paperwork and say, "Let's hope this is the one that works the charm." She does remind me that I'm not getting any younger and that it's hard to parent a little one as you get older. Ya, that's helpful. Like I could hurry this process up.

I rant over all this as I might have to update all this paperwork to get a new letter of approval from the province. Then, when I go to Kazakhstan I will probably have to get them all done again.

If you haven't been through this process, you have no idea how frustrating paperwork and their expiration dates can be.

Well, that's my rant for today. Tomorrow I'll discover what I need to do to get a new letter of approval.