The labor pains of adoption.
You wouldn’t believe how many times we had to wait in how many lines, and for how long. After paying for health insurance, which took half a day, we went the next day to get registered with a family doctor. We paid 50 lei for two pieces of paper attesting that we are healthy, and moved on to the next thing on our list.
Today is Friday. In the morning we went to the police station to get a copy of our records. Gave the lady our id’s, paid 10 lei each at the cash register and then went to wait in line at the booth where you actually write your name and ssn, with a blue pen in a large notebook, to get the paper reviewed and signed. As we finally arrived in front of the nice lady, she said we need a 2 lei stamp that we can buy at the post office. We had parked a few blocks away from the police station because there was no parking. And they close at noon. By the time we got this information it was already 11 and the line was three times longer than when we arrived. So we decided to go to the psychiatrist official office to get interviewed for the adoption. We found parking on the side walk, close to the said office. As we sat there to take a deep breath, Conrad concluded that it was a bad idea to try to do this after we got all worked up by the unstreamed process. We went through a metal gate, up the stairs, in this large old building. White walls, white doors, a couple of people waiting. Maybe because I knew this was a psychiatric building, I took special note of the people around me. The staff was unusually kind and patient. Quite pleasant. But the clients, the customers, were all special. Sad blank looks, or I got a sense of …unpredictability. A lady cut in line, in front of me. I thought better of it and let her. Eventually we went in, at the doctor next door. We explained to het what we needed and for what. We had a chat of 15 minutes as she took her sweet time to fill out our papers. Conrad said “this was totally the interview”. I got so used to telling people what we are doing, and why we need these papers for, that I found the conversation normal, almost soothing. She spoke english and Conrad’s answers were taken first hand. On Monday morning we return for the certificates.
Then we went to the post office to buy the 2 lei stamp which we will need to complete the police records, also to be finalized on Monday.
Then we went to the notary to legalize the copies of our birth and wedding certificates. This was already past 2 pm. The process for my certificates was fast and costed only 10 lei. Conrad’s birth certificate needed an extra trip to a authorized translator. As I said, for every single paper, we had to always make two trips or an extra trip somewhere else to actually complete it. We went across the street to the translator who assisted us fwhen we got married 9 years ago. So she still had Conrad’s certificate on file. Reprinted it, stamped it and didn’t charge us. We left her 10 lei. Then went back to the notary and had it signed an stamped on all sides… quite the procedure. Another 10 lei.
We are almost there! This week was half spent in lines, at almost every public institution in Cluj. The letters of characterization have been written, our documents have been copied and notarized, our medical records pulled, the police records have been paid for, our psychological evaluation happened, we just need to pick up the paper; we printed a photo of us, We have a copy of our apartment ownership, and wrote three declarations regarding our living in Romania during the last year, the fact that we have not been revoked any parental rights, and that we will keep them informed if we move during the post-adoption evaluation.