[cyg]

Hi -- I am just trying to get a sense of other people's experience with their MOWA letters NOT being there at the time of their first court date.

We recently had our court date in Addis. There were 4 couples represented by our agency. 2 couples has letters there and were cleared right away. Us and another couple needed another document which was provided an reviewed by the judged. She then gave MOWA a court order to respond by the end of the week (which we have since learned orders by the judge have no bearing on MOWA). Two weeks later there is still nothing from MOWA. According to the judge all our document are in order-- just waiting on MOWA. We do not have a second court date set yet.

I know each case is unique, but I was wondering how long other families who did not have their letter at their court appearance waited before they finally got their letter? A few weeks? A few months? Longer?? We obviously have no idea how long this may take and our agency is unable to provide any guidance.

[LA_adoption]

Our MOWA letter was not at our first court date. We are hoping it is there next week but it is just hope - we have no information on whether it will be there or not. We are following a lot of families in the process and can say that the process is varied. Some families who went to court in January are still waiting for MOWA letters. Our friends who had June 2 court dates are still waiting for MOWA letters, and a family with a June 9 court date had their MOWA letter there at the court hearing. Some people seem to be really lucky while others have to have extraordinary patience. Our agency is telling us to not expect our MOWA letter next week because they are being cautious- but they can't give us any guidance either.

[renee-albright]

There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason as far as when court date was but i'm wondering it it has anything to do with agencies..I know 19 families from one agency that all passed court between 5/15 and 5/30

[cyg]

I obviously have no proof, but based on things I've heard from other adopting parents that we meet while in Addis some agencies to seem to have better success of getting letters at their first court date. We met half a dozen couple from another agency on the evening before their court date and they had already been told by their agency that all their letters had been written. We had a court date for 2 days later, but our agency could tell us nothing. We did not know until we sat before the judge-- so I wonder how other agencies have this info before hand??

[renee-albright]

Not sure who notifies the agencies but I do know that most of the families knew before traveling that the letters from Mowa were there.

[optical1]

Good to know we have our court date July 18th , but our agency has assured us that everything is in order and should go smoothly. Cross your fingers!

[cyg]

Just an update-- we did finally get our letter! 4 weeks after our original court date. I did find out something interesting though-- according to our agency if you do not have a second court date assigned yet and MOWA produces the letter if can be put before the judge at anytime. If you already have an assigned date and the letter is written the judge will not look at it until that date. So I guess sometimes it is better to just have your case "pending" rather then getting a second date right away. Just another nugget of information about the process I was not aware of. So it seems MOWA about 4 weeks behind which is what I have heard from a few other people as well.

[optical1]

Hi everyone we had our court date July 18th, does anyone know if there is going to be anyone to radify during the court closer, ther apparently was last year. Otherwise we won't her anything until October.

[goobies4jc]

We're in the same boat..had our court date on July 26th, no MOWA letter for any of the familes, 4 from our agency that day, and we are being told that MOWA is only processing letters fro cases uo till July 7th, any after that will have to wait until court re opens in Oct...arggg! So disappointed as we thought since we got a court date before closure that would benefit us greatly, but now it doesn't seem like it really...

Donna in Maine
Wife to Jeff and Mom to 5 bio
DTE 2-17-11
Referral for 6 yr old Abraham on 4-14-11
First Court Date 7-26-11 No MOWA letter
Anxiously waiting to pass court......

[optical1]

We ha dnews on the MOWA letter our court date was July 18th and it looks like our letter arrived at court August 4 or 5 .So it looks like we will be able to bring the kids home in maybe September if we get an Embassy date

[goobies4jc]

Wow, congrats!! I am dancing with you!

Still no news for us and now since courts is officially closed I am assuming we won't pass till Oct now...sigh..so sad...

[Twigs]

Hi,

I know how you feel right now. We had our court date back in March and we didn't have the letter either. We came home after that first trip freaking out about it and it later came after about 3/4 weeks after. it was about 10 weeks after our court date that we went back to get him, and he's been home now for 2 months( embassy was june 2nd)...and I must say I thought with the hold up with everything I thought embassy would have been such a formal thing. NO...It was like the DMV and you stand at a window for like two seconds and that's it!!! But he's home now and it's good. How old is your child/children? My guy just turned 12 months last week. I have a bio-daughter who is 5.

[goobies4jc]

Still no news for us....and our agency has basically told us we will have to wait until after Oct 18th, when court re-opens to pass court. I keep hearing different hings from folks. Some say MOWA letters are still processed even when courts are closed and since our file is 'pending' it's just a matter of getting the letter placed in the file, we didn't need a second court date, just that MOWA letter. Well I guess we shall see! lol...it's completely out of our hands....

Our son is 6 years old...turning 7 in Oct. He's so much fun and we miss him dearly. He cried so much when we left. So sad..I didn't want to leave him...

We have 4 at home still, 3 grown children who are out on their own now..so with Abraham we have 8 blessings.

[optical1]

Still waiting on the embassy,our agency told us they were running behind because of the big push before the end of court.We were assured that we should still be able to bring them home in September.Hope they're right.

[goobies4jc]

Aug 26th, exactly one month from our court date and we passed!!!!!!! Oh I hope embassy comes quickly for us!!!