[Mystik]

*A's* CW was here yesterday and we got to talking about how I haven't been able to go visit any family in Canada in 2 years because I didn't want to leave the girls in Respite while I went. I want to wait till their adoptions are finalized so they can come with me to visit and meet my side of the family. However it looks like we're going to be looking at close to another year before things will be ready to finalize on *A*.

So anyways the CW is like "Oh, do you want me to apply for her passport?" I just about fell over with glee saying "You can do that????" and she acted like they do this all the time. I was shocked because we were told by our agency during our initial orientation training that a foster child can't leave the State with out bio parent approval let alone the Country, so I never pursued it.

The CW said all she needed to do was have the judge sign off on it when we had plans and it was no big deal. Has anyone heard of being able to take foster kiddos out of the Country on vacation? I'm excited to do this but fear issues with Customs since she won't be "adopted". I guess we'd need the judges approval paper work as proof that we have legal right to travel with her and whatnot. I'm just so excited with this news and wanted to see what others experiences have been with this.

[Happy123]

We have made several trips to Mexico w/ foster children and one foster to adopt (who was still in the process). By to Mexico, I mean close to 18 hrs from the US border. We also took several on out of state trips. We just had to get the judge to sign off. On our foster to adopt, the bio parents would not agree. The worker said do not worry about it....and went and got the judge to ok the trip.
Have a great vacation.
Happy123

[arubagirl]

We are taking our Fd to Aruba in the late fall...

[stevenstwin]

We travelled from Canada to the U.S. to go to Disney World. I was stressing over having all the "right" paperwork for FS if we were challenged at the border,but aside from looking at his passport, nothing else was said or asked for.

Originally Posted by Mystik

*A's* CW was here yesterday and we got to talking about how I haven't been able to go visit any family in Canada in 2 years because I didn't want to leave the girls in Respite while I went. I want to wait till their adoptions are finalized so they can come with me to visit and meet my side of the family. However it looks like we're going to be looking at close to another year before things will be ready to finalize on *A*.

So anyways the CW is like "Oh, do you want me to apply for her passport?" I just about fell over with glee saying "You can do that????" and she acted like they do this all the time. I was shocked because we were told by our agency during our initial orientation training that a foster child can't leave the State with out bio parent approval let alone the Country, so I never pursued it.

The CW said all she needed to do was have the judge sign off on it when we had plans and it was no big deal. Has anyone heard of being able to take foster kiddos out of the Country on vacation? I'm excited to do this but fear issues with Customs since she won't be "adopted". I guess we'd need the judges approval paper work as proof that we have legal right to travel with her and whatnot. I'm just so excited with this news and wanted to see what others experiences have been with this.

[Boulderbabe]

I took my son to Italy just before he was adopted. We did have to get a court order, but it wasn't a big deal at all.

The only bad part is that you have to pay for a passport in their new name after the adoption.

[arubagirl]

Originally Posted by Boulderbabe

I took my son to Italy just before he was adopted. We did have to get a court order, but it wasn't a big deal at all.

The only bad part is that you have to pay for a passport in their new name after the adoption.

We were told that since there would be just a last name name change after she is adopted they can give you a "sticker" that goes in the passport with her new last name until it expires... If not then we will just have to get a new one... the state payed for the first one,

[Mystik]

I was expecting to have to get her a passport anyways after the adoption so having to still do that I don't mind at all. It's like $35 for children under 16 anyways, which isn't bad at all in comparison to $75-$100 for adults. I'm just THRILLED with the prospect of being able to finally travel with her to see my family especially now knowing it'll probably be another year before we can finalize with her.

The only downside is we still need to wait for *B's* adoption to be final before we can get hers. She still has an anonymous type legal name, no birth certificate and no SSN and her CW has absolutely no motivation to try to get these things for her (we've been promised she's working on it for a year and nothing's happened). On the bright side we expect to finalize her adoption in October, but that puts us at sometime in December most likely to receive the things we need in order to apply for her passport. So that more than likely rules out our chances of going to Canada for Christmas.

[Vitality08]

I took my fd's to the bahamas. It wasn't a problem. I took the placement papers and stuff but no one looked at it. No one even questioned why these Vietnamese teenagers were travelling with a black family. It was easy.

[lucmarmic]

Our situation is different in that we don't need passports because we are enrolled members of a federally recognized tribe and are able to travel with our tribal identification cards. I did however need to get approval from the judge. The judge gave me a generic letter stating they were placed with me and I had permission to travel with them. I just provide the cw and judge an iternary and we are off to visit relatives.

good luck!

[zebramom]

We just went to Canada a couple of months ago. You need a passport if you're arriving by means other than driving, but if you're driving, no passport necessary.

All we had to do was show the papers showing that we had guardianship of her (private placement not through foster care) and her birth certificate.

My foster kids have traveled across the U.S. with me with no problems.

[millie58]

I've taken 2 foster sons to the Caribbean and 2 to Canada. I had birth certificates the first time and passports the 2nd time. Nothing else was asked for. My cw applied for them. Our problem was that there wasn't enough info for them and they would be delayed. But we got 'em!!

[Mystik]

Ok, so I got an email from *A's* CW saying she will need to submit an "Ex Parte" application closer to the big hearing at the end of the month so that if the judge needs to talk to the bios about it he can and assuming there are no major issues and the judge approves it (she says she's never seen one NOT be approved) then we will be given the signed Ex Parte to take and apply for the passport ourselves.

So my question.... What exactly is an Ex Parte?

[c.a]

Ex Parte literally translates as "without the other party" Typically - any time you file any document with the Court, you are required to also give a copy to the other parties to the case with notice of when you will be presenting the issue to the Court so that they can appear and oppose if they wish.

When you file a motion "ex parte" you must tell the Court/Judge that you have not given the other parties a copy or notice of the hearing. You do that by calling it an "ex parte motion". What you will receive is an Order allowing you to get the passport. The order itself is not ex parte.

Ultimately, for the passport issue - I doubt that it matters. It sound like the CW plans to present it when you have a hearing scheuled anyway so they bios will have notice. The judge will typically allow you to get the passport - they may order the passport held by the CW and given to you only when you plan to travel.

Glad to see that the CW is moving on this for you. Good luck - when's the trip to Canada?