Introducing Marcus Enrique and William Alejandro!
At last, my kids can be known to the rest of the world by the names we have been calling them. Up until today, Marcus and Will weren't actually Marcus and Will. They were still Enrique and Alejandro. What a totally ridiculous process changing a kids' name is.
We contacted an attorney because we were told that an attorney could help us get our kids' names changed and go through the process to get them US birth certificates. The attorney sent us a bunch of paperwork and before we ever got around to doing anything with it, the attorney sent us a letter saying that the process could now be done in Allegheny County without an attorney and that the readoption (to get the birth certificate) and the name change could be done at the same time.
Next step was for us to contact some department to get the paperwork for the readoption. That was mailed to me and I looked at it and set it in a nice little pile in a safe place for a couple of months. Then I finally decided to do something with it. I got through most of the steps but was stuck on one about including name change paperwork. I set it back in the pile for another few months. Finally I decided I better figure it out because we were planning on moving out of Allegheny County and I wanted to get it done before that happened.
I called someone else who told me what I needed to do was have the kids' name changed and then use the paperwork from that to do the readoption stuff. Then I got connected to the department to do the name change. They told me that they don't mail forms out so someone would have to come get them. Greg was assigned that duty.
After getting all those forms I had no clue how to fill them out. I called and someone told me what to do. Greg took the completed forms in to file them. The lady there told him that he didn't do it right and if he did it a different way it would cost less. So he got new forms, filled those out and took them back. A different lady said that he didn't do it right again but he was able to fix the forms there. After wandering around the building for awhile, paying for things, and talking to a judge, we finally got a court appointment. In order to do the name change, we also had to advertise the name changes in two publications. The cost to advertise the names was about double the cost for the actual name change.
While we were waiting for our court date, we moved out of Allegheny County. Thankfully no one asked if we currently lived in the county or not so this wasn't an issue.
Today was the court date. The judge said that Greg, the two kids, and me all had to be there. Since we had to head into town during rush hour, we decided to take the T - the light rail system. The kids were all excited because we told them we were riding a choo choo today. We got up early, drove to the T station, and headed into town. With kids in umbrella strollers and us loaded down with all our adoption paperwork (the judge said we needed this), snacks, and toys to keep the kids occupied, we headed over to the building. We went to the floor we were supposed to go to and had no clue what to do from that point on. Greg walked around trying to figure something out while I sat with the kids and fed them snacks. Finally we ended up in a court room. Greg took all our paperwork to the guy at the front and I continued to stuff the kids' faces with crackers. Then we sat and waited. We waited for close to an hour and a half. I wasn't happy about it. The kids weren't happy about it. I was having flashbacks of sitting in the US Embassy in Guatemala trying to keep a kid happy while being simultaneously bored to death and stressed out. There were a lot of people there waiting to get stuff taken care of and it seemed like nothing was happening. The guy Greg gave the paperwork to disappeared, and then returned. Then he started passing all the paperwork out. He just handed it to people and said, "Here you go," or "You need to go downstairs and get a certified copy." Never saw the judge. No one asked to see me or the kids or even all the adoption paperwork that we spent last night rounding up because we were told we needed it. We just got some papers with the judge's signature on it and had to go get some certified copies. Really, what was the point of us all going?? Maybe it had to do with the fact that there are very few steps in adoption that aren't long, drawn out, and on the verge of completely idiotic.
The trip was almost over. We went to get our certified copies only to discover that the only form of payment they took was cash. We didn't have cash on us. Greg ran across the street to the ATM while I hung out in the lobby with two tired and bored kids. Finally it was back to the choo choo, err... T. Had to wait a little while there with some grumpy kids. Back on the T where the kids took turns being cranky and disturbing other passengers with their whines. I thought about whining too but decided to act like an adult and wait to whine on my blog instead.
Still we are not done with this whole process. We still need to get the new birth certificates and now I have to figure out how to do that in this county. Not looking forward to that because I have a feeling that people in this county aren't going to be as well versed in the procedure. The good news is that we can inform our health care provider of the change so when I go to the doctor office or to pick up prescriptions and people ask me for my kids' names, I will actually be able to tell them without stumbling and thinking for a really long time.
We contacted an attorney because we were told that an attorney could help us get our kids' names changed and go through the process to get them US birth certificates. The attorney sent us a bunch of paperwork and before we ever got around to doing anything with it, the attorney sent us a letter saying that the process could now be done in Allegheny County without an attorney and that the readoption (to get the birth certificate) and the name change could be done at the same time.
Next step was for us to contact some department to get the paperwork for the readoption. That was mailed to me and I looked at it and set it in a nice little pile in a safe place for a couple of months. Then I finally decided to do something with it. I got through most of the steps but was stuck on one about including name change paperwork. I set it back in the pile for another few months. Finally I decided I better figure it out because we were planning on moving out of Allegheny County and I wanted to get it done before that happened.
I called someone else who told me what I needed to do was have the kids' name changed and then use the paperwork from that to do the readoption stuff. Then I got connected to the department to do the name change. They told me that they don't mail forms out so someone would have to come get them. Greg was assigned that duty.
After getting all those forms I had no clue how to fill them out. I called and someone told me what to do. Greg took the completed forms in to file them. The lady there told him that he didn't do it right and if he did it a different way it would cost less. So he got new forms, filled those out and took them back. A different lady said that he didn't do it right again but he was able to fix the forms there. After wandering around the building for awhile, paying for things, and talking to a judge, we finally got a court appointment. In order to do the name change, we also had to advertise the name changes in two publications. The cost to advertise the names was about double the cost for the actual name change.
While we were waiting for our court date, we moved out of Allegheny County. Thankfully no one asked if we currently lived in the county or not so this wasn't an issue.
Today was the court date. The judge said that Greg, the two kids, and me all had to be there. Since we had to head into town during rush hour, we decided to take the T - the light rail system. The kids were all excited because we told them we were riding a choo choo today. We got up early, drove to the T station, and headed into town. With kids in umbrella strollers and us loaded down with all our adoption paperwork (the judge said we needed this), snacks, and toys to keep the kids occupied, we headed over to the building. We went to the floor we were supposed to go to and had no clue what to do from that point on. Greg walked around trying to figure something out while I sat with the kids and fed them snacks. Finally we ended up in a court room. Greg took all our paperwork to the guy at the front and I continued to stuff the kids' faces with crackers. Then we sat and waited. We waited for close to an hour and a half. I wasn't happy about it. The kids weren't happy about it. I was having flashbacks of sitting in the US Embassy in Guatemala trying to keep a kid happy while being simultaneously bored to death and stressed out. There were a lot of people there waiting to get stuff taken care of and it seemed like nothing was happening. The guy Greg gave the paperwork to disappeared, and then returned. Then he started passing all the paperwork out. He just handed it to people and said, "Here you go," or "You need to go downstairs and get a certified copy." Never saw the judge. No one asked to see me or the kids or even all the adoption paperwork that we spent last night rounding up because we were told we needed it. We just got some papers with the judge's signature on it and had to go get some certified copies. Really, what was the point of us all going?? Maybe it had to do with the fact that there are very few steps in adoption that aren't long, drawn out, and on the verge of completely idiotic.
The trip was almost over. We went to get our certified copies only to discover that the only form of payment they took was cash. We didn't have cash on us. Greg ran across the street to the ATM while I hung out in the lobby with two tired and bored kids. Finally it was back to the choo choo, err... T. Had to wait a little while there with some grumpy kids. Back on the T where the kids took turns being cranky and disturbing other passengers with their whines. I thought about whining too but decided to act like an adult and wait to whine on my blog instead.
Still we are not done with this whole process. We still need to get the new birth certificates and now I have to figure out how to do that in this county. Not looking forward to that because I have a feeling that people in this county aren't going to be as well versed in the procedure. The good news is that we can inform our health care provider of the change so when I go to the doctor office or to pick up prescriptions and people ask me for my kids' names, I will actually be able to tell them without stumbling and thinking for a really long time.
posted by Annie and Greg @ 4:21 PM
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