Clarification on the Waiting Period

I have had allot questions about the waiting period.  I think I did explain it at one point but thought I would do it again.

Because we have already been granted our ministry approval, when the baby is born we will be able to bring her home as soon as she is released from the hospital.  Our birth mother then has to sign a consent to adopt.  This can not be signed until at least seven days after the baby is born.  In our case because our birth mother is under age she must sign the consent in front of a children's lawyer. 

The Office of the Children's Lawyer is a branch of the Attorney Generals Office and a government agency.  My understanding is that our licensee can not apply to have a children's lawyer assigned to our birth mother until after the baby is born.  Like every branch of the government this takes time and paperwork.  In cases where the birth mother is of age the consent to adopt is usually signed on the seventh day after birth.  More than likely this will not happen in our case and it could be 10-14 days before a children's lawyer is assigned and they can arrange to meet to sign the consent. 

Once the consent is signed our birth mother has 21 days where she can revoke the consent and choose to parent the child.  In our openness agreement we agreed that we would not contact the birth family until after this waiting period is over.  They said they wanted this time to themselves which we understand.  They can contact us if they want but we can not initiate contact. 

When the 21 days is over there will be more paper work to sign and essentially we become guardians of the baby.  The adoption will not be finalized for close to a year but we will have our own birth certificate issued and a temporary OHIP card.  We can also apply for a passport and travel with the baby during this time.  We will have scheduled visits with our adoption practitioner and she will submit reports about how we are doing with the baby which will be part of our final paper work when we apply to have the adoption finalized.    

As I said in my previous post we are hoping to get together with the birth family once the 21 days is over and then again when the weather warms up.  I have created a private blog that I will post updates on monthly for the first year, then four times a year after that for the birth family.  I am sure we will still text and talk on the phone as well.  The openness agreement says we will get together four times a year but I have a feeling we will just see how we all feel and get together more or less depending on how busy our lives are. 

Nic and I have decided to try to stay close to home until after the waiting period is over.  We want to enjoy the time at home with the baby.  Once everything is finalized and the 21 days is over we will put together her nursery and purchase some of the bigger items we need.  We both feel very good about our match and think everything will be okay but we would rather be safe than sorry.