Friday, April 6, 2012

Beyond Irritated

I HATE government bureaucracy.  I am seriously, seriously p*ssed off and completely frustrated.  I sent my documents to get the apostilles.  I received the package today- with excitement bubbling over - until I opened it.  All of my documents were inside, along with the check I sent, and my cover letter with a stamp stating, "Received April 4th 2012 Secretary of State" and nothing else.  Really?  What the heck?  Not even a letter explaining why they returned everything.  So I spent the next 20 minutes ON HOLD waiting to talk to a human at the capital.  The Hunger Games are becoming more and more meaningful to me.

Finally Martha takes my call and very snippily explains to me that I SHOULD have taken ALL of my documents to the counties where the notary's signatures are on file, get a piece of paper for each signature that states, yes this notary is on file and not expired (ISN'T THAT WHAT THE NOTARY STAMP IS FOR??!!!) and THEN send all of the documents with their little slips of verification to the capital so they can put their big, shiny, gold star on the documents.

I asked Martha, what is the purpose of a notary if you once you have the document notarized, you have to go back and STILL get a verification stamp from each county?  You know what she told me?
"Well, you would have saved yourself a lot of trouble by just getting the documents notarized by an attorney in the first place."  I SERIOUSLY wanted to go all Katniss on her, but because I'm a good, Christian lady, I refrained.  At least audibly because the conversation that was going on in my head was not pretty.

Note to future adoptive parents:  When it comes time to have all of your documents notarized, make sure you have your own personal lawyer do all of that for you.  For free.

Miss M. I LOVE YOU SO VERY MUCH and I will jump through these ridiculous hoops to make sure you come home.  I'm sorry that I didn't know the ins and outs of this process and now it's added on more time before I can come to you.  But I PROMISE you, when we finally meet it will ALL BE WORTH IT!  Vale la pena mija!!

I have 4 county clerk of courts I have to visit.  I hope it doesn't take longer than a week to get done.  I have a problem with the county of my home study because it's hours away and I don't know how I can work that into my schedule since government hours are so flexible.

This mama needs your prayers!

5 comments:

  1. Oh geez, that is RIDICULOUS!!!!!!!! We did not have to do that, and it sounds like it is something that your state requires, or maybe just the people that work in that particular state office! That should NOT be a requirement at all. It is the purpose of the notary stamp...it shows when the notary expires. The purpose of the apostille process is to confirm the person who notarized your documents is a true notary with the state, and the notary dates. Oh my word, I am mad with you, and I will be praying!!! I wonder if you could look at the state's website, apostille page, and see if it confirms that you should have what they are asking of you. If it doesn't, you should be able to push back and tell them that their instructions on the apostille page does not say you need to do that.

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    1. Heather! Thank you for comiserating with me! I found out that not all states require this extra step- I just happen to be lucky enough to live in a state that does. I got two of them completed today and guess what? The certification has a notary on it! I asked if I was going to have to get her notary certified for notarizing the certification of my other notarys. She didn't think it was funny. I did :)

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  2. Hang in there. I know it is hard to believe now, but one day these bumps in the adoption road will become part of someones cherished story that will be told countless times, about how hard you worked to be together. That is pretty sweet.

    Julie

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  3. Kristen- same thing happened to me. My home study agency actually was willing to go to the county clerk's office for me and get the notary certified and then mailed it to me... my agency is several hours away too. I hope it works out.

    On all things I got notarized after that, I made sure that it was by a notary that "took their oath" in the county in which it was most convenient for me to get it certified... thankfully I work in our state capital city - so going to Sec. of State's office wasn't a big deal - and they take "walk-ins"... sometimes the red tape is crazy isn't it? Hang in there.. this will pass and be a fading memory one day.
    Peace-
    Renae.

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