Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to introduce myself and our story
It has been very inspiring to read your posts as I too am trying to work with the office in Accra, although in a bit of a different situation. I am hoping that someone here may have some wonderful words of wisdom for me, or just some support as we wait and wait and wait...
I sponsored my Nigerian husband 9 years ago, although it was not through an African office as he was living in Austria at the time. It was a very positive experience and in December we are celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary.
In 2010 my sister-in-law in Nigeria had a baby that she didn't want (yes, we have sad proof of this) and the father disappeared. At that time we applied to sponsor the baby with the intent to complete the adoption in Canada. We were granted guardianship for this purpose. (yes, ferility is an issue for us and is documented)
After a disastrous interview in Accra with my SIL we were told that unless we could provide additional information the application would be denied. Although we sent significant documentation, it was denied anyway. I have since learned that the officer we dealt with has numerous complaints and is known to be unprofessional when interviewing. (yes, we have the interview notes although it took two applications to get them all.)
We were informed that there was no option for appeal and that we must wait two years to reapply. In the following two years we completed all of the adoption requirements for our province, completed the adoption in Nigeria and worked with an immigration consultant to be able to reapply.
In November 2013 we applied for Part 1 of the Citizenhip application for adopted children. This was approved in February 2014 and in May 2014 we submitted all of the required documentation for Part 2. Although we have tracking proof that it arrived May 7, 2014, the online tracking of the file says it arrived June 23. This corresponds to the first contact my our immigration consultant with the office in Accra. In August we applied for the file notes and recieved them, but they don't show anything really being done. At the end of September our consultant sent a letter to the office director (?) asking for processing times for this sort of application as we have been unable to find this information. To date we have had no reply so our consultant has sent another letter. Our file status is IN PROGRESS.
Is there anyone here who has any experience with this process, adoption, or know someone who has? We are now at the one year point since our application was initially sent in.
Our daughter's adoption was approved almost two years ago and she is almost 5 yrs old, waiting for the only mommy and daddy she has ever known. She is safe with another family member, but asks daily about coming to her mommy, daddy and sister.
