Adoption Update
The status of our adoption is changing daily. This is one of the most stressful things either of us have done. The main problem at this point is that the Guatemalan congress passed a very restrictive law that will effectively end international adoption from Guatemala beginning on January 1st 2008. The law was passed in an effort to help Guatemala ratify the Hague treaty on international adoption, which hte US will implement in a few months. If the law stands as written, we will not be able to adopt Sara as we will not be finished with the adoption process by the end of the year.
The news today is that: 1) the US department of state, 2) the governing body of the Hague treaty on international adoption, and 3) probably UNICEF all are urging the Guatemalan congress to amend the law so that cases in process, like our case, will be completed. Rumor has it that the Guate congress will wait until after their November 4th presidential election to tackle this issue. I read that the Guate congress will work on this on November 14th, so we will have to wait until then to know any solid information. It may not seem like it to you, but this is actually great news. We may still have a chance to complete this adoption of our case is "grandfathered" into the sytem.
Apparently, the birth mother's birth certificate was eaten by a rat in Guatemala, so it had to be replaced which delayed us a bit. But, we are officially registered with the US embassy and the Guatemalan courst system. In other words, our case is officially in process.
Today, a social worker visited with Sara and her birth mother to conduct interviews, probably not in the same room. Also, blood was drawn in order to run a DNA match between the baby and the mother to ensure that Sara has been relinquished in a legal manner and wasn't stolen. Then, we wait patiently of up to 60 days while the US Embassy makes a decision to give Sara pre-approval for a immigrant visa. After that, we will enter "PGN" which is the Guatemalan agency that approves the adoption. That part of the process is very much the wild-card and can take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months.
All of this could change tomorrow, but at least we have a chance to adopt Sara.
The news today is that: 1) the US department of state, 2) the governing body of the Hague treaty on international adoption, and 3) probably UNICEF all are urging the Guatemalan congress to amend the law so that cases in process, like our case, will be completed. Rumor has it that the Guate congress will wait until after their November 4th presidential election to tackle this issue. I read that the Guate congress will work on this on November 14th, so we will have to wait until then to know any solid information. It may not seem like it to you, but this is actually great news. We may still have a chance to complete this adoption of our case is "grandfathered" into the sytem.
Apparently, the birth mother's birth certificate was eaten by a rat in Guatemala, so it had to be replaced which delayed us a bit. But, we are officially registered with the US embassy and the Guatemalan courst system. In other words, our case is officially in process.
Today, a social worker visited with Sara and her birth mother to conduct interviews, probably not in the same room. Also, blood was drawn in order to run a DNA match between the baby and the mother to ensure that Sara has been relinquished in a legal manner and wasn't stolen. Then, we wait patiently of up to 60 days while the US Embassy makes a decision to give Sara pre-approval for a immigrant visa. After that, we will enter "PGN" which is the Guatemalan agency that approves the adoption. That part of the process is very much the wild-card and can take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months.
All of this could change tomorrow, but at least we have a chance to adopt Sara.
posted by Biz at 4:48 PM
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