CA Misery Continues

Guatadopt supplies a clearer explaination of the current "roadblock":

The adoption law passed by Guatemala’s Congress on December 11, 2007, permits notarial adoption cases initiated before its effective date of December 31, 2007, to be completed under the old notarial process, provided those cases are registered with the National Adoption Council (CNA), Guatemala’s Hague Convention Central Authority for adoptions, within 30 business days after the effective date of the law. Unless a case has already received a favorable opinion from the Guatemalan Solicitor General’s office (PGN), it still needs to be registered with the CNA to be eligible for processing under the old law. The Embassy, therefore, recommends that prospective adoptive parents confirm with their Guatemalan legal representatives that this registration "Aviso" has been filed with the CNA for their adoption case.
Following receipt of the “Aviso” by the CNA, they will issue a confirmation of registration (“Constancia”). Cases are considered registered and pending only if a “Constancia” has been issued. Filing the “Aviso” with the CNA before February 12, 2008, should be sufficient to register the case, even if there is a delay in issuing the “Constancia.”
Prospective adoptive parents should be aware that the Government of Guatemala is engaged in establishing the CNA and that the definition of “registered case” is still subject to change.

So even though we are hoping that today is our eighth business day and the CNA (CA) will issue our constancia (confirmation of registration), we are not investing too much hope. We are still hearing that the CNA selection of members is still tied up in legal dispute, therefore we do not know if there is anyone that can issue the confirmation. Without this we cannot get back into PGN, therefore time is continuing to pass without getting any closer to bringing the girls home.

CA Update

Our adoption agency tells us that the "registration applications from your attorney are finished and with the Central Authority" and that our lawyer in Guatemala "hoped to have pre-approval by today (1/23). We do not have confirmation that she has the document."
So we think that this means that Monday or Tuesday (1/21 or 22) the 8 business day countdown started with the Central Authority. We should have the Certification of Registration by February 1 and be able to get back into PGN.

CA Misery

Yes we finally have the Pre-approval from the U.S. Embassy (46 days), but now our next roadblock seems to be the new Central Authority. The simple registration has turned into a four page form that necessitates finger/foot prints, submission and then an eight business day wait for the stamped receipt or Certification of Registration. Once that has been completed we can submit our case back into PGN for the average eight week wait for either another kick out (Previo) or an Out to the next step. Will not be going to pick up in February and maybe not even March...

U.S. Senator Supports Adoptive Families

U.S. Senator Norm Coleman, Co-Chair of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption and member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Joint Council sends letter to Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom. Senator Coleman continues to be actively engaged in and supportive of our collective efforts to ensure that every child has the right to a safe, permanent and loving family. The Senator’s letter, presented on Friday morning, outlines his concerns regarding in-process adoption cases and requests the assistance of President Colom.
Additionally, on Wednesday, January 16, 2008, new members of the Central Authority were appointed to fill the positions of the previous Presidents "mid-night" elections.
On Friday, January 18, the newly appointed Guatemalan Central Authority released the forms necessary to register in-process adoptions as required by the new adoption law (Decree 77-2007). While additional details regarding the registration process are not available at this time.

To review a copy of Senator Coleman's letter to Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom, please click here.
http://www.jcics.org/Senator%20Coleman%20Letter%20to%20President%20Colom.pdf

Day 46 -- Pre-approval

Yahoo!!!!!!! Today we received Pre-approvals for both Madison and Monroe. Finally our dossier is complete and we can re-submit to PGN. Hopefully the chatter is correct and the new Central Authority is finally handing out forms to Register today. If so, we are hoping that our lawyer is on top of things and will complete the Registrations (pay the extra fees that we are expecting) and re-submit our file to PGN A.S.A.P. To us A.S.A.P. means today or the next possible day!

Booted out of PGN

We knew the Previo (return of file for missing or incorrect paperwork) was coming. Our lawyer submitted our cases into PGN December 17 (4 1/2 weeks in PGN) without the needed Pre-approval from the U.S. Embassy--CIS. DNA was submitted to CIS on December 4--43 days the U.S. Government is holding us from bringing our girls home. Now the days just go by with no advancement in the process until the U.S. Embassy's Visa Pre-approval. Once we get the notice of Pre-approval we would then need to re-submit the cases to PGN. As of January 1 all cases must first be registered with the newly formed Central Athority--it is unknown when they will begin registering new cases and re-submits. Once we are able to register and then re-submit the wait in PGN is usually 8 weeks.

Dateline: Sunday, January 20

Guatadopt representative spoke with the producer of the long awaited Dateline NBC piece and published the following statement.

First of all, for those of you with adopted children old enough to comprehend the show, you may wish to consider taping it or watching it without your children present. I am not at liberty to discuss the exact content of the show, nor do I know all of it. But some of it, IMHO, could be detrimental for children from Guatemala to see if they are old enough to understand it, but not old enough to put it into perspective. Guatadopt did aid Dateline's producer with this story. Troy will be making his network television debut.... Realize that what we have found with the media is that while helping them does not make it a story we'd write, it does impact the net result. I have seen how talks I've had with reporters don't result in lots of my brilliant quotes in their finished stories, but they do influence the overall tone of the story.
Lastly, I'd like everyone to realize upfront that this will not be a glowing story about the beauties and positives of Guatemalan adoptions. No media organization could do a story on Guatemalan adoptions and keep it all positive. Most of the story (which I have not seen) will most likely not be positive. However, I am very optimistic that all sides will be covered and the perspective, if not the ratio of air time, will be balanced. So be prepared for that.

The story will air on Sunday, January 20. We don't know what to exptect but as stated above we hope that they will do a reasonable job pointing out the positive outcomes and not dwell on the corruption. If the percentage of time given to each side is relative to the actual, I am sure the positive effects will be the lasting image for the viewers.

Viva Colom! Adios Oscar....

Today is Inauguration Day in Guatemala as Alvaro Colom becomes President.

The following taken from Miami Herald Story: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/world/AP/story/377837.html

GUATEMALA CITY -- Guatemala's new president, Alvaro Colom received training as a Mayan priest. His vice president is a heart surgeon. As the two men prepare to take office on Monday, Guatemalans are hoping for some healing.
After a 36-year civil war, and still plagued by poverty, corruption and street gangs, "Guatemala is sick, very sick, in intensive care," says Vice President Rafael Espada, who gave up a decades-long medical career in Texas to return to Guatemala last year as Colom's running mate.
Guatemalans survive on less than $1 a day, on average. Mayan Indians, half the population of 13 million, suffer discrimination and economic exclusion in a country dominated by those of European ancestry. Colom and Espada are part of that elite, and are promising to move the country leftward, raise taxes, protect human rights and widen access to health care, education and housing.

Who is Slowing the Process?

The Guatemalan Central Authority has been named and has an announced place of business. We have been told that they will begin processing those cases in PGN once they have an "official stamp". We have heard from other adopting families that they have gotten "out" of PGN since 2008--so it appears that the Guatemalan side is continuing to process. We are not certain that the U.S. Embassy is continuing to take any actions to process adoptions for its citizens (its taxpayers). A pre-approval process that had been taking a few days is 40+ days!

In PGN, But Expect Delays

Friday we received the following update from the adoption agency:

"The Embassy should be in the process of issuing pre-approval of the files. Pre-approval typically runs 50-60 days from the date when US Embassy receives DNA results. We would expect to hear from the Embassy regarding your files around the 2nd of February. Because your attorney anticipated issues with PGN beginning on January 1, she made the decision to submit the cases to PGN without pre-approval before the holidays. This is sometimes done if the attorney feels that the case is stalling while pre-approval is pending. It means that the case is officially registered with PGN, but that the file will inevitably receive a previo for the missing pre-approval. The date of submission for both cases was December 17."

But then in a general information email from the adoption agency we were sent the following information:

"The new Central Authority in Guatemala is beginning to take shape. Two people have been appointed to the committee. It has been confirmed that PGN has stopped accepting new case or resubmits until the Central Authority has been formed, and establishes the registration procedure for cases currently in process. They have also been reluctant to move on any cases currently in PGN until they know more about how the implementation of the new law will go."

Others have been in PGN for eight weeks or more before recieving their "pink-slip" appointment (date to go get the babies). As we expect a previo (rejection of paperwork to fix and re-submit) it could be longer. And since PGN has stopped accepting resubmits and is waiting until the Central Authrity has been formed, it is very unclear what our timeline is.

Our family and many others would be grateful to anyone that would be willing to send a letter to your Senator complaining about the U.S. Embassy's choice to stall the paperwork of Americans who are adopting children from Guatemala (a process that used to take only a few days is now taking 50-60).

Waiting

We are still waiting on the U.S. Embassy--too much politics and too many holidays!
We did get a report that both girls are well. We are beyond the scare with Madison's viral pneumonia.