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.