The Last Week

Well it was quite a week! Lindsey, my case worker, said she's never seen a Dossier ready to be sent to Guatemala so quickly!! She said we easily cut a month off of our wait to go get Zoe/Mirna. God is faithful! Here is what I've been up to the last week...

We accepted the referral on Tuesday. We spent the evening filling out forms and doing stuff from home. I did my best to get REALLY organized and wrote out all my mile long to do lists.

The rest of the week was spent running around chasing down documents! The amazing part was how smoothly it went. I walked into government agencies multiple times this week and never waited ONCE!! Who ever heard of not waiting in a government office. I'm talking like 4 times with no line and helpful service! If that's not a miracle I don't know what is!

I only had a couple of people who weren't immediately on board and ready to do whatever we needed. Everyone was TRULY amazing and so helpful. For those who needed convincing I had NO PROBLEM begging, pleading and pulling out the sympathy card whenever neccesary!!! The fact that Zoe has a terrific smile and I pulled out her picture at every stop didn't hurt at all! Thank you Lord for little miracles...

Yesterday Kaitlyn and I drove to Austin to have everything authenticated, then to the Guatemalan consulate in Houston to have them stamped. Then I overnighted everything to Lindsey at Dillon. She sent it TODAY to Guatemala. WOW!!! Only a million more steps to go!! OK for everyone who has been wanting to know the WHOLE PROCESS here you go. YOU ASKED FOR IT!!! If you find yourself nodding off just skip to the end for my timeline. :0)

SO NOW WHAT HAPPENS???

Here is the process. I'll try to insert approx time periods. The next really important thing we need is the I-171H. We are waiting for them to recieve our homestudy. Once they have it we will call and ask them to expedite our case because we have an older child. PLEASE PRAY FOR FAVOR WITH THE IMMIGRATION OFFICE-ORPHAN'S DEPARTMENT!!! If they will process our case immediately it will save us 1-2 months of waiting.

(PHASE A 2-3 months from now)

1. Guatemalan documents needed for DNA (*Mothers HIV test, Birth certificate for the mother and child, Child ID and about 10 other documents) are gathered and when they are ready they are put with the family’s G-28, I-600, and I-171H and are submitted to the Embassy to request authorization for DNA testing to be done on the birth mother and child. If all is correct, the consent is given for the birthmother to sign to have the DNA test done. DNA Authorization is given by the U.S. Embassy and after the authorization is cleared by Dillon and the Lab that reads the samples, an an appointment is scheduled for the DNA test is done.

2. The samples are taken in Guatemala by an Embassy approved Doctor, and sent to a lab in the U.S. The actual DNA testing is done by a laboratory in the U.S. approved by the U.S. Immigration. The birthmother and child do DNA together and a picture is taken of them together. This usually occurs about two months after the POA’s have gone to Guatemala. A certified copy of the DNA match will be sent to Dillon International.

(PHASE B 3-7 weeks after PHASE A) this part has been taking around 7wks lately because the embassy is overwhelmed with all the issues facing them due to the mudslides. They have just added 3 staff so maybe it will help.

3. Upon receipt of a DNA result confirming the parental relationship, the Embassy will either approve the case or refer it for further investigation. The Embassy may require an interview with the birthmother to confirm her consent that the child can be adopted by U.S. citizens. Once the Embassy has given “pre –approval” the case can move forward. (The Embassy usually takes about 3 weeks to issue pre-approval) Dillon will have the family email the Embassy to inquire about pre-approval.

This actually occurs right away during the first 2 months

4. The lawyer submits all of the documents to Family Court, and petitions

the family court to assign a social worker to investigate the case.

5. A family court Social worker reviews the family’s dossier, interviews the

birth mother, and sees the child in foster care. The social worker then writes a report summarizing the facts of the case and attesting to the reasons that the birth mother can not care for her child. The Family Court social worker approves the adoption and the birth mother signs consent for adoption a second time. Then the case must be approved by the Judge in the Family court the case is assigned to.

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A CASE CAN MOVE ON TO STEP 6 WHEN IT HAS FAMILY COURT APPROVAL, DNA MATCH, AND EMBASSY PRE APPROVAL OF DNA.

(Phase C a couple of days after phase B) this phase takes up to 30 days for each time you go through PGN. It is very rare to get approved the first time through. Although that is what I'm praying for!! If your case get "kicked out" of PGN it takes just a couple of days to get resubmitted and up to another 30 days for review.

6. The lawyer submits a petition for approval of the adoption case to a

notarial officer of the Attorney General’s office (Procuraduria General de la Nacion) of PGN. (Note: a notary in Guatemala is an attorney with additional powers, not simply someone who certifies a signature as in the US)

7. A PGN attorney is assigned to the case and PGN reviews everything, all of the documents, to make sure there are no mistakes or that there is anything false and checks out the family background history. PGN has anywhere from 20 to 30 business days to approve the case or ask for new documents. PGN often requests documents to be redone. Each time this happens the case is rejected (called a previo) it will go back in after the new documents are obtained. Each time a case goes back into PGN they have another 20 to 30 days to review it. PGN also can require the birthmother to appear before the court to give a verbal relinquishment. At least ONE rejection SHOULD be expected. PGN will issue an approval for the adoption to proceed and be approved. The lawyer then meets with the birth mother for the final sign off giving her approval to the adoption.

The (PHASE D immediately following PHASE C following final steps take approximately 3 to 6 weeks to complete)

8. The adoption decree is written and issued by the lawyer, the birth mother signs the final decree and the child is legally now the child of the adoptive family.

9. The final decree must be approved by the Civil Registry in the municipality where the child was born. Once it is approved, A new birth certificate is then issued by that Civil Registry with the child’s first and middle name staying the same and last name changing to that of the adoptive parents.

10. The Lawyer takes the new birth certificate and applies for a Guatemalan passport. The passport is generally issued within 1 to 2 business days.

11. The final decree and other documents are translated into English by a translator certified and approved by the US Embassy regulations.

12. The lawyer then takes all of the paperwork to the U.S. Embassy and requests approval for the family to come file an I-600 for an orphan visa.

13. The Embassy authorizes the visa and issues an approval on pink papers called a “pink slip”. The pink slip is generally issued 48 hours after the lawyer requests it.

14. After the pink slip has been issued then the family can travel and file their

I-600 at the Embassy.

15. Family must be in Guatemala two business days (Mon – Thurs). Family will be taken to the Marriott hotel via a shuttle; and their child will be brought to them there.

16. Child has usually already had their Embassy exit physical before the arrival of the family. If not then the child will go to the doctor the same day the family comes in if on a weekday. If family comes in on a weekend, they will go with child for Embassy doctor appointment on Monday morning (if the physical has not been done yet).

17. Then your family will go to the Embassy to file their I-600 along with the other needed documents and pay the visa fees to obtain a Visa for the child. You will arrive at the Embassy at 7:30 or 8:30am and wait for an appointment which is usually done by 10am. This is where you will submit ALL papers. Then they will tell them to return either later that day or the next morning to pick up the Visa.

18. Once the Visa is given to your family, you are done and they can either fly home the next day or stay longer to sight see.

**children are issued an IR4 visa in Guatemala (unless BOTH adoptive parents traveled to see their child prior to adoption completion!) which means that after post placement is complete with your social worker each family needs to complete the re-adoption process in order that their child be granted automatic citizenship.

THEN SHE'S HOME FOR GOOD!

Here is how I figure the time scale.....

On the absolute amazing everything goes perfect end we could go get her in about 20-22 weeks- early to mid April

On the average timing of what we should expect we would go get her in about 27-29 weeks- mid to late May

On the ARRGGG everything is going slow timing we would bring her home in about June or July... Eeek I hope not!!