HOW IT ALL STARTED

I am really tired of seeing no updates on our blog so I thought I would answer a few of your questions by telling you how it all got started. I cannot tell you exactly how it happened but one day and many days, weeks, and months after I felt this strong desire/pull to have a baby. I just could not get it off of my mind. It made absolutely no sense and really to this day I cannot put it into words. The feeling would not go away. I tried keeping myself busy with school, work, kids, hobbies, even opening my own business. There it stayed. I finally could not deny it any longer and brought Doug into it. We talked about this for days, weeks, and months. When we knew that we were truly ready, we talked to Britnee and Brandon. I will only say that the decision was unanimous. So, in thinking of all of you and the obvious questions and wonderings you would have in regard to this exciting and wonderful (we think!) decision, I decided to try this blog thing. I have to be honest in sharing that I have no idea what I am doing, but why should that stop me? Well, I thought I would use this post to bring you up to speed on where we have been and where we are. When we made the decision to pursue adoption, I set right out to learn everything there was to learn. I made calls, surfed every website I came across, talked to anyone I knew who was remotely connected to the adoption world. I was immediately fascinated (and more than a little obsessed) with everything I learned, and the more I learned, the more questions I had. What is the process? Who are the children? What is the timeframe? I quickly discovered that I knew very little about International Adoption. Now that I have been forced to slow down, taking it one step at a time, I am reminded to take a look around. We may be facing a long road, but I believe there will be plenty of moments to stop and learn some more (mostly patience) Let me share the details we are most often asked about:After hooking up with an agency near home (20 minutes from our house), we began to collect a small mountain of paperwork. I have been reassured that this is only the beginning of paperwork to come. Lucky for us, my schedule makes tracking down legal documents more manageable. We began to share our news with our dear family and friends. What can we say? You have always been supportive and loving in our lives, and have shown us only the same again. We are so blessed. We attended adoption education classes (only one more to go). The classes were great. I think that had a lot to do with our fabulous teacher, and the truly great people we were lucky enough to attend with. We have also completed our "Home Study". We have a case worker assigned to our family. Irene. She has been to the house once already. We felt very comfortable with her. She will come back again two weeks after our daughter is home. We have had a few ups and downs during this trying time (they all said, "adoption is not for the faint of heart" how true that is). We have completed most of the steps required to enter PGN (the great and powerful one's with the final say) we are waiting for Pre-approval from the United States Embassy and registration receipt from Central Authority (it does exist!). For now, all we know is we are adopting a baby girl from Guatemala soon to be legally named Allyson Faith (Faith for knowing during this whole process it is one of the greatest things we counted on). It is a long and scary process. We have faith that one day,we will be bringing our daughter home and she will be so loved. Is it possible to love someone you have not even met yet? We are happy, we are nervous, and we continue to feel truly blessed. Thank you each for your support now, and for that which I know we will need in the coming days and weeks.

Agency reassurance

We would like to share our good news. We were assured by the agency and the attorney that our adoption will in fact proceed. We still need to register with Central Authority but it will proceed nonetheless. So now the question is WHEN not IF.

Dateline

I am sure you have all heard by now that Dateline will be airing a story this Sunday on Guatemala adoptions. We understand that there is a potential for corruption surrounding adoptions in every country including ours and although we agree that reform is needed, please try to remember that there are 2 sides to every story, and we hope that the Dateline special will be a fair portrayal. Personally Doug and I have done a lot of research and feel very confident that there is nothing illegal surrounding our adoption of Allyson. There are a few bad apples in every bushel and as unfortunate as this is we need to remember that not all adoptions are corrupt and our focus should be on the future of Guatemala and the children. Our family will be complete with the addition of Ally and we all can take comfort in knowing that she will be raised in a safe and very loving home not in an orphanage or worse.

Another New Law!!!

Today we did not get good news, not bad news, just not good. We found out that not only do we need to register with Central Authority (which will be taking registrations on January 16th) but we also found out they did not take DNA and we did not enter family court because there is a new law that states all birth mothers over the age of 18 must register with some municipality. She stated she would get that done next week. So here we are waiting for something we thought was already done. Three steps forward and two steps back.

The process

The Guatemalan adoption process is, generally, as follows:
Choose an agency
Complete homestudy and dossier
The adoptive family applies for and obtains approval from their local CIS office using the I-600A process; the I-171H is issued by CIS.
The dossier is completed and sent to Guatemala for translation. The dossier is then authenticated by the Foreign Ministry.
At this time, or potentially earlier, a referral of a child is made to the waiting family. The referral is checked to ensure that a properly-issued birth certificate has been issued.
A DNA sample is taken from the child and the biological mother, and sent for testing and verification. The results are then forwarded to the US Embassy in Guatemala City, who will issue a preapproval. This step verifies that the child is indeed the biological child of the birth mother. (4-8 months)
After the family has accepted the referral, a Power of Attorney will be completed. This permits the attorney in Guatemala to act on behalf of the adoptive family.
The attorney presents the dossier and the Adoption Petition to the Family Court in Guatemala. The Family Court will schedule a home visit/ meeting with the biological mother.
Once the Social Worker from the Family Court makes a favorable recommendation, the case and dossier are transferred to the Ministerio Publico (PGN), the entity that approves the adoption and issues a final adoption decree.
Once PGN issues the decree, it is signed by the biological mother, as well as the attorney representing the adoptive family. (4-8 months)
The adoption decree is registered with the Civil Registry, and a new birth certificate is issued under the child’s new name. The child is then taken for issuance of a new passport.
A final package, containing evidence of all of the above steps, is submitted to the US Embassy in Guatemala City. The Embassy will review the package, and if all is in order, it will issue a “pink slip” which indicates an appointment date for issuance of the child’s visa. (about 3 months)
The adoptive family may then travel to Guatemala, and appear at the US Embassy with the child to obtain the immigrant visa for the United States.
The child then enters the United States on the Immigrant Visa. If the child has been issued an IR3 visa, he/she will automatically become a US citizen upon admission. If the child has been issued an IR4 visa, the adoptive family will need to readopt the child according to the laws of the state in which the family lives; upon readoption, the child will automatically gain US citizenship.
total time 8-19 months: could be more or less