(Posted with permission from Susana Luarca, Attorney at Law).
THE COURT OF AMPARO GRANTED AGAIN THE SUSPENSION OF THE HAGUE CONVENTION
The Amparo action filed by ninety seven lawyers was upheld by the First Court of Appeals, acting as Court of Amparo, who ruled that the Hague Convention does not apply to the petitioners because it violates their constitutional rights.
Based on that ruling, all the adoption files of those lawyers will have to be processed by the PGN according to the Guatemalan laws and with total disregard to the Hague Convention. The PGN has three days to do so. If it fails to give the required opinion, the lawyers may accuse the PGN of contempt, and criminal accusations may be brought against the PGN officers.
The ruling of the Court of Amparo is another step to restore the order after the chaos and suspension brought to intercountry adoptions by the Hague Convention, five months ago. We are very confident that the law and order will prevail and the children that have been waiting will join their adoptive families very soon.
Today, Prensa Libre reports the visit of four Congressmen of the Committee of Foreign Relations of the United States Congress, who came to talk about politics and economics. They are Cass Ballenger (North Carolina), Kevin Brady(Texas) Marsha Blackburn ( Tennessee) and Jerry Weller (Illinois).
If only we could talk to them!
Best regards,
Susana Luarca, Attorney at Law,
Asociación Defensores de la Adopción
Thanks beyond words to Susana and to all who have worked so diligently towards this end! You'll never know how much this means to those of us in process and awaiting the day when we'll be able to bring our children home. Equally important, it sets a precident for processing of future adoptions in Guatemala! Great Work!
Sincerely,
Jeff & Lisa Steen - eagerly anticipating being parents to Sebastian (15 months old) and Alejandro (3 months old)
Posted by: Jeff Steen at August 5, 2003 06:44 PMThanks be to God & Susana & all the other lawyers who had the courage to do this for the children! My question is: What about the lawyers who would NOT file an amparo? I asked our agency, but was told not to make waves because then our file would be open to investigation & would take even longer! Are we still 'stuck'??
Thanks again!
Posted by: Carol at August 5, 2003 06:57 PMThank you for all your hard work...although we do not have a referral yet, we are still waiting it out...Happy to see some progress, thanks again.
Posted by: Debbie at August 5, 2003 07:58 PMWhat Great news!!! Maybe this is it for all of us.How can we find out if our lawyer is in this 97 lawyer list? I know an amparo was filed by my lawyer, but I don't know if she was with this group. Wouldn't all upheld amparos have the same treatment...3 days to process?
Posted by: Jacqueline at August 5, 2003 09:31 PMWOW!! This is excellent news. Thanks to Susana and FOA for all of the hard work being done to move adoption cases along and to keep adoption an option in Guatemala! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Posted by: Heidi Buchwald at August 5, 2003 10:10 PMHallelujah! We've been waiting since December 17 for our son.
Does anyone know exactly what "required opinions" means?
Thanks be to God and the warriors who have helped us fight this battle.
Pam
Posted by: Pam at August 5, 2003 10:17 PMGreat news! Thanks Susana and all
the lawyers, and Hannah and all the
agency directors, etc., etc.
Can the PGN appeal this ruling?
jay
Can you give us the names of the lawyers involved?
Thanks,
Jim
Posted by: Jim at August 5, 2003 11:31 PMSusana
Thank you so much for what you are doing to help us bring our children home. We received our referral February 12th and we are so anxious to bring him home. We are willing to help anyway we can to accomplish this and to continue adopting children from Guatemala. My husband and I have a great burden for these children. Please keep up the good work. We have written to our congressmen, The Carter Center, and the Department of State as you had suggested.
Robin and David Prewitt
Posted by: Robin Prewitt at August 6, 2003 12:01 AMIs this the same amparo that had 84 lawyers last week? Is the basis for this amparo the role of the notarial process in adoptions? If so, it would seem that the amparo's initial success pretty much puts an end to the Hague until there is legislation. Is that a correct assumption?
Congratulations to Susana and the ADA!!
Paul
Posted by: Paul Fields at August 6, 2003 05:37 AMThank you, Thank you for what you have done and keeping us all so in the loop. Seeing these updates and receiving your guidance regarding letters to send, etc. is so very appreciated. I hope the referral we were to be getting very soon comes along fine and to those of you further along in the process, my prayers for a speedy trip to Guatemala to pick up your child!
Posted by: Katie Huebschen at August 6, 2003 08:58 PMwhat will happen to post June 30 cases?Jacky
Posted by: Jacky Weiss at August 6, 2003 09:34 PMWe are a transition case with a referral that came to us on March 13, 2003. Our paperwork is ready to enter into the PGN process and we have obtained DNA authorization. However, our lawyer's name does not appear on the list of lawyers granted recent amparos. I trust that more amparos are coming down the pipeline? Our agency has informed us that amparos have been filed.....are they filed on behalf of the agency or on behalf of specific clients with transition cases?
Posted by: Grace and Doug at August 6, 2003 10:17 PMSusana,
I am a waiting parent. Case registered on march 5. I don't see the name of my attorney on today's list. A friend of mine is a friend of Cass Ballenger -- first name basis. Tell me what to do. I'm also going to Guatemala on Aug. 16th to visit my son and try to work on my case. Thanks, Valerie
We have a referral as of April 10th 2003. We have been waiting like everyone else and not getting any news from our agency. I have learned more reading off of your website. THis all sounds like good news but, wondering is there still going to be a long wait for babies to come home. We have been on the roller coaster ride for 12 long years. We have been in the adoption process for just 1 year. It finally seemed like we were going to have a baby and then this all started. We have been very stressed and have been told by our agency to concentrate on other things. How could we?? Thank you for your informative website!
Posted by: Jamie at August 8, 2003 12:35 AMSUSANNA..,
THANK YOU..THANK YOU..FOR ALL YOUR HELP AND THE OTHER LAWYERS IN GUATEMALA WHO FILE THE AMAPRO'S TO HELP US GET OUR CHILDREN HOME TO LOVING PARENTS ANXIOUSLY AWAITING ..WAITING FOR PETER JOSEPH
I join in with everyone else in thanking Susana and all the other attorneys who have been fighting so hard on our behalf. And thanks for posting this information for us to view!
Posted by: Sara at August 10, 2003 08:40 PM