Kevin
Many thanks for your diligence in keeping us updated. I'm hoping the 2nd and especially the 3rd times get strikes. Are people's agencies still giving out referrals?
Mary

Thanks, Kevin.
What happens next?
How long do delays traditionally last after such a law is approved?

Will this law affect only singles adopting or will it possibly put a hold on ALL adoptions???

It seems to me that ALL adoptions will be put on hold while an entirely new process is put into place. Realistically this law, if kept in its current form, could stop adoptions for everyone. There simply isn't any funding to set up a program like this law outlines.

Thank you Kevin. I hope any further news is good.

While voting continues, will Guatemala still accept dossier to be filed?

I had a support group meeting at my agency tonight. For them it is business as usual until it is passed completely through. They are still doing paperwork and trying to get referrals.

My adoption agency is also attempting to process dossiers and get the POA's filed in Guatemala to be "grandfathered" into the old law.

An agency rep said UNICEF has spent over
$ 100 million to promote this legislation to date. Of course, no one knows how it will turn out.

I wouldn't say our agency is working on a "business as usual" approach; I think it's more of "have your eyes wide open as you complete your paperwork because we could face a shutdown very soon."

We're days away from completing our dossier, so we're quite nervous right now.

Thanks for being so timely with your information, Kevin! Let's hope the legislation is turned down.

I think many agencies will continue giving referrals until such a time as it seems likely to pass. Afterall, we have been down this road several times before only to see proposed bills die on later readings.

I believe that the first reading is somewhat of an overview of the law. Later readings start debating the details of the law.

Regardless, it is the parents-in-process that have provided support and momentum in the past to help defeat bills that would hurt the children.

I am trying to be optimistic on this, but deep down it worries me. The thing that really makes me think that it will not go through is that Guatemalas general ecomony will slowly decline without any tourists (who 90% of the time are the adoptive parents) who spend thousands of dollars at a time there. They cannot afford this-and most importantly, where will all the children go. Unicef is so big on keeping the children in their birthcountry-but they also like keeping the "down-down and out" They could care less about the poverty. It is a shame.

So far as who is "in process"... When the Hague struck, there quickly became a designation of "pre march 5" and "post march 5" cases, meaning which would be grandfathered in. To be considered "in process" at that time, two things had to be done. One was that the POA be registered in Guatemala. This DID NOT mean that the parents had it notarized, certified, and authenticated. It meant that after that the attorney had it translated, paid the tax stamps (I am assuming) and got it registered. The other key hurdle for being considered "in process" was that the birthmother's consent for adoption or "first acta" had to be registered as well. As I recall, if you have DNA test authorization, then you know both of these things have been done.

Hi, Kevin..

Per your most recent post.

Would an appointment for DNA match qualify for DNA test authorization?

Which comes first? and who authorizes?

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So far as who is "in process"... When the Hague struck, there quickly became a designation of "pre march 5" and "post march 5" cases, meaning which would be grandfathered in. To be considered "in process" at that time, two things had to be done. One was that the POA be registered in Guatemala. This DID NOT mean that the parents had it notarized, certified, and authenticated. It meant that after that the attorney had it translated, paid the tax stamps (I am assuming) and got it registered. The other key hurdle for being considered "in process" was that the birthmother's consent for adoption or "first acta" had to be registered as well. As I recall, if you have DNA test authorization, then you know both of these things have been done.

Posted by Kevin at September 14, 2005 11:37 AM

We were "pre-March 5th" when the Hague struck. It still slowed our case down by about 2 months and we still had a few stomach churning nights when we wondered if our son would ever come home. All that said, if we were in the position to accept another referral today we would do it without hesitation. When looking at my beautiful son I know the payoff was more than worth the risk.

My husband and I have been sitting on a contract with an adoption agency. We are only interested in adopting from Guatemala. We'd like some opinions as to what would be in our best interest right now. We're not sure what role the agency will have if the law passes and if they'll be able to take us through completion even if the law doesn't pass this time. The vague information from the agency about the law has us uneasy. What could be the explanation for the agency's reluctance to share?

Hi Betsy...

The reason your agency is vague is that they don't know what's going to happen. Nobody does. Our adoption was delayed for an agonizing six extra months during The Hague mess. Throughout our wait we received virtually no information because there was none available. PGN employees took day-long coffee and cigarette breaks while files piled up everywhere. We were told then that Guatemala has a history of "this kind of thing" every couple of years or so. We never knew this prior to entering the process. The only country we feel is at all predictable is China.

If a referrel is given now should it be accepted or should I wait to see what happens? Any insight would be grealty appreciated.

Nancy:
Our adoption agency is recommending that adoptive parents take the referrals that they currently have waiting and sign the POA asap. They are doing everything that they can to hurry up the process of having the POA translated and registered in Guatemala.

I just wanted to follow up my prior posting. Today we received word that our Power of Attorney was translated and registered in Guatemala on Tuesday. It took about from the time it arrived to have it processed.

Regina:

I didn't understand the last sentence of your most recent comment. How much time did it take your POA to be registered from the time it arrived in Guatemala? I am curious, because we expect ours to arrive in Guatemala on Tuesday.

Thanks, and thanks to Kevin for keeping us updated!

I'm sorry, I accidentally left out some words in my prior post. Our POA took less than a week to be translated and registered after it's arrival in Guatemala. Best of luck to you!