Kelly- how late in 2007 should we be worried about accepting a referral/signing a POA? We accepted our referral on Nov.30 and signed a POA very shortly thereafter.

This totally blows me away. I thought when we took our referral in May we would be ok but to wait until Dec and try to get it by the end of the year, no way.

OMG!!! This is sad. I question how many others who tried to hurry and sign might have been scammed to.

Just want to say thank you so much for all you guys do! It's so way and beyond. Thanks for putting the info and warning out for us.

I was told by my agency that "they are sure" that my POA has been registered but not in PGN yet. What does that mean? I have another child in PGN will that help? I am so confused. Why dont the agencies know what's going on?

I agree that filing a POA at the end of the year and beyond is ill advised but I thought that cases had to be registered within 30 days of the law going into effect which would be January 31, 2008.

Kelly-we signed a POA late in October and it was registered in the middle of November 2007. Are we O.K.? Can we consider a case registered when the POA is registered? Thank you for what you do for us.

We signed and sent POA on Dec 19th and received word it was registered and we were entering Family Court on the 28th.

I had accepted a referral in Nov. and my POA was signed on Nov. 23 and sent off to Guatamala. Should I also be concerned?

We signed our POA in late December and it did get registered by December 31. We have sent 25% of the attorney fee, which was $5,000. The other 75% is supposed to be paid within 30 days of the acceptance of our referral, which will be the middle of this month. We are hoping to get some clarification from Guatemala as to whether we will be included as "in process" before we pay any more money.

I just heard that there are signs on the windows of PGN saying that they will not be receiving or working on files until the central authority registers them. Can anyone confirm this. I guess this may have been what Kevin was eluding to in his post on the forums today.

Thanks for speaking out about this, Guatadopt....you guys are the true neutrals in this process with no axe to grind.

On an on-line bulletion board, I read stories of several people who flew to Guatemala in the week after Christmas to sign POA's (for children they had just accepted as referrals). There was also one disturbing post about some agency that flew in a Guatemala attorney (far after 12/11) so 8 families could sign POA's. I understand why agencies might have given referrals up through 12/11 but after that.....the law had passed & the old system is up. After that, I find it hard to understand how any legit agency absent some extreme circumstance would give any PAP a new referral. Unless it is to squeeze some more money out of (as one agency put it) out of an "industry" that is going out of business.

Does anyone know when Guatemala will be implementating their new
adoption law. I thought it was to go into effect on January 1, 2008.
Can anyone confirm this?

Ok I would like to know more about this PGN thing for sure. I have heard this from a few people today but no one really knows for sure. I do have several friends that signed POAs the last week of DEC and they all were registered...SO I don't see why they would have problems. I know the attorneys I know were not taking much money if any upfront. Most were breaking it up in 4 payments with most being paid at the end...but those are just the attorneys I know. I have also heard about people paying all the fees upfront which would really worry me. We signed our POA in OCT and went into PGN on DEC 26...so I feel pretty safe...Although I am holding out HOPE...for some kind of POA extension thru JAN. I have heard over 100 attorneys have got together are proposed this...has anyone else heard this? The reason I ask is because I was not one of those people to go sign a POA the last week of DEC but I wish I would have...there is a baby girl I want very much...so now I feel like I should have taken the risk...at least I could have slept at night knowing she COULD have a forever family. Yes I know there are many children left with out homes...but I actually know about her...so its very emotional for me.

My attorney in Guatemala called me yesterday (1/2/08) with the good news that PGN approved my case right before 12/31. He told me that there were signs posted at PGN stating that no work would be done until the cases were registered with the Central Authority, and he said he did not know what that meant at this time since the Central Authority had not yet been constituted. While I feel very lucky, my heart is very much with the rest of the in-process children and those who will never have the opportunity that my new son will have. Good luck everyone!

Hi Candy,
I can somewhat relate to you but without a referral. We were told by our agency we could fly down and sign Dec. 11 to ensure our POA would be registered in time. As much as we wanted to jump on a plane, we didn't do it and a snowstorm didn't help, but we didn't have a picture either, that would be SO HARD. We just have to trust our decisions at the time and pray for the childen.

In follow-up to Stephanie's post regarding the message in PGN, I reached out to my agency this morning and the following response was received:

"HE WENT THERE YESTERDAY AND READ THE NOTICE ABOUT THE NEED TO REGISTER CASES. WHEN HE ASKED ABOUT THE PROCEDURE FOR DOING SO, HE WAS TOLD THAT THE CASES NEED TO BE REGISTERED AT THE 'CENTRAL AUTHORITY'. AT THE SAME TIME, THEY ACKNOWLEDGED THAT THE CENTRAL AUTHORITY HAS NOT YET BEEN SET UP."

Kevin/Kelly: what can we do? Should we call the Embassy and bombard them with calls again? The 31st will come upon all of us very quickly and I am all for being proactive...Please advise.

Kevin,
We received a referral late December and signed a POA in Guatemala. What is involved in registering a csee with the Central Authority (what does the attorney actually need to do to make this happen?). How can I "check" to make sure this took place in our situation? On another note, we have another adoptioncurrently in process (we are in PGN). Is there something special our attorneys need to do with this case to make sure it's grandfathered, or will it automatically be grandfathered because we are in PGN?

How would we check to make sure our POA is registered? I have been assured by my agency that this is the case, but I have nothing to go on other than their word at this point.

We accepted a referral on 10/2/07 and signed the POA that week (the attorney was flown to the US by the agency). We also paid half of the attorney fee at that time. We have been getting monthly medical reports and we did receive the DNA results and photo of the birth mother shortly after POA. Since then, we have been waiting for embassy pre-approval, which we finally received on 12/22/07. We are now being told by our agency that the social report on the birth mother is still being finalized (delayed because social worker was on vacation for Christmas holiday) and that once the report is finalized our case will go into PGN. Is this typical ... i.e. does it sound legitimate?

Also, my understanding was that the registration of the POA would count as the registration with the Central Authority. Is this true? Or is there another step that must be taken?

Thanks for all you do ... this is the most nerve-wracking experience I've ever had, and with so much conflicting information flying around it really helps to have a place to go for rational, thoughtful advice and information.

Hello, I had signed a new POA in beginning of Nov. However I am already out of PGN. I found out I had been out PGN August 31 but was not told until OCt 26 and at that time signed a new POA. Not sure if it got registered for I was being told a whole bunch of things that were lies we found out. How can I know if my POA has been registered? I signed a new one and sent it to my agency in beginning of Nov. However everything has been a lie I found out so not sure where I stand. I was told by a reliable source that since I'm out of PGN it may not matter? not sure. Help... Thanks again for all your hard work.. Marcy

I saw a few posts on the forum about the signs at PGN and several people called PGN and were told those signs are for new cases only. For people already in PGN they can move forward. There were also outs posted in the last few days. I hope this reassures some of you.

Pertaining to the sign at the PGN window, I spoke to Laura in PGN today and she assured me that is for new cases only. Cases coming into PGN after 12/31 will need to register first with the central authority before being entered into PGN. She said all PGN cases that are resubmits or in PGN prior to 12/31 will be processes by PGN to completion. We have two cases currently in PGN. I asked her if PGN will be the central authority and she said No, but since our cases were in PGN prior to 12/31 they are still working on all those cases from 2007. This week one case moved from the first reviewer to the second reviewer so I know they are indeed still working on cases.

We, like everyone else, still need to register with this "Phantom" Central Authority and its our sincere hope that news about who and what, where and when, will be forthcoming.

Come on policy makers, we now have 26 days to do this...and counting.

Since October 1st, I had tried to get a referral from a list of about 10 reputable agencies, given to me by the agency doing our homestudy. Absolutely none of them would give us a referral. There were 2-3 agencies claiming to still have babies available for referrals, and they realy pursued getting my "business". But given eveything going on, I had a feeling they were not ethical agencies. I am glad to post the agency names, but I'm not sure that's appropriate, since there may have been some extenuating circumstances. I did see a lot of complaints about these agencies elsewhere though. Fortunately, we are lucky in that we are now free to move on to another country (after grieving the loss of Guatemala) but I cannot imagine what those of you who are still waiting to bring your babies home are going through. This site has helped my decision-making every step of the way, and so I want to express my sincerest gratitude. I am hoping once things clear up in Guatemala, we may have a chance to try again.

Does anyone know if case is considered NEW and must be registered with the new central authority if the POA was registered in October? I got pre-approval right before Christmas.

When we were down in Guatemala in November there was a whole slew of families that were there signing POA's for babies anywhere from 5 days (and they were at the hotel with them staying) to 6 weeks. Like 10-12 couples.

Ditto on the question by Lisa: We are watching & waiting, with pre-aproval received 12/22. Still not sure what is "in process," and agency has not/can not tell us - playing it quite guarded and close to the vest. Where else are people getting info??? Thanks.

Ok- JCICS has updated their news. PGN has stopped processing cases. Kevin, do you know yet what this means? I'm about 30 days in the US Embassy to get approved. Now what?

I signed a POA on December 27, 2007. However I went to Guatemala to sign the POA. The lawyer indidcated that the POA was submitted in time.

I did so, as my original referral fell through. I have gone so far in Guatemala, I was willing to fly down to sign a POA for new child.

I also at the stage of others, I have to take my lawyer's word that he registered the POA successfully.

Ok, is this interpretation correct.....Cases that are being submitted after December 31 have to go through the non existent Central Authority, who is essentially taking the place of PGN. If you have a POA or are in Family Court or waiting for PA to be submitted to PGN as of Jan. 1, then you will go through the "Central Authority" for your final approval for the adoption, not PGN. Hopefully they get this Central Authority up and running so people that are getting out of Family Court and receving PA's can continue to move along in the process and not get stuck in limbo because there is nowhere to go.

We are one of the 8 that received referrals at the end of the year and our attorney came to us. No one has received a picture or any other information BECAUSE no one is sure whether or not it will work. Our agency/facilitator is beyond ethical. They are simply trying to find homes for children WITHOUT families before the law changes. All families knew the risk going into it but were willing to try anyway. How could we not? If we didn't, then that would be one more child of the estimated 5000 that didn't have a family.

How does one check the verification of registration? Like many others we signed in Guatemala the last week of December to ensure the POA was registered. Our agency has told us it was but we would love to verify this.

What about a case that signed POA in country on May 2007 but only go pre-approval on Dec. 22, 2007 and still is not in PGN?

Thank you!!

So Frustrated: If you signed a POA in May and didn't get pre approval until December, there is something wrong with your case. I hate to say it, but either your attorney is not actively working on your case or there is something wrong. What does your agency say about this? You need to ask them the questions and get answers. Yes, Pre-Approvals are taking longer, but not that long. I wouldn't wait any longer before I started to ask them what is going on. JMHO