We asked the agency if they had any other information about the boys in light of what we've been reading on the web re: Guatemala right now. We researched heavily before deciding on our Agency and chose them for their strong faith, their openness, and their flexibility. We wanted to share with you a clip from the email they sent today. I think for me, it was the confirmation I needed to feel more certain than ever, I'm ready to bring these boys home.
~ Kelli
I realized that Guatemalan Adoptions are getting a lot of press right now and the main concern is that private attorneys control adoptions, therefore it has come into questions where the children are coming from. I can't speak for all adoptions in Guatemala, as I am sure some attorney's practices are shady with the adoption system in Guatemala being so large right now. However, I can assure you that our attorneys and their staff only work with children whose families no longer want them and have chosen to give them up for adoption. They are not paid for relinquishing their rights nor given any other incentive to give their children up. My contact, Teo is the one who usually finds out about children who are available. He does not solicit women who are pregnant or have small children so they can be adopted. Most families come to him asking for his help. He makes them go through a rather extensive interviewing process before he accepts the children into his program, making sure that they are giving their children up for the right reasons. He also does this to ensure there will be no problems with the case in the future. We have talked to our contacts in Guatemala many times about this as well as the upcoming Hague Treaty. We have received many assurances that nothing is being done illegally and that Guatemala is working on becoming Hague compliant. We have completed over 60 adoptions in Guatemala and have not had any problems with investigations regarding the legalities of the children being classified as orphans.
Friday, March 30, 2007
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
A Responce from the Agency RE: Guatemala
Ray and I have spent the past few days biting our nails, so to speak, regarding the Department of State website's warning concerning Guatemala -- as they caution against adopting from there and write how they will be watching those adoption with much more scrutiny.
We received an encouraging email from the Agency today that essentially says these hopeful thoughts:
-- The Department of State is always cautious.
-- Their website often reflects the political stability of the country
-- Because this is politics, officials will ask for a little more documentation for a bit of appeasement, as they are not making legislative changes.
-- If they do decide to make legislative changes, those normally take a bit of time to enact -- and we might be done with the process by then.
-- The Agency still believes that if we can get our immigration documents through the system, we'll have bypassed any changes that happen afterwards.
They were continually encouraging with the progress we're making on our paperwork and our homestudy. This has me hopeful that the process is going quicker than they expected. Since they expect 10 - 12 months, I may start hoping for 9! (That would be November, as we started all this whirlwind March 6!)
We received an encouraging email from the Agency today that essentially says these hopeful thoughts:
-- The Department of State is always cautious.
-- Their website often reflects the political stability of the country
-- Because this is politics, officials will ask for a little more documentation for a bit of appeasement, as they are not making legislative changes.
-- If they do decide to make legislative changes, those normally take a bit of time to enact -- and we might be done with the process by then.
-- The Agency still believes that if we can get our immigration documents through the system, we'll have bypassed any changes that happen afterwards.
They were continually encouraging with the progress we're making on our paperwork and our homestudy. This has me hopeful that the process is going quicker than they expected. Since they expect 10 - 12 months, I may start hoping for 9! (That would be November, as we started all this whirlwind March 6!)
Homestudy Appointment Set
I was wrong. It looks like we're planning for a weekend (rather than a day) for the homestudy, which is still much better than three scattered visits. Also, when looking at other home study agencies, they were afraid it would take a while to get into their cycles of families going through the process. This one seems uninhibited by what other families are doing. As it is, we're set for the weekend of April 14 to have our homestudy! Hurray! First major step of adoption planned and set.
Monday, March 26, 2007
State of Guatemala
Feel free to read what I read. Ray passed the link on to me. We thought about calling the agency, but I think that they will remain positive. Essentially, it says that the US is going to be watching exceedingly close to adoptions from Guatemala -- that they strongly discourage Americans from adopting from there -- due to so much corruption.
Ray's take is more positive. He believes that they mean they'll be watching Guatemala for anything fishy, which will protect the children. He also notes they said they are not closing adoptions, which is a good sign for us.
http://travel.state.gov/family/adoption/intercountry/intercountry_3147.html
On an unrelated note, we've heard from the home study group. Because they are based out of Warrenton, it looks like we'll just have one long session with the social worker instead of the typical three. They called today to set up the appointment, which I think means that we are in good stead for knocking the home study out quicker than expected. Right now, we're facing the home study agency and our international adoption agency duplicating paperwork. Hopefully, this will not cause any hangups -- as we're not wanting to pay for documents to go through in duplicate.
We sent a number of emails to the adoption agency over the weekend and have not yet heard back. We'll keep you posted.
Ray's take is more positive. He believes that they mean they'll be watching Guatemala for anything fishy, which will protect the children. He also notes they said they are not closing adoptions, which is a good sign for us.
http://travel.state.gov/family/adoption/intercountry/intercountry_3147.html
On an unrelated note, we've heard from the home study group. Because they are based out of Warrenton, it looks like we'll just have one long session with the social worker instead of the typical three. They called today to set up the appointment, which I think means that we are in good stead for knocking the home study out quicker than expected. Right now, we're facing the home study agency and our international adoption agency duplicating paperwork. Hopefully, this will not cause any hangups -- as we're not wanting to pay for documents to go through in duplicate.
We sent a number of emails to the adoption agency over the weekend and have not yet heard back. We'll keep you posted.
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Answers to some questions
We found out Friday a number of things.
The agency wrote back to tell us some specifics about why people worried about continued adoptions in Guatemala. Essentially they said that they're talking to their contacts in Guatemala and watching the department of state's website. Neither Guatemala nor the US has said they would be closing adoptions. They also said that they believe once we have Immigration clearance, our adoption would be safe no matter what. We're still trying to proceed as quickly as possible with everything, and I imagine next week will be busy as we go through another batch of obtaining documents, filling out forms, and having everything notarized.
We're trying to keep a watchful eye over what's going on, trying not to give way to fears. A couple of friends have now given us the name and number of families who recently adopted from Guatemala for us to contact. We're hopeful that in hearing from other people, it will assuage our worries and offer support.
In other news, we're planning on getting the bunkbeds sometime this next week and setting them up in the boys' room! We're also working on clearing out the room and starting to plan what we're going to do with the room.
We found out that there are no other foster children with the boys, but the foster family has three biological children that live in the home. We were wondering if we should send packages to those children as well, and are still deciding. :) So much to do.
We're all excited.
The agency wrote back to tell us some specifics about why people worried about continued adoptions in Guatemala. Essentially they said that they're talking to their contacts in Guatemala and watching the department of state's website. Neither Guatemala nor the US has said they would be closing adoptions. They also said that they believe once we have Immigration clearance, our adoption would be safe no matter what. We're still trying to proceed as quickly as possible with everything, and I imagine next week will be busy as we go through another batch of obtaining documents, filling out forms, and having everything notarized.
We're trying to keep a watchful eye over what's going on, trying not to give way to fears. A couple of friends have now given us the name and number of families who recently adopted from Guatemala for us to contact. We're hopeful that in hearing from other people, it will assuage our worries and offer support.
In other news, we're planning on getting the bunkbeds sometime this next week and setting them up in the boys' room! We're also working on clearing out the room and starting to plan what we're going to do with the room.
We found out that there are no other foster children with the boys, but the foster family has three biological children that live in the home. We were wondering if we should send packages to those children as well, and are still deciding. :) So much to do.
We're all excited.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Medicals Today
The doctor has now examined both boys, which means we are progressing well on moving the process along, I think. He says essentially that both boys are healthy and normal (with much description) for which we are very thankful!!!
Daniel is 25 lbs. 2 oz, and happens to be 85.0 cm.
Mateo is 30 lbs. 2 oz, and is 92 cm tall!
I'm not super sure about what those heights mean, but it sounds like Mateo is right at 3 feet and Daniel is just a bit under. One yard stick apiece!
Also, with regard to an earlier entry in which I said I was waiting for news about other children at the foster home, they said they were looking into it, but generally if there are, there's not more than four to a home. They also said we would not be visiting the foster home as it is unsafe. They said that when we go to get the children, we'll probably stay in the hotel and not leave as even the police are dangerous.
Thanks for sharing with us the good news of today! We'll keep you posted.
Daniel is 25 lbs. 2 oz, and happens to be 85.0 cm.
Mateo is 30 lbs. 2 oz, and is 92 cm tall!
I'm not super sure about what those heights mean, but it sounds like Mateo is right at 3 feet and Daniel is just a bit under. One yard stick apiece!
Also, with regard to an earlier entry in which I said I was waiting for news about other children at the foster home, they said they were looking into it, but generally if there are, there's not more than four to a home. They also said we would not be visiting the foster home as it is unsafe. They said that when we go to get the children, we'll probably stay in the hotel and not leave as even the police are dangerous.
Thanks for sharing with us the good news of today! We'll keep you posted.
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Trusting God to Hope
Through someone we know, we discovered today that adoptions in Guatemala aren't going well. Within the last week a friend of a friend had his adoption fall apart. The person was told that the money was lost and the adoption wouldn't work out afterall. Consequently, Ray hopped online and tried to see what he could figure out. It appears that someone who is high-ranking in the Guatemalan adoption process was arrested in the US this week. We found more online about how dangerous the country is and the corrupt policies of those within the adoption process and outside.
It so happens that a newsletter came out from the adoption company today, which acknowledges the problems, by simply saying, "rumors abound," but that they were not foreseeing any problems in the near future. It was comforting to hear. In my research about this agency, it has been comforting all along that they are lawyers who are not affected by many legal scenarios that other adoption agencies were.
Anyway, we're waiting to hear more from the Agency and are trying to leave our apprehensions aside and trust God's plan. But keep us in your prayers . . . or more importantly, the boys.
It so happens that a newsletter came out from the adoption company today, which acknowledges the problems, by simply saying, "rumors abound," but that they were not foreseeing any problems in the near future. It was comforting to hear. In my research about this agency, it has been comforting all along that they are lawyers who are not affected by many legal scenarios that other adoption agencies were.
Anyway, we're waiting to hear more from the Agency and are trying to leave our apprehensions aside and trust God's plan. But keep us in your prayers . . . or more importantly, the boys.
Our first package to Guatemala
We’re moving along fairly quickly with the adoption. Our contact at the agency seems impressed by how quickly we’ve been gathering the paperwork. I think our thought is that if we can move quickly enough it will mean the boys can come soon. We realize that in reality there is so much that has to go through the legal system and that Guatemala has a different pace than America, but we are hopeful that if we work hard enough, we can see the boys that much sooner.
Our most recent excitement has come with finishing our first package to send to the boys. We made a photobook at KodakGallery.com and it arrived yesterday, bound and printed, with pictures of us, the house, Mocha, and the rest of the family. It’s just perfect. We’re also sending a book we found at Lifeway with Hermie and His Friends entirely in Spanish. We picked up some Matchbox cars, crayons, and suckers as well. We hope they like it.
Meanwhile, I’m waiting to find out if there are other children in the foster home with the boys. I also wonder if we will go to the home when we go to Guatemala – or if the foster parents bring the boys to us.
Ray would have me add that we also found out that the country is very dangerous, which we discovered in our research and had confirmed when we contacted the agency. Right now, the agency tells us that parts are under control and we should be in one of the safe zones when we go. Rumors that the police are corrupt are apparently true and it’s best to avoid them at all costs. Somehow, we were both mistaken in our original impressions that the country was a sleepy little place. Instead, it seems unstable, violent, and extremely poverty–ridden. I’ll be glad to have boys safe at home with us.
Our most recent excitement has come with finishing our first package to send to the boys. We made a photobook at KodakGallery.com and it arrived yesterday, bound and printed, with pictures of us, the house, Mocha, and the rest of the family. It’s just perfect. We’re also sending a book we found at Lifeway with Hermie and His Friends entirely in Spanish. We picked up some Matchbox cars, crayons, and suckers as well. We hope they like it.
Meanwhile, I’m waiting to find out if there are other children in the foster home with the boys. I also wonder if we will go to the home when we go to Guatemala – or if the foster parents bring the boys to us.
Ray would have me add that we also found out that the country is very dangerous, which we discovered in our research and had confirmed when we contacted the agency. Right now, the agency tells us that parts are under control and we should be in one of the safe zones when we go. Rumors that the police are corrupt are apparently true and it’s best to avoid them at all costs. Somehow, we were both mistaken in our original impressions that the country was a sleepy little place. Instead, it seems unstable, violent, and extremely poverty–ridden. I’ll be glad to have boys safe at home with us.
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