Latest Updates

What a rollercoaster month this has been. After thinking that Maria might be sent to an orphanage, never to be heard from again, events have changed to make us much more optimistic.

Our lawyer met with the head of PGN and then the head of the Minor Birth Mother's Division of PGN. The first one punted a decision, the second said that she would recommend removing the birth family from the equation, and substituting Anne and Michael in instead! WOW! What this means is that PGN is now supporting keeping Maria with the foster parents, having us (or our representative) be a formal part of this process, and recommending going forward with the adoption.

We were asked if we were willing to do this (since this whole process might take 6 or more months) and of course we said "Yes!" So our lawyer and the head of the Minor Birth Mother's Division had a meeting with the judge, and from what we've been told it looks to be all on track. Apparently there will be multiple meetings with this judge, who will oversee the process. And instead of parental rights being "voluntarily rescinded" or removed by "abandonment", they will be removed from the birth mother and her father via "revocation". Just different aspects of Guatemala law.

So there's still a long road in front of us, but the path looks clearer, and it looks like we (and our Guatemalan advocates) are more in control of the situation. All positive improvements from where we were two weeks ago.

New Pictures for January 2007




New Pictures for January 2007

The Story Thus Far

Many of you are aware that we've encountered delays in our adoption. Some of you have some details, others fewer. It's been a confusing fall and winter. So here's our attempt at updating the story. Things are moving more rapidly these days, and we'll try to keep the blog updated. We appreciate your thoughts and prayers.

The most concise synopsis of what's been going on is that apparently the agency reviewing the records in Guatemala has some concerns about the state of mind of the birth mother.

To date they (PGN, the Solicitor General's office in Guatemala and the Minor Birth Mother's Division in PGN ) has interviewed the birth mother on at least 3 separate occasions (without appropriate translation), and has opened (and presumably) closed an "investigation" into the birth mother's paperwork. Because of the alleged concerns that the birth mother might not have wanted to give up the baby, our facilitator offered the baby back to the family. The birth mother's father, who has the parental rights in Guatemala, apparently said that they do not want/can not have the baby in their house.

Because of the allegedly contradictory information between the birth mother and her father, the Minor Birth Mother's Division had actually recommended sending the case to the Court of Minor's. There, instead of the Birth Mother signing something to rescind her parental rights, they would go through an abandonment procedure. This would mean that Guatemala would be the parent in charge, and more likely Maria's care would be transferred to a Public Ministry orphanage, where we might never hear from her again. This seems like a horrible lose-lose situation for everyone, most certainly for Maria.

Then we found out that (almost) all of the psychologists in the Minor Birth Mother's Division were laid off, allegedly for corruption charges. This is good news because it may be that the "concerns" about the birth mother's intentions were fabricated. With this news there was now a possibility that PGN would drop the abandonment procedures and instead re-process our paperwork, potentially re-interviewing the birth mother. It would be nice to know what is in her heart when she is properly translated, so that everyone will know.

So our facilitator met with the head of PGN on Friday Jan 19th. He told her that he wouldn't make the decision, but he would pass that decision to the head of the Minor Birth Mother's Division (who apparently didn't lose her job).

So that's the current status. Our facilitator and her team of lawyers have an appointment with the head of the Minor Birth Mother's Division on Tuesday. One lawyer will argue for what is best for the baby, for the birth mom and family, and another lawyer will argue what is best for us. We'll find out then what direction we're heading and that the steps are after all this is taken into consideration and a decision is made.

We think that this is all good news, and are hopeful that the roadblocks will continue to be cleared so that we can pick Maria up soon. We want her to be home with us very badly. She is with her foster parents, and as you can see by the pictures, she is growing up and doing well.

PICTURES FROM DECEMBER 2006

Here are the pictures from December 2006. Because of the holidays, and other delays, we didn't receive them until Jan 2007.

We should get more pictures soon, so check back!