Warm Bottles & Hot Flashes

The Adoption Timeline:

Several months after Josh was diagnosed, I joked with the nurses that I should receive an honorary RN. I knew how to draw blood, give meds, heparinize a central line and check for proper positioning of an NG tube.

Now, after navigating the adoption labyrinth, I feel entitled to another honorary degree.

Here then, as simply as I can make it, is the path we began to innocently walk down over a year ago:

In the U.S.:

1. The Choice: You choose an agency, fill out paperwork and jump in.


2. The Orientation: Four hours of training now qualifies us to meet with our social worker to pursue the adoption of a child. (Come to think of it, that’s four more hours of training then biological parents receive!)


3. The Microscope: You invite a social worker into your home which has been cleaned beyond an inch of its life. There is adoption conversation (you know it’s under the guise of seeing how you act in your every day setting.) She departs without inspecting the closets. Instead you are left with a five page, single spaced list of questions. These questions cover perspective adoptive parents’ lives starting in utero and ending with what you had for breakfast yesterday.


4. The Memoir: The spouse who can type the fastest prepares answers to these questions. In our case, the spouse who can type the fastest also talks the most, so our answers ran about 35 pages.


5. The Government steps in: meanwhile, you’re getting fingerprinted at the Department of Homeland Security. (Lesson learned: no joking.) State, local, municipal police departments must attest to the strength of your character. A background check is conducted. Applications for approval to adopt a foreign orphan are completed.
   On to the Dossier: now it’s time to assemble all materials plus a few more into a dossier to be scrutinized by the agency conducting adoptions as well as the Guatemalan government. No less then a dozen different types of information are required for each spouse. Everything must be notarized. Then the notaries must be checked out and notary approval must be notarized.


6. Off goes the Dossier: After days of frantic running around, checking and double checking, your life story, your hopes and dreams are in the mail.
   

In Guatemala:

Timeframe: 6 – 9 months

For a more "professional" description with tons of detail, please link to the following flow-chart: www.jcics.org/CIS%20Guat_Adop_Chart.pdf

For my rather unprofessional assesment: see below

1. Waiting list: We wait our turn on the boy list. We’re assuming we’ll get a referral in late August. Instead, one happy day in early August, this arrives in our e-mail box.
2. Acceptance: One week later, with all information in hand, we accept the referral. We have fallen in love with little Danny, less than a month old and perfect.
3. Power of Attorney: Power of Attorney is signed giving our Guatemalan lawyer permission to begin acting on our behalf.
4. DNA Requested: The birth mother and little Danny’s DNA is tested to ensure a biological relationship.
5. Pre-Approval Requested: The Department of Homeland Security is petitioned for pre-approval to proceed with the adoption
6. Social Worker Visit: At the same time, an appointment to Family Court is made. The birth-mother then meets with a social worker who determines whether she has made a willing, informed decision to make an adoption plan for the baby.
7. PGN: Once pre-approval and the social-worker visit are complete, the case with all accompanying paperwork is submitted to PGN. This is an acronym which I’m pretty sure translates into: Bureaucratic Black Hole. The PGN process takes about 8 weeks. However, anywhere along the way a case can be kicked out (KO) for additional paperwork. Once resubmitted, the timeline may start all over again.
8. Out!: Once out of PGN, the US Embassy authorizes permission for a second DNA test with the baby’s original DNA tested against a new sample to make sure it’s the same baby.
9. PINK: Once DNA comes back as a match, the embassy communicates an appointment to finalize paperwork and finally bring this beloved child home! The approval is on pink paper, hence the word “pink.”

New Laws in Guatemala:

Effective in 2008, Guatemala has suspended all adoptions. They will be rewriting adoption law. The Guatemalan government pledged that all cases in process at the end of 2007 would be allowed to continue.

• Problem: no one knows what "in process" means. Best guess is that Power of Attorney has been registered.
• Problem: under the "grandfathering" clause, all in process cases must be registered with the Central Authority. Unfortunately, this agency has yet to be established.
• Problem: effective January 3, 2008 no new cases are being accepted into PGN. No one knows if this is a permanent situation, or is temporary pending establishment of and registration with the Central Authority