The Guatemalan Process

Ok, I am no expert in the Guatemalan Adoption process, but here is the low down, according to my research:

First you have to complete your dossier (which includes your homestudy) and get your I 171H. Once this is done everything is sent over to Guatemala and translated. Most people will get a referral once all this paperwork is in Guatemala, but since we picked our children from a photolisting, we had a referral before our paperpwork was completed. After a referral is found, a Power of Attorney (POA) is sent to Guatemala to allow your referral's attorney to represent you. Once your POA is registered in Guatemala your/your referral's attorney enters you into Family Court and requests DNA authorization from the US Embassy. DNA is required to be done on both the birthmother and the child, to be sure that they are indeed biologically mother and child. In Family Court a social worker is assigned and that social worker reviews all the paperwork, interviews the birthmother and visits the child. The social worker then approves (almost always) the adoption. Meanwhile, the DNA should be done and the results sent to the US Embassy. The Embassy pre-approves the adoption and the case is sent to the Guatemalan Attorney General's office, referred to as PGN (or even better known as the pit of despair). PGN can break even the most sturdy of adoptees. Your case is very closely scrutinized there and it often times knocked out for the most ridiculous reason. So, PGN can, at best, be very unpredictable and scary. Once we do get out of PGN, the birthmother signs off (for the 4th and final time) on the adoption and our attorney signs off on the adoption decree. Then the child becomes legally ours. Before we can travel for pick up though a new birth certificate has to be issued and submitted for a Guatemalan passport. Once the passport is issued, that, along with all our other paperwork is submitted to the US Embassy. The Embassy will then authorize the child's visa and give you a "pink slip" with the authorization on it. That pink slip is like a "go" light. We can then travel on our pick up trip.

Whew! I know that is a lot to take in, but I just want everyone to know the process so that when I tell you which step we are at, you will understand where that is in the grand scheme of things.

Julie