Today From Ethica's Website

2008-01-31

Important Information on Registration of In-process cases in Guatemala


Ethica has confirmed information that there are two Central Authority offices operating, and it is unclear which one will be determined to be the official Central Authority. Therefore, at this time it is recommended that families register their in-process cases with both offices to ensure that their cases are timely registered with whichever office becomes the official Central Authority.

New From the DOS

Guatemala: Registering In-Process Cases with the National Adoption Council

January 2008

The adoption law passed by Guatemala’s Congress on December 11, 2007, permits notarial adoption cases initiated before its effective date of December 31, 2007, to be completed under the old notarial process, provided those cases are registered with the National Adoption Council (CNA), Guatemala’s Hague Convention Central Authority for adoptions, within 30 business days after the effective date of the law. Unless a case has already received a favorable opinion from the Guatemalan Solicitor General’s office (PGN), it still needs to be registered with the CNA to be eligible for processing under the old law. The Embassy, therefore, recommends that prospective adoptive parents confirm with their Guatemalan legal representatives that this registration "Aviso" has been filed with the CNA for their adoption case.

Following receipt of the “Aviso” by the CNA, they will issue a confirmation of registration (“Constancia”). Cases are considered registered and pending only if a “Constancia” has been issued. Filing the “Aviso” with the CNA before February 12, 2008, should be sufficient to register the case, even if there is a delay in issuing the “Constancia.”

Prospective adoptive parents should be aware that the Government of Guatemala is engaged in establishing the CNA and that the definition of “registered case” is still subject to change. Prospective adoptive parents should remain in direct contact with their adoption service providers to ensure that any requirements set forth by the Government of Guatemala are being met.

As Expected: Kick Out

We received the expected KO for no Pre-approval. Spoke with PGN (Laura) and she said our kick out occurred on January 22nd. There may have been other things that need to be remedied. Not sure if our attorney has picked up the file as of yet.

We are still waiting on the USCIS to issue the pre-approval and our attorney to register us with the Central Authority. The central authority has made changes to the form they provided last week. They've added a place for the photo of the child, but other than that, I did not notice any other amendments.

Today's Information from ADA

A few weeks after the Adoptions Law became effective, the Central Authority cannot take off and adoptions are not going anywhere.

Since there is no law to support the legality of the form that requires personal and confidential information of all the interested parties in the adoption, as well as the verification of the same by the Central Authority, it is doubtful that the registration of the adoptions with the weekly changing form, is legal.

The Central Authority does not have money to work, because the ten million quetzals that are needed to start working, will not be released until the conflict of the appointments of the members of the board of directors is settled.

The PGN is rejecting as many cases as possible, and refuses to accept any cases, even those that were previously rejected and need to be resubmitted, until proof of registration with the Central Authority is included.

ALL CASES IN PROCESS, regardless of their status, even those that are already finished and only pending recording at the Civil Registry, must be registered with the Central Authority before February 12, 2008 in order to be grandfathered. If the case is not registered with the CA, the PGN will not approve it. The fact that the CA is refusing to register the cases, because to offer to give the proof of registration later and not doing it, is the same as not registering it.

Right now, not a single adoption case has been registered by the Central Authority.Time is passing by and if by February 12th. that situation has not been solved, the situation of all the adoptions in process will be at the mercy of the Central Authority, because they will have total control of the processes. The adoption lawyers will have to keep supporting the children, but whether the children would go to the people who have been waiting for them is still unclear.

ADA is poised to file an amparo to get a ruling stating that the CA must proceed without delay to register the in process cases and to stop asking for information that is simply none of their business.

If you wish to read the article in full:
http://www.adaguatemala.org/English/news/

New pictures: Top McCaule 6 months, Bottom McKelle 8 months

Busy Week

Our attorney's staff and our coordinator have been very busy filling out the new forms and getting the necessary prints this week for the new Central Authority. News is that the attorneys feel the paper work requests too much personal information not needed by the central authority and in fact PGN feels the same and has not been handing over information that the Central Authority has requested from files. The attorneys have filed a formal complaint, but are still complying with what is required on the forms as written. We'll see what the judge rules.

The personnel that were let go by the new administration last week filed a suit with the courts to retain their positions and at present the judge granted their request on a temporary basis. So I guess at this point rather than 3 there are 5 at Central Authority that are in charge. Hmmm

Our coordinator did indeed see the girls and said they are precious and will be sending more pictures soon. She is currently on her way back to the states.

Requesting Re-Fingerprinting

Since it looks like we are not going to be finished with this adoption before our fingerprints expire on March 26th, we are making application today for a one time free re-fingerprinting. Hopefully, we will have the girls home before the I-171-H expires July 23, 2008!

Here's the website I found the USCIS info regarding the free extensions if any reader is interested: www.uscis.gov/files/pressrelease/PAPChanges080607.pdf

Registration

Coordinator contacted me last evening (She's in Guatemala now) and said that she was meeting with our girls to get their foot and palm prints for the registration form for the Central Authority. We are somewhat relieved that they are indeed filling out the paperwork so that we don't get caught in the gap of those KO'd and maybe missing the February deadline for registration. There has been no clarification on that point. We still do not specifically know what the definition of "grandfathered" is as it pertains to adoptions begun before December 31st. We are fairly confident, however, that our case falls within any specifications.

As of last Tuesday, we were still in PGN and on the first reviewer's desk. Many without pre-approval are not getting KO's until having been on the 2nd reviewer's desk. That could be a good thing as maybe the reviewers will have noted a list of things that need to be fixed while out and we only have one KO.

Hope to have some new pictures of the girls to post since they received a visit last night.

New Form Revealed

The Central Authority has shown us the new form for registration. It is 4 pages long and includes a place for foot/hand prints of the child. Much of the information is redundant to what's already in the file presented to the PGN. In my opinion, it will take a lot of man power to get these filled out and registered with the Central Authority before the February deadline the middle of the month.

Also, the new appointments were made to the Central Authority by the new administration. Rather than step aside humbly, the first appointees have vowed to fight the decision and remain on the job and said the new President had no authority to replace them. Hmmm.

An interesting day, we'll see how all this fleshes out. Those who currently have to register with the new form are those who never entered PGN and those who have received a KO. Not sure yet what will happen to those who may receive a KO in PGN after the Feb. deadline.

In the News Today

Information from Guatemalan Attorneys to U.S. Agencies:
All attorneys that have pending cases have been called to a meeting with what is to be the NEW CENTRAL AUTHORITY on Thursday January 17, 2008. The attorney's will attend to find out what they are suppose to do to register their cases with the new CA.

According to the Prensaescrita Newspaper:
The president's wife is suspect of some of the appointments made on the CNA which were appointed by Berger, the new president wants to appoint them so they don't have an agenda, but only the best interest of the child in mind.

Prayer Request:
We need to be in prayer for the babies of Guatemala as an outbreak of the Rotavirus has been rampant and resulted in the death of at least one infant, 3 1/2 months, who was to be adopted.

News from JCICS Today

Formation of the Central Authority

As required by the new adoption law (Decree 77-2007), the Guatemalan Supreme Court, Bienestar and Ministry of Foreign Affairs have appointed Rudy Soto Ovalle, Marvin Rabanels and Anabela Morfin respectively as their representatives to the Central Authority. The installation of these representatives occurred on Friday, January 11, 208. It should be noted that while the law calls for the appointment of the representatives within 14 business days (approximately January 18), Joint Council is encouraged that the appointments have occurred sooner than required.

It is expected that within days, these newly appointed representatives will meet as the Central Authority and establish (1) procedures by which pending cases can be registered and (2) definitions of ‘cases in process’

Registering of Cases

All cases which are in process, as defined by the Central Authority, must be registered within 30 business days of January 1, 2008 (approximately February 11, 2008). Through considerable discussion with all stakeholders, the representatives to the Central Authority have acknowledged the importance of establishing definitions and procedures by which the pending cases can be registered. Given the early formation of the Central Authority and expected release of the definition and registry procedure Joint Council and others remain confident that the registry of pending adoption cases will be completed within the requirements of the law (by approximately February 11, 2008).

New Central Authority Announced

Today, PGN published information about the new Central Authority.

It is located at
32nd street
9-34 zone 11
Colonia Las Charcas, Guatemala City.

We do not yet have details on the registration process.

Exciting News

Our DNA paperwork arrived at the Embassy at 4 p.m. today. It will most likely not be registered until tomorrow, so the official Pre-approval for visa counting will not start until then. We have not received our hard copy as of yet. We did get our PGN registration number today, so it's official that our case has been entered there.