Case Update

Good evening! We got a monthly update from our agency on how our adoption case is progressing. At the end of each month, the attorneys in Guatemala City send case updates to our agency, who passes them on to us. We were getting very impatient waiting for our first update but finally received it late last week. We found out that our adoption dossier (i.e. our case file that will be reviewed by the Guatemalan government) was sent to Guatemala on August 2, and that our power of attorney was sent on August 8. Once the power of attorney made it down, the attorneys could officially start working on our case. A DNA test for Henry and Henry's birth mom was taken on August 25. So, I will update/revise our Type A timeline as follows:

Homestudy approval by Social Worker: 6-5-06
I-171H received (approval by U.S. govt.): 6-26-06
Josue Moises Morales born: 7-12-06
Guatemalan dossier completed: 7-17-06
REFERRAL OF JOSUE!!: 7-24-06
Referral paperwork completed: 7-28-06
Power of Attorney sent to Guatemala: 8-8-06
Birth mom & Henry DNA test: 8-25-06
DNA Match:
Approval by Guatemala family court:
Approval by PGN:
Travel date:
Return home!:

We think that it is good news that the DNA test occurred so quickly, a little over 2 weeks after our power of attorney made it to Guatemala, because the birth mom has to make an appointment to take the test and drive into Guatemala City for the appointment. Assuming Henry's birth mom has to work, getting into the city could have been quite a chore, but it appears to have gone smoothly. We also are hoping that our case has been assigned to a Guatemala family court. Once it is assigned, a social worker will interview the birth mother and the court will presumably find that she cannot support the child and will give approval to the adoption. We can't estimate how long that process will take because there are several family courts in Guatemala and they all move at varying speeds. Hopefully that is some information we will find out in our September update.

We also received a medical update on Henry Moises. On September 2 Lil' Henry went in for a checkup and he weighed in at 9 pounds 10 ounces (birth weight 8 lb. 14 oz., but had lost over a pound by his first checkup- 7 lb 12 oz.), with a length of 51 centimeters (46 cm. at birth). He was administered shots for polio, meningitis and Hepatitis B. Ah, I'll just quote verbatim from the report: "The patient presents a normal and adequate physical and mental development for his age; the patient is active asympotmatic, whith no evidence of any infectious disease at this time. Currently he has a good nutritional and neurological state, adequate for his age. The baby observes mobile objects. The baby has voiced an intense enthusiasm for the Minnesota Twins."

Okay, so I had to add the last sentence. But all in all, a good report. The report also stated that the foster mother is married and has three children, two boys aged 19 and 17, and a girl aged 12. It would be interesting to know if she is a regular foster mother or if this is her first foster child. We hope Henry doesn't keep the family up too late at night! No, he's perfect, right?

This posting had a lot of information in it. Our favorite times are when we receive information, any kind of information, on our child. We also love to show him off to others!