Case Timeline

As you can see by our postings, we usually only get to it on the weekends. It seems like the weeks fly by in a flurry of work, work, work (either job work or house work). So, I am using the bonus hour that we received due to daylight savings to post our case timeline:

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: 9-11-06
Approval by Guatemala family court (estimated): 10-1-06
U.S. Embassy Pre-Approval: 10-6-06
Entry into PGN (estimated): 10-20-06
Approval by PGN:
Travel date:
Return home!:

As you can see, we only have three dates left to fill in! We are estimating that we left "phase two", i.e. the Guatemalan family court process, around the start of October. We haven't officially been told yet that we left that phase, but because it is a prerequisite to entering into PGN we are assuming it has happened. I said in a previous post that our U.S. Embassy "pre-approval" packet was being held at Window #10 in the Embassy because we had to fill out another form to have the packet physically picked up. We are assuming that has happened and hope the turnaround time to actually enter the PGN system (as we've stated before, the most unpredictable and intimidating section of the whole process) has occurred as well.

PGN is the most trying time for most families, as it is left to the vagaries of the Guatemalan civil service. We feel that God is on our side and will guide little Henry's file through the system in a speedy time. We appreciate everyone who reads about our experiences. We are getting near to the time where we would get a monthly update and pictures but we aren't holding our breath because we didn't get our September update until October 13. That's okay, because we never tire of looking at pictures of our son that we already have!

We haven't heard any new news about Guatemalan government decrees or foster mom harassment, so that is good. Tomorrow we will try to post information regarding UNICEF's role in international adoptions, and why we won't be giving any change to UNICEF this Halloween.

Medical Update and Another Word of Warning

Unfortunately we didn't find any time to blog during the week, I guess we were just too busy. I went to meetings in Cloquet, Tofte, and Brainerd just during the first three days of the week! Henry's meetings consist of every few hours with a bottle of formula in Guatemala City. Then, as you can see by the pictures, a lot of sleep.

Like we said last time, we hope we are in PGN by now, although we can never be sure. A form had to go down there and then our pre-approval from the Embassy was going to be picked up. Of course, today was a holiday in Guatemala: Revolution Day. In October 1944 popular revolts were held around Guatemala to protest the military strongman who was the ruler at the time. The revolution led to democratic elections and a new, albeit socialist, leader. Anyway, what this means for us today is that no one will be around to work on our case! Erin found out online that one case had gotten all the way through PGN in only 10 days! So, if we also went through in 10 days, assuming we officially go in on Monday, we would be out by Election Day and would likely have Henry home by Thanksgiving! Let's not bet on that...

We did get a medical update on our bundle of joy. He was evaluated on October 5 and weighed 11 pounds, 8 ounces, with a length of 52 centimeters and a cephalic circumferance of 37 centimeters. A second dose of polio, triple meningitis and hepatitis B was administered. On September 2, Henry weighed 9 pounds, 10 ounces, with a length of 51 centimeters. According to the medical report: "The patient presents a normal physical and mental development, according to his chronological age, the patient is asymptomatic with no evidence of infectious disease at this time, and he presents a good nutritional and neurological state, according to his age." Now, the sentence that really gets us: "The baby smiles when someone laughs at him or when he sees faces." I don't need to say that we wish he was smiling and laughing at our faces! Okay, I guess I said it anyway.

We are truly blessed to have a healthy baby, even though he is thousands of miles away. And, we are also blessed to have a foster family that is caring for our baby. How truly blessed we are came into focus a little bit more in the last few days, when more disturbing news came from Guatemala. Apparently a "police directive" was issued stating that custody of a child in the adoption process was only legal if the custodian had a judicial court order. Because the placement of children with foster mothers is a purely private process, a foster mom will never have a court order. So, one possible interpretation of the directive was the police had free reign to "raid" foster homes. There were also reports of foster mother harassment and detainment outside of hotels, although we aren't sure how many mothers were actually detained, if any.

We have now learned that the directive was rescinded, so maybe now everything is okay. But many online forums are not recommending travel to Guatemala to visit children. We weren't planning to visit anyway, but of course we will make the trip down there to pick Henry up when it's time. This threat, just like the last one a few weeks ago, again looks like posturing from the anti-adoption forces in Guatemala. You have to wonder however when this whole thing will blow up. We feel pretty comfortable now because we are matched with a baby and are fairly deep within the process. However, I would not start a Guatemalan adoption right now and it's sad, but I can say with confidence that we will probably not be adopting a second child from Guatemala (not that we don't want to, but it just might be impossible).

So that's it from chilly Duluth. October is almost in the books already, but we have no idea if we will be getting a case update or more pictures sooner or later, since we didn't get our September case update until last week! Plus, some agencies are shutting down further medical visits (which is when new pictures are taken) because of possible harassment of foster moms. This just adds fuel to our fire of hoping that the adoption process will move swiftly. We should stress, however, that this latest hiccup doesn't seem to be affecting the adoption process. So, even though we haven't even started on the nursery yet, we wouldn't mind having the "problem" of Henry being home despite no nursery!

Sorry for the long post. We'll try to be more frequent. Happy fishing.

Fast and Furious

We got our case update on Friday afternoon, and whoa, what an update! As was noted in a previous post, there are basically four "phases" in the Guatemalan adoption process. The first is the DNA test of the birth mother. Second, the family court process, which includes an interview of the birth mother by a social worker. Third, the review of the adoption dossier by the PGN (attorney general) office. Last, final paperwork and the scheduling of an appointment for us at the Embassy office.

Well, it looks like we will be moving into "phase 3" next week! Our case updated stated that the birth mother had the interview with the social worker on September 7. And we already told you that we received "Pre Approval" from the U.S. Embassy on October 6. The two prerequisites for entering the PGN process: (a) completion of Guatemalan family court (which we assume has happened since the birth mom was interviewed over a month ago) and (b) Pre Approval. However, the official Pre Approval form is still waiting at Window No. 10 at the Embassy office because the person at our attorney's office who was supposed to pick up the paperwork resigned, and the Embassy won't release the paperwork to anyone else until we signed and sent another form. Heck, I'll fly down there and get it! Or I could drive: take I-35 south from Duluth to the tip of Texas, then ask for directions through Mexico and into Guatemala City, no problem. Anyway, that extra form was sent down on October 12, so once it gets down there, hopefully early next week, the PGN process will begin.

We have done a lot of looking around on various Guatemalan adoption websites and they all agree that PGN is the most nerve-wracking and/or intimidating process. Probably something like facing Johan Santana. Our agency said that the average wait time for the PGN process is 1-3 months. It probably won't go any faster than 1 month, but it could go a lot longer than 3 months. We have heard of people waiting 1 year or more for the case just to get through PGN!! One common problem is that cases are often "kicked out" of PGN for some weird reason, like not filling in technical language or not filling out forms 100% correctly. What is the use of delaying an adoption just because one blank was not filled in exactly to the bureaucrat's liking? That only hurts the waiting kids, in my opinion.

But I digress. We are just thrilled to be entering this stage and it has come a little earlier than we thought. We still have kitchen remodeling to finish and haven't even started on the nursery! That project will consist of painting, electrical service, decorating, etc. If we can just carve out some time it shouldn't be too bad.

I am out of town so I can't post any new pictures right now. We also got a medical update for Henry tonight and will talk about that in the coming days. In the meantime, it is an exciting time in the Pratt household. Mr. PGN, please be nice to us!

A GOOD DAY!

Despite the Twins getting swept right out of the playoffs, today was a good day on the adoption front. First, we got new pictures of Henry Moises. We've officially decided on Moises for the middle name. Apparently, these pictures were taken at night because our little guy was sleepy and he's in pjs. Actually, he's in pjs in every picture we have of him. Andy and I stare at them, discecting every little detail. In one of the pictures we think he's winking. Andy can't even wink, so obviously Henry's advanced. Most important, Henry looks healthy and well cared for.

Next, we can fill in another date on our adoption calendar. The US embassy issued us Pre-Approval today (PA in adoption lingo). That means they've looked at our paperwork and the DNA results and everything looks ok on their end. We received an e-mail directly from the embassy with this news. We're also hoping to get an update from our agency in the next couple of days. The best scenerio would be that we are also approved by Guatemalan family court. If we are approved by family court and now that we have PA, we will be able to enter PGN. That is the final sign off on the Guatemalan side. PGN is the most unpredictable step and one that we've been nervous about from the beginning. So, I won't think about it on this good day.

Finally, it appears that the threatened halt to adoption has been avoided, for now at least. Its actually very unclear what even happened. Some people say that there never was a big threat. Others say that adoptions were very close to being shut down. Almost everyone we've seen comment on the internet believes that in-process adoptions are ok.

More pictures and news to come!