I wanted to post this so everyone is a bit more familar with the process in Guatemala. Here is the The Process Outlined:
1. Get your referral of your child - start working on finalizing homestudy and dossier.
2. Prepare a Power of Attorney and forward it to agency with proper signatures and proper seals. Once attorney receives the POA, the process of your adoption can begin in Guatemala.
3. The I-171-H, I-600 and G-28 documents along with the documents of the Birth Mom and child are presented to the Embassy in Guatemala. The same day the documents are presented, attorney receives the Authorization for DNA testing. You will be contacted when the authorization is received in our office and you will be instructed to call the lab to pay for the test. About 2 months.
4. The US lab where test was processed sends the results directly to Guatemala to the US Embassy. About 30 days.
5. You will be notified via E-Mail of your child’s Visa Pre-Approval by the USCIS/Home Land Security office in Guatemala. At the same time your Guatemalan Attorney will be notified as well. If you have not received this notification after 4 weeks, please contact your Case Manager for instructions on how to proceed to expedite it. About 6 weeks.
We are still waiting to receive our Pre-Approval!!!!6. While all of the above is taking place, your dossier is being translated into Spanish by PGN approved translators and sent to Foreign Affairs for authentication.
7. Once the dossier is authenticated , it is submitted to Family Court and a Social Worker is assigned to the case. Various interviews take place, with the Birth Mother, the Child and the Foster Mom.This can be in process while waiting for your child’s Pre Approval notification. About 2 months
8. The Social Worker issues a report on his/her findings.
(We are still waiting for the report to be received by our attorney in Guatemala.)If the report is favorable the case can proceed to the PGN (Solicitor’s General Office OR “ProcuradurÃa General de la Nación)Hopefully at this point your attorney has received and picked up your Pre-Approval and he/she is ready to submit your file for the first time to PGN. Once in PGN, your case will be assigned to an attorney who will review your case. You will get “kicked-out” of PGN at least once with “previos”, most likely more than one time. These “previos” are irregularities with your case that could be found in either paperwork submitted by your attorney in Guatemala or your dossier. The PGN gets quite picky at this point. You can be rejected from PGN for expired notary commissions, or due to insignificant things like smudges, cross-outs, white outs, illegibility of a document, and so on. This is quite “normal” in the process. When your reviewing attorney is finished reviewing, he gives your file to his supervisor (another attorney) who then signs the file. The case then moves to the Sub-Attorney General’s office for signature. The case follows this sequence each time that is rejected and resubmitted to PGN. If they can’t find anything else “wrong” with your case, the Sub-Attorney General signs the case for final approval and you are out of PGN. Please note that the Sub-Attorney General does not sign on a daily basis, sometimes not even on a weekly basis. About 3 months
9. Birth Mother is called into the Guatemala Attorney’s office to sign off on your case. At this point the child is YOURS, legally, irrevocably and officially.
10. The attorney then needs to file a new birth certificate with your last name at the Civil Registry in the local Municipality where child was born. This may take up to three weeks; depending on how far away from the city the child was born.
11. The attorney then procures a Guatemalan Passport for your child so that he/she can travel out of the country. About 3-4 days.
12. At this time, documents will need to be translated to English to be presented to the US Embassy in order to receive your Embassy Interview appointment slip, commonly referred to as the “Pink Slip” About 48 hours from submission. If submitted on Thursdays, it should come out on Tuesday of the next week. The US Embassy is closed for adoptions on Fridays.
13. The baby/child will need to be seen by an Embassy approved doctor who will do a final examination on the child making sure that all vaccinations are up to date and issuing a bill of good health for the baby to travel. The Doctor issues a report to this effect. You will need to have your Pink Slip at this point. About 1 day.
14. With your “Pink Slip” in hand, the Embassy will schedule your appointment to obtain the visa for your child to travel. Please note that this is done Monday through Thursday, starting at 7:00am. At this time you will pay the proper fee. (Cash, Visa, or MC). You need to retain the receipt to show the Counselor officer. Your child’s visa will be ready to be picked up in the afternoon or the next day between 3 and 4 pm. About 1- 2 weeks.18. You are now free to bring your child home!
So once we receive our Pre-Approval and our report is finished by the Social worker, we will exit Family Court and move into PGN. I hope things keep going smooth!!!
