Two BIG Praises, One Huge Prayer Request

We heard from our friend Steve in Guatemala this weekend. He met with a new lawyer (a friend of our friend Suzanne, thanks, Suzanne!) who reviewed the kids' documents and let Steve know that he has all the legal custody needed to allow us to adopt them. The previous lawyer told us that the birth mother's rights were never terminated and that we would have to petition the courts to get that issue resolved (oh yeah, and pay her $10,000 in the process). Our concern was that if we did that, the birth mother would be brought back into the picture. We really did not want that to happen since the kids were removed from her because she had been abusing them. The frustrating thing is this means we could have filed the adoption papers for the kids 2 months ago and we would have been grandfathered into the new system. (oh well, can't do anything about that now.) The new lawyer will also be taking care of getting Carlos' birth certificate-free of charge! So those are two big praises!

The big prayer request is that Steve is hearing that under the new law, adoptive parents will not be allowed to preselect children for adoption. If this turns out to actually be the case, we will not be allowed to adopt the kids. I haven't found this idea published anywhere so we are praying that this is just hearsay and not really part of the new law. Please pray with us!

Statement from the State Department

The US State Department issued the following statement on January 16:

"The Department of State advises potential adoptive parents and adoption service providers not to initiate new adoptions from Guatemala because of the great uncertainties surrounding implementation of Guatemala’s new adoption law.

We do not know when the Government of Guatemala will be prepared to process cases under the new system set forth in the new Guatemalan adoption law that went into force on December 31, 2007. The Government of Guatemala is now working to put into place the infrastructure necessary to implement the provisions and obligations of the new law. The National Adoption Council, Guatemala's Hague Convention Central Authority , was installed on Jan. 11 and is expected to begin initial operations soon and to quickly ratify and publicize the registration procedure required for adoptions initiated prior to the law’s effective date. But the full process must be in place and functioning before an adoption can be completed under the new law. There is no process in place at this time.

In addition, the new Guatemalan law appears to prohibit new adoption cases with non-Hague countries. Article 39 states that "in international adoptions, the persons who wish to adopt a child must initiate the process through the Central Authority of their country of residence, which will forward the request and appropriate certifications to the Guatemalan Central Authority." Since the U.S. Central Authority will not begin processing Hague adoptions until April 1, the new Guatemalan law does not appear to contemplate U.S. adoptions until after April 1.

Finally, we cannot guarantee that adoptions will continue between the United States and Guatemala after April 1, 2008, when the Convention goes into force for the United States. The Convention prohibits all members from processing adoptions from member countries that do not have Hague compliant adoption processes. As a consequence, the United States and other Hague Convention countries will have to determine whether the new process in Guatemala meets Convention requirements. If a fully Hague compliant process is not in place in Guatemala by April 1, 2008, the United States government will not be able to process new cases with Guatemala. While we will assist the Guatemalan government as much as possible to ensure that the new processes are sufficient, we cannot at this time predict whether or when we will be able to process adoptions from Guatemala after the Convention goes into force in the United States."

The good news is that on Wednesday, January 16, 2008, new members of the Central Authority were appointed. They also released the forms necessary for in-process adoptions. Because we were not able to file the necessary forms by December 31, we are considered a new adoption. The Central Authority has not stated what the process for new adoption will be but it is encouraging that they have already named their new members and released the processed for in-process adoptions. We'll keep you posted if we hear anything but as it stands now, it looks like we can't do anything until the US installs the Hague treaty on April 1.

We've Been Busy

Well, due to the concern of my sister Kel that something is very wrong with us because we haven't posted in 3 weeks, I've decided to post this update. We spent Christmas with Matt's grandparents in IL. (Caesar spent Christmas at home with his giant bone.) Some of Matt's extended family was there as well. In fact, it was my first time to meet Matt's cousin Nathan and his wife Anabel.

We were only back in KY 1 day when I flew to NY to be with my extended family for my Grandma Morris' 80th birthday. While I only got to see my out-of-town family for 1 day, it was still good to spend time with my Mom's family that still lives in NY. I also had my first experience with the Elmira, NY airport, which has to be the smallest airport I have ever been in (they only have 2 counters-Northwest & USAir). I flew home New Year's Day in the midst of a snow storm that stretched from Chicago to Maine. It was interesting, but I actually made it to Lexington only 30 minutes later then I was scheduled to arrive. The night before I left NY, I took Airborne at the urging of my Aunt Laurie. She insisted this would help keep me from getting whatever Matt's been fighting for 6 weeks and whatever the guy that sat behind me on the plane had. Well, it didn't and I woke up Thursday (the 3rd) morning to a fever and unable to get out of bed. Apparently I had some virus other then what Matt has been fighting because he came down with it Saturday. We both felt horrible all last weekend and are just now getting back to our normal perky selves. =) So the main reason we haven't updated is we've been feeling pretty crummy for over a week now. Plus Matt has been working a lot of hours as he balances his 3 jobs. He is enjoying his new job at the public library though.

No news on the adoption front as Guatemala celebrates Epiphany on January 6th and all the government office have been closed this week. Hopefully things will start moving again this week and we'll hear something soon. We aren't holding our breathe though. Since I didn't have any pictures related to the adoption, I thought I'd post one of my nephew Hunter playing on a tractor outside Great Grandpa Morris' house. It didn't matter to Hunter that it was only about 20 degrees outside that day. I've never seen a kid so obsessed with tractors.

My Three Jobs

Matt here. With the prospect of bringing two children home (not just one), new questions have raised about our life. Because my salary with New Hope International is support-based, even with my part-time (12 hrs/week) job in the Asbury College Library Archives, we are going to need a lot more income to care for a family, especially because our current two-bedroom apartment living arrangement will not be sufficient for long. I had also been considering, at the urging of some people at the College, to pursue a graduate degree in library science at the Univ. of Kentucky, a terminal degree in the library field that would qualify me for faculty status and give me some stable career options. I was thinking of beginning next fall, but that would be more expense.

Last week the job of Office Manager opened at our local public library. I applied, interviewed, and was offered the job. This 38 hr/week job is a rather sudden and somewhat unexpected development. (An added benefit is that this job qualifies me to receive some significant financial assistance in the graduate degree program at UK.) To maintain my connection with Asbury, I hope to continue with my 12 hr/week job in the Archives. (That is only a 9-month job, so I will not have to work it during the summer.)

So what does this mean for my work at New Hope? It will be difficult, but I do intend to continue most of my work with New Hope for two reasons: (1) I do not yet feel released from this area of ministry, and (2) it will continue to provide a small additional income as we try to save for the adoption, larger living space, and grad school (not to mention the expense of supporting a growing family). I intend to continue my work with New Hope on nights and weekends at least through the end of the summer 2008, at which point we will reevaluate. There are many things going on at New Hope with which I am involved and that still demand my attention, so I will continue to do much of what I do now for NHIM, though perhaps at odd hours. Much of what I do with New Hope is increasingly done by email anyway, and I will be able to continue to monitor that wherever I am working. I will also be delegating more tasks to our student workers under my supervision. I feel that, though I will be pulled in more directions now, I still have valuable and crucial service to offer to that ministry.

So...three jobs...yikes. Pray for me that I will have strength and wisdom as I try, with God's help, to make this all work.

The Latest Adoption News

The picture here at left is of Rosa and Carlos from when Amy was down in Guatemala in March 2006 with a mission team from Asbury. They are 10 and 5 in this shot.

Through phone conversations with our missionary friend (Steve English) and email conversations with the Guatemalan lawyer (Claudia), here is what we have learned today:

• The kids' birthdays are June 13 (Rosa) and April 20 (Carlos).
• La Senda (the children’s home we visit where Rosa and Carlos have lived for the last six years) has documented legal custody of both children.
• Before Rosa and Carlos can be adopted, the Guatemalan central government adoption authority (the PGN) must make La Senda the legal representative for them (which would eliminate the mother’s legal representation and power over them).
• The court resolution shows a different first name for Rosa’s mother than her birth certificate does. (We think one name is her mother and the other is an aunt.) Whichever of the two documents is incorrect must be amended.
• Carlos does not have an official birth certificate, so one must be created.
• The lawyer is strongly suggesting that we move ahead with DNA testing to confirm who the birth mother is (a common practice in Guatemalan adoption).
• The lawyer is asking for a very high first payment for the DNA tests, doctor fees, and legal fees. We are in the process of trying to confirm if this is a reasonable request.

All of this is somewhat daunting and very unpredictable, but is necessary for the completion of this process. Much prayer is needed. This is by no means a “sure thing” yet.

The most crucial point is getting the legal representation transferred to the children’s home so they can adopt the kids to us. We believe this will happen, because the courts have previously recommended that Rosa and Carlos be made available for adoption, but as with any adoption we cannot guarantee a favorable ruling.

The second most crucial element is the current political situation concerning Guatemalan adoptions to the US. Though much has been said and debated, we haven’t found definitive answers on how this applies to our situation. We do know that we will be fighting through the bureaucracies of two governments to get these kids home.

What the Lawyer Said

We got an email from the lawyer in Guatemala yesterday (Monday). She did go to the courts on Friday to review Rosa and Carlos' papers. She found that there were no birth certificates for either child. However, Steve (the missionary) provided her with a copy of Rosa's birth certificate. She is going today to the municipality where Carlos was said to have been born to see what she can find. (This is all kind of puzzling, because these kids have been in the court system for six years.) So, that's the latest. Keep praying!

Our First Family Picture?

This picture is from a mission trip we took to La Senda back in 2005. In this picture Rosa is 9 and Carlos (not his normal photogenic self here) is 4. It was on this trip that we fell in love with these two and originally looked into adopting them. When it didn't work out, we figured it was not to be. But God had other plans!

We are anticipating an email tomorrow (Monday) from the attorney in Guatemala. We are hoping it will shed more light on what our process is going to look like (and how much it will cost?). Please be in prayer for two specific concerns: the timely completion of the logistical work and provision for the extensive financial cost of the adoption.