Another Visit to Guatemala

In the hopes that Shira will remember me from my July visit, I am heading back to Guatemala tomorrow to see her. My mother is joining me, which is not only a wonderful opportunity for Shira to meet her first grandparent, but also great for me because my mom is fluent in Spanish!


As many of you have heard, the paperwork process this time around is both arduous and slow. Due to many complicated factors including changes in the Guatemalan internal legal system, a strife-torn election, increased oversight of adoptions by the U.S. government, and a pending overhaul of the Guatemalan adoption system that could significantly delay or essentially shut down international adoptions, adoptions are taking much longer now. If you want to know more details about these highly-complex issues, let me know. I have spent hours (and hours!) reading about them in great detail. Unfortunately, the news articles being written up in U.S. papers are often filled with misinformation and do not usually reflect the complexity of the issues. It's been quite an education about the media for me.

Here is our paperwork update: After waiting for over 2 months for the US Embassy/Homeland Security to issue pre-approval status for Shira (related to immigration--a task that took 2 weeks when we adopted Merav), we are now in the second-to-last stage called PGN, which is the Guatemalan Attorney General's office. This stage can take anywhere from several weeks to several months or more. After being released from PGN there is a series of smaller tasks that need to occur involving finalization of paperwork (new Guatemalan birth certificate, US Passport and final immigration papers, and a second DNA test, to name a few) which takes another several weeks. At this point, our hope is that we will bring Shira home by the end of the calendar year. We'll let you know.


When I get to Guatemala, I'll post new pictures for you!

Julie