Good things come to those who wait...

...and it sounds like we are in for a very long wait indeed. Here is "the scoop" as we understand it.

1. We are the legal parents of Caleb. However, our attorney is unable to register the adoption and get an updated birth certificate listing us as the parents because the city where Caleb was born, Sayaxché, Petén, has passed a law that has CLOSED their registration of adoptions. We have received notification from the US Department of Homeland Security that unless the adoption is officially registered in the Sayaxché Book of Adoptions, there is no way to get Caleb a visa back to the United States.
2. Our attorney is doing everything in his power to get this rectified. He is taking the Sayaxché law to constitutional court in hopes of getting it overturned, on the grounds that it is unconstitutional. He is also filing some kind of legal appeal, which is appealing the judges ruling that the adoption cannot be registered (and new BC issued) because it is the law in Sayaxché. We have been warned - THIS COULD TAKE MONTHS AND MONTHS to be rectified.
3. While fighting this in the courts, Caleb remains in foster care. This is a HUGE reassurance to us. His foster family is wonderful, and it is very obvious to us that he is receiving as much love and care as possible.
4. The delays that are happening with our adoption are NOT typical. Sayaxché, Petén (think of Sayaxché as the city, Petén as the state, such as Chicago, Illinois) is the only city, to our knowledge, in the entire country of Guatemala that has passed a law that has "closed" the Book of Adoptions. This is really unheard of, something no one has ever experienced before, and certainly not on anyone's radar when we began this adoption. We are aware of 4 other families who are caught up in this exact same mess, and there are at least 2,000-3,000 Guatemalan adoptions in process right now. Lucky us, huh?

As soon as anything changes, we will let you know. Unfortunately, we don't anticipate anything changing quickly. Guatemala is a country with a very strong religious base, and many of the courts and government agencies there shut down for weeks during the Christmas season. In the meantime, please keep your thoughts, prayers, and positive vibes coming. We will never give up until Caleb is safe in the US with us (or until we win the lottery and all move down to Guatemala to care for him ourselves ha ha ha).

Have a GREAT Monday.

Finally - Some Responses to all of our E-mails

Today we received a response from DHS (Department of Homeland Security). It's a bunch of legal garble that doesn't make a lot of sense. It sounds like we will have to have many things met in Guatemalan court in order to satisfy the US laws so that we can bring Caleb home. We're still trying to get this clarified, but it sounds complicated and time-consuming. Just what we need, more delays. On the bright side, at least we have a clear outline of what exactly must be done, so hopefully our attorney can help us accomplish this as fast as the courts will allow.

Also - we need to mention that we received a call from Senator Feingold's office yesterday. They gave us a couple of suggestions of who else to contact about our case, which we did. We don't know yet if it will help, but we do certainly appreciate the fact that we got a response.

So, in a nutshell, we have no clear answers, we only have more questions. And, no solutions to our dilemma. WE JUST WANT CALEB HOME!

The Latest

We received another update on late Friday afternoon, from our wonderful agency. We really are lucky that they are so on top of what is happening. In a nutshell, here is what we learned:

1. The Amparo (legal appeal against the Sayaxché law that forbids releasing adoption-related paperwork) was ruled against in court. So, our attorney is appealing the decision of the judge.

2. Our attorney is taking the entire Sayaxché law to court, on grounds that it is unconstitutional. This sounds like it is a very long, complicated process, and it will involve our attorney and at least 2 other attorneys in Guatemala. We're thankful that he is willing to work so hard on Caleb's behalf, to get this Sayaxché law overturned.

We (Keith and I) are still contacting legislators, asking for their help, especially now that we know the information that is in our last post. We just HAVE to be able to complete this adoption with Caleb's original birth certificate. This waiting is so pointless!!!

Thank you, everyone, for your support. It means the world to us as we live through this stressful period. We're confident that it will all work out, but wish it didn't have to be so difficult in the meantime!

Have a GREAT Monday!

The Law Might Be On Our Side - New Hope!!!

We just e-mailed this to the U.S. Embassy. Another adoptive family who is stuck in the exact same mess as we are may have made the discovery of the year:

We have become aware that there may be a solution to this dilemma. We are asking the US Government to allow us to forego getting a new BC, and to allow us to use the original bc, and we could get a guatemalan passoport in baby's birth name, and the US Visa in baby's birth name, and then we would re-adopt in the US and change baby's name in the US. There is a provision in the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. Section 1202(b)) that permits us to use "other satisfactory evidence" when a document is unobtainable. Documents constitute "other satisfactory evidence" if they establish the fact that the unobtainable document would prove if the unobtainable document were obtainable. So the unobtainable document is the new BC -- the new BC would prove the baby's birth data, and that we are his parents. Thus, the "other satisfactory evidence" would include the original BC, which proves the baby's birth data, the PGN decree, and the Protocolo. These two documents prove we are baby's parents. So these 3 documents constitute "other satisfactory evidence" that prove the baby's birth data and that we are the baby's parents.
We look forward to a quick response from you. After waiting 9 weeks since exiting PGN, we are understandably impatient. Thank you again for your time.

Keep your fingers crossed!!!!!!

Our agency is definitely trying to help

We received an e-mail from our agency today. They wanted us to know that they have asked our attorney to try to set up a meeting with someone in PGN about our birth certificate issues. Additionally, they have contacted the regional CIS (Citizenship and Immigration Services) office in Mexico, to see if they have ever had to resolve similar issues. Isn't that great? Our agency has been wonderful - and it's great to know that they are trying everything possible as well to help us bring Caleb home.

Additionally, we have now contacted our Representative and both Senators. We are hoping that our elected officials can either offer some assistance, or at a minimum, get ideas from the US Embassy in Guatemala. We will be contacting the US Embassy for the 5th time tomorrow morning, too...and are hoping to at least get a response this time.

Otherwise, we have no news. Our attorney did file the Amparo last week, but we have reason to believe that it won't really help, because the Mayor has stated that he would rather go to jail than release any more adoption-related documents because he fears for his life. So we are very excited and hopeful that some of these other options will work.

Have a great day!
Kris and Keith

Amazing Website for you to Look At

The wonders of the Internet. Here is a website that is run by an American family who live in Sayaxché, Petén, where Caleb is from. http://www.guatemalaoasis.com/index.htm Please take time to look at a couple of links that we're highlighting:

1. Pictures of Sayaxché: http://www.guatemalaoasis.com/sayaxche.htm
2. Pictures of the school: http://www.guatemalaoasis.com/schools.htm
3. First-hand insight about what happened in July. We now understand completely why the Sayaxché leaders are refusing to release any documents related to adoption...they are in fear for their lives after what happened. WARNING - some of the pictures are graphic. http://www.guatemalaoasis.com/july_2007.htm

Please keep the families of Sayaxché, Petén in your prayers. The poverty, the fear for the children, and the lack of resources is truly unbelievable.

Oh MAN What a Bummer!

Late last week, we received word from another family who was waiting for a Sayaxché BC that their attorney had filed an amparo (appeal), and that it worked - their attorney got the new BC. We learned today this this is not true. Somehow, there was some type of mix-up or miscommunication (by the agency, not by the other family), and this other family does NOT have the BC, after all. Filing the Amparo did not work.

Talk about a kick in the teeth! Obviously, we're devastated by this news, as is this other family.

We don't know what will happen next. We're starting to accept the reality that Caleb won't be home by Christmas, and that's a hard thing to swallow.

Take care,
Kris

New Pictures!

Just a couple of new pictures for you to enjoy!

Some good news???

As far as we know, there are 3 other families that are stuck in the same Birth Certificate mess that we are. One of the other families' attorney did go up to Sayaxché to file an Amparo (appeal of the mayor's decision to withold the birth certificate), and today the family learned that their attorney has the new birth certificate! So the filing of the Amparo worked - and worked very quickly.

So now we just need our attorney to get up to Sayaxché and do the same thing. And, hopefully we will have the same result. Hang on Caleb, we're coming!!!!!!

We're going nowhere fast

Today is a very special day in Guatemala, called Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. Because it is such an important day, all government buildings are closed. Additionally, November 2nd and November 5th are also government holidays, so we believe that all goverment buildings will be closed these days as well.

What this may mean for us (our assumption) is that our attorney STILL won't be able to go up to Sayaxché, Petén to file the Amparo until sometime next week. This is the Amparo that was supposed to be filed last week. Two more weeks wasted...and really, nothing has been done to move the adoption forward since we exited PGN on September 14th.

Here is your ironic Spanish lesson for the day: As you may have read, we've been warned by our agency and attorney that this legal Amparo process that is needed to get the updated Birth Certificate could take months. The Spanish word for months is "meses". How ironic that "meses" and the English word MESS are so similar?

Have a great day. Please keep Caleb in your thoughts. He is always in ours!