Sofi@ 's Case Moving Along

We found out yesterday that we are in Family Court (we probably have been since before the end of the year). Family Court is a 3-6 week process where a social worker interviews the birth mother, reviews her situation (economic, family, etc.) and makes a determination regarding the adoption.

The interview with Sofi@ 's birth mother is scheduled for this Thursday. It should take about 3 weeks for the social worker to complete her report after that.

From there, we need to wait for the Embassy Pre-Approval. This used to take 30 days, but is now taking about 60. The U.S. Embassy reviews the paperwork and gives their "thumbs up" that they will allow this orphan to enter the United States upon completion of the adoption.

After Pre-Approval, then we enter PGN. So, based on this timeline, we probably will enter PGN sometime around the beginning of March. But, I'm not sure there will be a PGN. I think under the new law there is another process that will take the place of PGN (called the Central Authority), but I don't quite understand it yet. Also, Guatemala still has not set up the new Central Authority which is to process adoptions, so there may be a delay while we (and many other families) wait until this is set up.

Barring any unforeseen delays (and because the laws are changing, there certainly could be unforeseen delays) we would hope to have Sofi@ home by the Fall. We, of course, are holding all this with a very open hand because there are so many unknowns at this point. We are holding the timeline loosely...what we aren't holding loosely is the fact that she will come home. We are standing in faith that she will come home to us!