What in the world????

First of all...I know the song has to go. I just forgot how I put it there. The song went with the Christmas update so scroll down and you will figure it out.

Next, boy I was rambling in the last update. Funny things happen in my brain after midnight...truthfully, there are always funny things happening in my brain but that is another story. I do want to clarify some things.

Since court resumed in mid January, our attorney who we hired months ago was able to register himself with minor's court to represent Kenny, I, and Cintia. This is family court in Guatemala. They deal with all wards of the court or family issues like neglect and such. This is the court where Cintia was surrendered by her original attorney the day I went to court with her. That attorney was hired by her birthmother. She abandoned Cintia right after placing her or at least once the attorney found out she was sick. Abandoned in Guatemala has 2 different connotations. She was abandoned...left without a parent and said parent is unable to be located. She was not legally abandoned. No one went to the court and filed the legal documents to get her declared legally abandoned which would allow her to be deemed adoptable. In the interim, as was explained to me by a friend who runs an orphanage, she really was in limbo or no man's land without any possibility of being adopted. The attorney tried to find a family first and planned to file it then...but nobody would take our sweet little girl due to her condition. So....that is where we had to start. The day I went to court in Guatemala was the day she became a ward of the minor's court. Now they are her "legal guardians." The paperwork given to me by the judge gave me permission to take her out of the country and to care for her while she is here. I am to bring her back to the judge when I return and the Cintia's process will resume. Well, we all know that is not in Cintia's best interest. She would not survive the orphanage if I took her back (medically speaking) and psychologically....we won't even go there.

We hired our attorney in September. Our attorney advised "Under no circumstances do you bring her back to Guatemala until an adoption is ready to complete." He stated that even then it needs to be for a specified amount of time agreed upon by the court, PGN (the written law..lawyers who make sure everything on paper is within the very letter of the law down to every "i" dotted and "t" crossed...and I do mean literally), and the new central authority who will actually approve the adoption. The very letter of the law states that she has to be placed in an orphanage. It is a risk he says we cannot take. So......

Marco, our attorney, visited PGN and they have agreed to collaborate with him to help us adopt Cintia. He did this prior to meeting with our judge so that he will have their support and can offer options to the judge that she can actually agree to. If they said no, her hands would be tied. She has to know that her actions are within the written law or will be allowed to pass as special circumstance. Marco also put in some paperwork to her so that our names can be officially on Cintia's case. Although we have her, we are taking care of her health through Children of the Americas. Our names are not shown in her orphan case file as someone who wants to adopt her. Under the new law, we need our names legally attached to her. Marco did not identify any problems with that. This week (I don't know which day) he is meeting directly with the judge on Cintia's case. She has been know to snatch babies out of parents hands before...just to acquaint you with her. She never cracks a smile (except the one I listed in the previous update) and is all about "doing it right." He is asking her to start Cintia's abandonment now....while she is out of the country. Directed prayers for our judge and attorney are beyond important. If our judge says no, we are shut down instantly and will have to file for an appeal. She may say that she will do it but not until Cintia is in the country. She may demand orphanage placement first as the law states or make a special provision allowing us to go to Guatemala and foster her (even that being outside the normal law...and given special circumstances). Cintia needs to stay here for as long as possible. If we felt her health issues could wait indefinitely, we would file for the abandonment and wait until she has been in the US for 2 yrs and adopt her US side. There is a hole in the Hague Convention regarding that (more legal stuff but it would be doable). We just don't think we need to wait. We need to get her adoption completed so that she has health insurance and all of the specialized care she needs.

Sorry it is so long but these are questions I answer every day because it is such a complicated case. I am so glad it is not too hard for the Creator of the universe!

Now I am exhausted but hopefully made this all clear. Next update will be with the news from court.

Blessings!
April