The plan

Two letters arrived in Guatemala today to our attorney. Praise God for FedEx overnight! One letter is from our pediatrician and one from Dr. Angel. They both say similar things: Cintia is scheduled for a procedure with Dr. Angel on March 26, scheduled to see Dr. Smith on Mon. March 30, and scheduled to see a pediatric neurologist later that week. They also state the truth about Cintia's health concerns. They say that we had requested that Cintia be allowed to leave the country for a court date for a few days this month. She was given permission to travel provided she remain in our care and be back prior to her appointment on March 26. I faxed ahead copies so they could be translated while they were in transit.

Monday morning, Luis, Marco's partner (and possibly Marco too) will meet with the judge and present the letters to push for an expedient court date. Adding an attorney would concern me except during our conversation Marco explained that Luis has a good relationship with our judge. Praise God! In Guatemala, that means a lot. If she knows Luis and respects him, she will be more open to our requests. They have decided to present everything from the perspecitve of Cintia's medical need at this point in the process. They will petition the court for a legal abandonment. From what I understand, the judge could view her birth mother as negligent for abandoning a sick child and the process could be short. Most of the time it takes 6 months to 2 years to get the abandonment decree. Without it, Cintia cannot be adopted. With it, she can. What happens in the interim to Cintia is our main concern.

They will ask that the judge give us custody during the process. The other option is that she surrender it to an organization in Guatemala who can then make us her "substitute family." That organization could then give us permission to bring Cintia back to the US to complete her medical care. If the judge will not do it with her out of the country, they will present option 2 which is either give custody to us and allow us to keep her in Guatemala or give it to an organization who would then allow us to care for her in Guatemala. They are building the case to show that anything that deprives Cintia of the special care she requires in inhumane. PGN representatives are in support of our attorneys and will accompany us to court. The obvious fear is that she does none of the above and simply takes Cintia from us and places her in an orphanage.

The good news is that once we get an abandonment decree, the CNA (new government organization in charge of all adoptions in Guatemala) supports us in adopting Cintia. Because she has special needs, they will help us regardless of whether intercountry adoptions reopen or not.

So pray! Pray! Pray! Protection for Cintia and security for her future....

Blessings!
April