Information Received from Adoption Supervisors this week...

Earlier this week I spoke to an attorney with Adoption Supervisors. I'm sure that most of you have heard of them but just in case, let me tell you who they are. They are a group of attorneys in Guatemala who have been contracted by this company called "Adoption Supervisors" (AS) and their job is to connect with parents in the process of adoption and assist them with their cases. Sounds great huh? Well, there is a hefty fee involved if you want to hire them. The first report is approximately $1500 and for that amount of money you can find out exactly where your case is in PGN and what the status is. For another $2000 you can get a second report and not only find out where your case is in the process but they will help push it along. Now, this is only my opinion, but I believe that more than likely "AS" pays a portion of their fee to the workers at PGN....possibly under the table..in exchange for additional info. on cases and to have the cases pushed through the system and OUT. I don't know about you guys, but I don't have that kind of money to throw around...especially after I've already given the Guatemalan government and my attorney and agency LOADS of money.

Ok, so here's what they told me. They said that most adoptive parents don't understand how things work inside PGN. (and I don't know how we could since it seems to change constantly). Anyway, he said that once your file is submitted, it is assigned to a reviewer. This usually only takes a couple of days....sometimes longer, especially around holidays. Once the reviewer has looked at the file, he/she will either issue a previo (also called a preview or previewing a file) and he/she will kick the file out for whatever reason. Once the attorney gets the problem corrected (or in my case if there was no problem to correct but simply an oversight on the reviewers part), the attorney has to write a "resolution" to the problem and have it authenticated through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It is then resubmitted to the same PGN reviewer and unfortunately goes on the bottom of the stack. This is so unfair...I know, believe me! Basically your process in PGN starts over. Once he/she gets to your file again, they can either kick it out again for something else or they can sign off on it. If they kick it out again, I goes through the same process that I just described above once again. If it is signed off on by the reviewer, it is then sent to the AGO (which I believe stands for Attorney General's office). Once there, IF YOUR FILE HAS BEEN KICKED OUT, it goes straight to the director's desk where he reviews the resolution to the problem and then signs off on the file. IF YOUR FILE WAS NEVER KICKED OUT, it is assigned to an Officer (who also has a stack of other files on his/her desk like the reviewers) and he/she reviews the file and checks after the original reviewer. Once the file is reviewed and if it is approved by the Officer (and it is 95% of the time) it then moves to the director's desk (the infamou Senior Barrios). He then reviews the file and signs off on it supposedly within a few days. I specifically asked if there are piles of files on his desk and I was told that there are NOT. The piles are on the officer's desks according to "AS". He also said that lots of times attorney/agencies will tell people that they are on the director's desk when really they have just hit the Officer's desk. He said that this is where some of the confusion comes in. I don't know if all of this information is true but this is what I was told. I can tell you that I have seen lots of inconsistencies in this process during the last year. I have a friend who was kicked out after 4 weeks for the same reason I was (no guardian letter in the file (which only affects single supposedly) when the entire time it was right there in the file.) She was in almost 6 weeks after being resubmitted and then she was OUT. She is supposed to be arriving back in the US today with her baby. Her roller coaster ride is finally over. CONGRATS Mary and Dane!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't know about you guys, but I've been on this ride long enough. I WANT OFF!!!!!! Here's praying for lots of good news, OUTs and PINK slips, for the rest of this week.

Does any of this PGN stuff makes sense to anyone?? It doesn't make ANY sense to me. I'm a paralegal and I can tell you, if I did the kind of work that these people do, I would be OUT of a job!!!!!

Good luck to all of you on your journey to bring your baby home!!!

Blessings,
Rebecca