Back in PGN

Our most recent case update says that we've been back in PGN, with Gus's visa preapproval from the U.S. Embassy, since March 20. Presumably the great tilde issue has been solved. The next few updates will probably be "still in PGN", and then it will either be "kicked out" or "OUT OUT".

There has been zero news on the revamping of Guatemalan legislation. I hope they're spending so much time working on it that they haven't time to discuss it yet. Please continue to be in prayer for the system changes to be wise.

A Fightin' Owls Car Seat

We inherited a car seat from one of Reb's co-workers whose daughter just outgrew it. Unfortunately, the denim seat cover was in pretty sorry shape, which was understandable given the harsh treatment they undergo. It was grimy and faded with two years worth of sun exposure and crushed Cheerios. However, the seat itself is perfectly sound and only took a bit of cleaning to restore to mint condition.

What to do? As in so many cases, eBay came to the rescue; specifically, the eBay store run by a seamstress called wantful things. She did a simply amazing job sewing a custom car seat cover for us for a ridiculously low price. She works like this: we buy the sewing job using eBay; then we purchase two yards of the fabric of our choice, or one yard each of two fabrics of our choice, and send it to her. As you can see from the picture, we decided to go with our college colors. Then she makes a padded seat cover out of it. It fit over our car seat perfectly, and we were so impressed that we felt that she deserved a plug beyond the usual eBay feedback system. If you're in the market for a seat cover, look no further.

Domestic Adoption Reform

We interrupt your waiting for news about Guatemalan adoption reform to draw your attention to domestic adoption reform here in the U.S. The blogosphere has been buzzing this week, and an adoptee rights bill is in the Massachusetts State Senate.

Some of you asked us why we didn't choose to adopt domestically. There were many reasons behind that decision, but in this context I want to discuss a couple of them. We felt uncomfortable that the domestic adoption process in this country 1) allows first mothers to finalize the relinquishment way too early (some states require only a 24 hour waiting period, by which time the drugs haven't worn off, the hormones are nowhere near evening out, and she hasn't really had a chance to try to parent this child; in Guatemala the first mother is required to sign off 3 times over a period of months), and 2) first mothers choose the adoptive parents BEFORE the birth of the child. This second point sounds very cute and fuzzy and sweet, but although I support the first mother's decision to choose the adoptive family I do not think they should be choosing before birth. I have heard the stories of multiple first mothers for whom their love and respect for the adoptive parents pushed them to place rather than to parent. When they wavered, they couldn't bear to disappoint the wonderful people who were hoping so much for their baby--and the child left a home that could have raised it, and the adoptive family was filled with a child that didn't need their home.

What would a better system look like? A good example is Australia's, in which the emphasis is upon parenting before placing, and a lot fewer babies end up needing new homes. Here's an excellent post by paragraphein about how the specifics of a revamped U.S. domestic adoption system could work. I'm all for it.

Since the entrance of Gus into all of our lives, I've become much more activist about the rights of all people involved in adoption, especially the adoptees. Adoptees are so very vulnerable; they aren't consulted about the family they want to be part of, and they often lack advocates until they have been adopted. I'd like to encourage you to help advocate for the well-being of these children and the adults they grow into: another great post by paragraphein gives some suggestions for becoming an advocate with varying degrees of time to give and further details on the problems with the current system, an excellent blog by seriously details her experience fighting for a truly ethical domestic adoption (including a blessedly failed placement), and this site discusses legislation which may be pending in your area.

The adoption process in our own country scared us. How sad. Let's help make our process an example to the world in how it prioritizes the best interests of the children, protects the birth parents, and supports the adoptive parents.

Pictures & Medical Update, Month Four

We got the latest set of pictures and a medical update on Gus today from Bethany. He now weighs 13 libras, and is 61 centimetros long and still healthy, praise the Lord. He got a second round of booster shots. I'll be posting the new pictures at the usual place.

He must really like wearing that baseball onesie.

Spoke Too Soon

It appears that all it takes to make something happen is to blog that nothing has happened. We just got an email from the Guatemalan embassy informing us that we are pre-approved for a travel visa for Gus. That's the necessary next step before we go back into PGN (the Guatemalan attorney general's office) for our second try at acceptance there. Exciting stuff!

March Non-Update

We got our monthly "update" email from our agency today that said, yep, still waiting. We knew that. What we're specifically waiting for right now is for the US Embassy in Guatemala to give their approval to the adoption file now that the DNA test has been completed and was a match. This process used to take about a month, but an adoption facilitator recently acquired a visa for a child under false pretences and took her to the U.S. before she was found out (the child is now with her adoptive family and the facilitator's in a heap of trouble)--as a result the Embassy's been pretty gun-shy lately, and approvals have been taking significantly longer. Can't blame them; we're just waiting.

Once we have the Embassy's approval, we'll go back into the Attorney General's office again (no word on the tilde issue--if we get kicked out for it again, we'll know it wasn't resolved to their satisfaction).

And no updates on the political situation regarding international adoption in Guatemala, except that our agency is now cautiously giving referrals again, with lots of new caveats about which potential adoptive parents must be informed. It's been two weeks since the big announcement, but there's been no new news, only speculation. I'm wondering if it was posturing for the recent visit by our President. But until we have solid information, we remain in waiting limbo. Our process is still moving forward, but it's possible that it could be stopped at any time, and with the current political situation and the Embassy delays it's now very unlikely that Gus will be home by summer. Sigh.

A Word from Our Agency

Yesterday we received an email from our agency, confirming what we had already assumed about the new legislation in Guatemala. 1) The laws in Guatemala regarding international adoption will be changing in order to be consistent with the Hague Convention. 2) Those exact changes and the timeline on which they will be implemented is unknown. (We hear that the Guatemalan Congress is working on new laws, and that the legislation announced from the First Lady's office last week may have been meant to increase pressure on that process.) 3) Our agency has stopped giving referrals until details regarding the changes are known.

It appears that all cases in process are continuing to be processed as usual until the details regarding the changes are published. We hope to hear an update on our specific case soon. Please continue to pray for wisdom to construct the new laws, for the best interests of the children to be paramount in the process, and for creativity as the Congress tries to keep the good parts of their adoption process while closing the loopholes on the bad.

I Want My GusTV!

Wednesday we received an old-school (VHS, not DVD)-style video of Gus in the mail. It's about 5 minutes, and looks as though it was taken in the office of the coordinator in Guatemala, who narrated it. He spent most of the time wiggling. When they turned him over on his tummy to show us how he could lift up his head, he looked around for his foster mother, who was making funny noises (and presumably faces) at him from behind the camera. His foster mother said that he almost always sleeps through the night already, and that he takes two naps a day and spends the rest of his time wiggling. He's awfully cute in motion.

The not-so-good news: the political situation in Guatemala regarding adoption is always volatile, and it's been more rather than less in the past week. I can't explain very clearly what is going on, because no one seems to really know at this point. But yesterday the Guatemalan President presented what seems to be an executive order which would change how international adoptions are conducted--however, he probably doesn't have the authority to enforce his order, and portions of it appear to be illegal under current Guatemalan law. We don't know how the Guatemalan Congress, which is working on changes of its own to bring Guatemala into line with the Hague Convention standards, will take to the President's appropriation of their jobs. The President says that his order is only a stop-gap, but it may be sufficient to get the UNICEF money that has been offered to Guatemala as well as to snarl the system pretty effectively until the Congress finishes its work. That's all we know. No one has any idea when the changes will take place or how they will affect families currently in process.

No panicking, anyone. The uncertainty is all part of international adoption, and we knew that when we decided to start this process. Please join us in praying that wisdom would prevail, and that the people who make decisions would have the best interests of the children as their primary agenda.