Prayers Please :)

It is so hard for me to wrap my brain around the way the Guatemalan government works. Ultimately, I am reminded of the blessings of living in the USA where we have the right to due process and, although we have our share of corruption, it is nothing like what we see here! I am constantly amazed by the amount of corruption and the complete disregard for what is best for the children of Guatemala. It just blows me away and makes my heart hurt.

PGN, the Guatemalan court system, has said they are potentially going to freeze all adoption cases for "at least" one month. I've said before that they have had a change in leadership (new president, new head of PGN and new people working in the adoption area of PGN). Now PGN is saying they will be taking one month to audit all of the in-progress cases. Legally, they should not be able to do this because all of the in-progress cases were "grandfathered in" under the old laws. They are planning to do an additional birth mother interview. There is already one birth mother interview required before cases are submitted to PGN, now they are asking for another.

Here is a link to an article about what is going on: http://www.adaguatemala.org/English/news/ The woman who wrote it can be a bit dramatic, but she is aggressive and a huge advocate for adoptive parents and the Guatemalan children.

Here is the email we received from our agency today:

Hello families,
We have been attentive to the current situation and though we were going to wait to give a weekly update until tomorrow, we feel as though time is of the essence and need you to keep contacting everyone you can to lend us a hand. One of our attorneys specifically requested that families contact their representatives because he went to the PGN yesterday and had a detailed report of what is going on behind the closed doors at the PGN. Another attorney went to PGN today and his report was even worse. What is going on is a complete violation of human rights and birthmothers' dignities. It is illegal, and the ADA has a new post (see it here: http://www.adaguatemala.org/English/news/) on their plan to challenge the PGN in Court.
Dialogue with the PGN has yielded no results and they were hoping it would so they would avoid the time delays associated with court processes but at this point, they really have run out of options. The attorneys report that the birthmothers are being TOLD to take the children back. They will take the birthmother to a separate room and question the notary on different room. When they "interview" (too mild a word for what they are doing), the PGN authorities will begin to tell the birthmom: "It is YOUR child, why did you give it up?" They will accuse them of selling their children and tell them to take them back. Many of these birthmothers are in tears and terror, as there are reporters INSIDE the PGN taking pictures of them, violating their right to privacy and being treated as criminals. Many attorneys are planning to boycott these citations but there are of course legal implications for them as well. One of the attorneys said if he had to go with the birthmothers he would make sure they wear a head covering and eye glasses because some of the women's families do not know they have placed children for adoption and would be burned alive if the families found out through the press.
Families, you can share this information with anyone who will listen. The US pressed Guatemala to pass this legislation; it is time our elected officials pay attention to your pleas.
We urge you to call, email, fax, whatever you can do to get you noticed. Call your Congressmen, Senators and send your stories to the press. Guatemala is violating the law, the birthmother's and children's rights. This cannot go on any longer. PLEASE get those urgent calls for action out today! We wish we could rely on balanced reporters who could get an accurate view of what is going on in there, but only skewed and even false reports make it out. That is why we are writing today; tomorrow is Friday and we cannot afford time to keep passing as the CNA and PGN together work to disrupt all pending processes, instead of honoring the grandfather clause.
Thank you,
The TOWA staff

With all of this said, I have much to be thankful for!

1) I am thankful that God is in control of this situation and we are ultimately waiting on Him and not any person in the Guatemalan government. I am confident that God clearly led us to adopt, to adopt in Guatemala, to adopt Samuel and for me to be in Guatemala with Samuel now.

2) I am thankful that Jimmy is here with us as we get this frustrating news. I am thankful for his mom who generously gave him the frequent flyer miles to get here.

3) I am thankful for my housemates who make this adoption journey more fun!

4) I am also thankful for Samuel's new haircut :). Here is a before and after picture.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

We would greatly appreciate your prayers for us, for the rest of the Guatemalan orphans, for the Guatemalan government to reconcile things quickly and also for the US government to be willing to be a strong advocate to help get us all home!

Thanks and have a great weekend :)