Guatemalan Adoption Process

Many people have been asking us why we can't bring Pearl home NOW!!! We're posting information on the process of Guatemalan adoptions for two reasons. One, this will help everyone understand why it takes so long to have Pearl home. Two, you can pray us through each step of the process. Every case is different so we are asking God to PLEASE let us fly through each step.

1.) Homestudy: We were blessed because our homestudy took us 2 weeks and we were told it could take up to 3 months.

2.) Dossier: This usually takes as little as 2 months (if you have no job, no family, and lots of free time on your hands) or as long as 6 months. It took us about 3 months.

3.) US Immigration Approval (USCIS): NC is very slow in handing these out. We were told it would take a minimum of 3 months. We received ours in 2 1/2 months and that is not typical.

4.) Referral of a baby: We received the referral of our little girl about a week following our USCIS Approval, some take much longer. We have a friend who is on a waiting list that is expected to take 5 months.

5.) DNA authorization, test, and match: This usually takes about 4-8 weeks depending on the situation and ours took less than 2 weeks.

6.) Family Court (social worker interview and report): Guatemala Family Court is done in parallel with the DNA test and US Pre-Approval. We still don't have this yet. We've been waiting since April 20 so more than a month. It usually takes between 4-6 weeks. We're trying to wait patiently!!!

7.) US Embassy Pre-Approval (PA): This cannot be done until DNA results are a match....a year ago some people were getting their PA in about two weeks. Now it is taking 60 days because the US is really cracking down on unethical adoptions. We are on day 32. Please pray for this to come very quickly!!!

8.) PGN- Guatemala's Court System: We cannot enter PGN until we have our PA. Some cases are in as long as 6 months, yet we've met people who have been in for a year! We are praying this will not be so with our case. Yesterday I read someone from our agency was out in a week. Praying hard for this!

9.) Pink (new birth cert and visa): After our case is out of PGN we are submitted for our pink and this is taking about 4 weeks.

10.) Pick-up Trip: Usually within 2 weeks of pink we are given a date to have our Visa interview in Guatemala and pick up our baby Pearl!