[sydneysam]

Today is 9 mo. since we accepted our referral. We exited pgn the end of March and have yet to receive our travel dates. I am very disappointed. We were told that they should of had the bc by April 24th. I am not sure if it happened or not. I have e-mailed my agency...no reply. I even broke down and called on Monday (haven't done that at all until now), the person I needed to talk to was out. Called again today, the person I needed to talk to wouldn't be in till this afternoon. I mentioned that I left a message on Monday without any reply. No call! So needless to say I am very sad! I want to bring my baby home.

If you are so inclined, we welcome any thoughts and prayers on our behalf.

Pam
dh Steve
dd Sydney from Hubei, China....2 1/2 yrs. old
waiting on Samuel bd 06/19/02

[becky]

Pam,

Something sounds very wrong here. Do you know if the birthmother has signed the final adoption decree? If she has not, then a new BC cannot be issued. Even if the baby was born in a remote part of Guatemala, it really should not take 1.5 months to get a new BC. You need to be sure she has signed off for the final time. If she has...then they are giving you the run around...it should not be taking this long to get a new birth certificate.

I would continue to call and continue to call. At this point they have all of your money, and you should demand some answers. You are not 'pestering' them...you are asking them to provide the service they are being well paid to do. Do not be afraid to be upset...you should be...and they should know it!!

Please let us know how this works out...we'll be hoping that you get good news when you call again tomorrow.

[mullinam]

It should not take even a month and a half to get the birth certificate. Ours was done in a week. We brought our daughter home in mid-March.

We received PGN approval 2/24 and the passport and BC were done by 3/6 (the birth mother's final signature was done during this time as well). We traveled on 3/16.

I hope you get some news soon!

[sydneysam]

Thanks for your responses. I did finally get through to the director of our agency. I guess the problem is that they are having a hard time getting Luis' bc. Supposedly, there was a mistake. I told her we have been out for a long time and the wait was ridiculous. Especially since they have all of our money now! She agreed. I also told her I would appreciate having an e-mail or phone call. I did e-mail later and tell her I wanted her to fax me a copy of the adoption decree. It was amazing that she e-mailed me back immediately and said no problem. So here I sit just waiting. Don't know when I will be going. I am sad, sad, sad...

Pam
dh Steve
dd Sydney from Hubei, China...waiting on Samuel bd 06/19/02

[Inanna]

Have patience and faith. Our adoption took 23 months, almost to the day. We had so many problems and delays - it was the first time our agency had dealt with an adoption of a child with a medical condition, state and federal agencies taking their time to get us the appropriate paperwork, getting kicked out of PGN, fingerprint problems...you name it. We did have times when we nearly lost hope and felt sure it was never going to happen, but tried to shake it off quickly and move on. There was no one thing or person that was responsible for the delays, just the way it went.

We arrived in Guatemala on March 8th of this year and sat waiting (patiently?) in the lobby of the hotel for the FM to bring our son to us. When they walked in through the front doors I saw him for the first time. Just that glimpse of him as he walked past was all it took to make all the frustration, tears, longing, everything worth it.

Monday will be two months since he has been home and it is like he has been here all his life - all our lives. He has been our dream for so long and now is our reality! We are so much in love with this little boy and would definitely do it all again.

I know it is easier to say than to do...I've already been where you are now...but I can tell you that it is definitely worth it all. Please try to keep your spirits up. All will work out in the end and you will be sitting at home gazing at your sweet child and wondering why you ever had a fret. It's kind of like labor. You tend to forget the bad stuff after you hold your new baby.

Good luck to you! You will be in my thoughts and prayers.

Inanna - Mommy to Daniel Born 1/6/01 - home forever 3/12/03

[rch]

WOW! Excuse my ignorance ... I thought once we made it out of PGN that we would be going down in two to three weeks to pick up our daughter. At least that's what I have heard all along. I had NO idea that after PGN there could be more hang ups!

I'm so sorry to hear that you are having so much trouble. I pray you'll be bringing your child home soon!

As far as your agency, they should have contact with you at least once a week to let you know the current status. And it's their job to find out why your case is hung up. If you haven't been issued a new BC they need to find out the reason.

[Byrnes]

Pam- hang in there, Our prayers are with you. When we adopted our second child from China we started the process in January of 2000 and didn't hold her in our arms until June of 2002. There were so many hold ups, partly our case worker, partly INS, partly our adoption agency, and then China changing some regulations. It's fustrating when everything is beyond your control but you know it all works out according to Gods plan. If we hadn't had all the delays we wouldn't have had our daughter......Anyway just keeping you in our thouths and prayers.