[JaelynElise]

Hello to all of you VERY patient people!

I have been considering adopting from Guatemala, but after visiting this forum, I am in such complete and utter shock! I was aware that there were problems in Guatemala regarding adoptions, but the waiting time all of you have endured and are enduring is mind boggling!

I am VERY curious as to the age of your babies at the time of your referrals compared to the age they are now and how old they will be at the time you anticipate being able to bring them home... FINALLY!!!

May God bless you ALL and bring your precious angels home to you quickly and safely!

[becky]

Unfortunately...due to the Hague mess, adoptions in Guatemala were virtually stopped for over 6 months...this means babies that are much older than what used to be the 'norm' for this country.

If you have not already decided on Guatemala you may want to want a few more weeks to see if things start to get back to a 'normal' pace...as of right now things are still running very slowly.

[JoelPapi]

We got our referral in the middle to April, our paperwork was in Guatemala at the end of May, and we were told at that time if there wasn't the Hague mess it would have been 4 to 6 months maybe a bit more before we were through PGN, Well we are at 5 months... and we are in PGN... our son was 5 mos. when we got the referral. We are hopeful we hear soon though we are still expecting a delay. It has been one heck of a Rollercoaster Ride tho.

Joelpapi

[tricecm]

Our baby was 11 days old at time of referral, which was March 24. Our paperwork was in Guatemala by April 1.

Even though our referral came after the mess started--OUR AGENCY TOLD US NOTHING ABOUT THE HAGUE! WE LEARNED ABOUT IT BY READING THIS BOARD!

Our baby is now 7 months old, and only God knows if she will ever come home. We haven't heard an update from our agency in a while now.

We picked Guatemala because they take families with kids already, only one parent has to travel and the trip is so short. If those aren't issues for you--I would strongly encourage finding another country to adopt from. This is not a country that want it's kids adopted, and they are doing everything they can to keep us hoping so they can scam us out of as much money as they can. Find a country that UNICEF is not targetting.

Good luck.

[Belenbaby]

My baby was born the beginning of Jan. We accepted her referral at 2 days old. I thought 4 - 5 months. she is 9 1/2 old now and I have no idea when we will be able to go get her.
Hopefully soon...

[etcorri]

Our referral was at 2 days old, March 5th, our paperwork was in Guatemala in Feb, POA in March/April. Now we are coming up to 8 months.

[cgille]

I have been reading the posts - am still early on in the process. I love the country but am concerned about the wait as well. My main thing was adopting an infant. I chose guatemala because of the short time frame (at least that was what i read prior!!!). I love the country but the mess right now is making me nervous and starting to consider chosing another country....

any suggestions?

[rudi]

cgille,
That was our concern as well. We were able to bring our daughter home at six and a half months old, but that was last year. My heart is aching for many of the people that are having to go through a long wait as a result of the whole Hague mess.

If it is important to you to bring home a young infant, I would probably not consider Guatemala at this time.

As far as which countires you may be able to adopt a younger infant from, you may want to check out Colombia as well as Korea.
Can anyone think of any others?

I would love to adopt from Guatemala again (don't have the spare $25,000+ that I would need at this time) because I do love the culture and the children. However, since I have already had the experience of parenting/nurturing an infant, I am considering an older or special needs child at this time. If this uncertainty is still going on, I would probably still proceed, but I would go into it with my eyes open, knowing that it could take a long time.

One more thing that is nice about Guatemalan adoptions is that many agencies will allow you to visit multiple times. So if you have the means and time to visit while you wait for your little one, you can still experience parenting your child while her or she is an infant. Just a thought...

[cgille]

Rudi,
Thanks so much for your feedback. So much to consider. I have been back and forth for a few weeks now wondering if i should wait it out or try another country.

I hope everything works out for you and your family as well!

Take care

[kahart]

Our daughter was 6 months old at referral (she was our second referral, lost first) and she is now almost 16 months old. We are praying to hear anyday now that we are out of PGN and then we should bring her home in 2-3 weeks after that if everything goes smoothly.

[Quinnie]

Oh Katherine, God bless you. I have been waiting a long time, too. This is our second referral, also. The first one was a long eight months. Now we have been waiting another 10 months for our daugter. It is hard. Most days I'm pretty positive, but some days it is unbearable. Yet, I know it will happen, with patience and perserverance.

Quinnie

[JaelynElise]

My heart goes out to all of you who are going through all of this waiting!

There were 2 reasons I have been considering Guatemala. 1) I speak Spanish and would love a link to the hispanic culture. 2) We want to adopt an infant, and Guatemala HAD seemed to be the best choice for this, but not now, obviously.

[jhscats]

You may want to check into Panama. I speak Spanish also, so I definitely wanted to adopt from Central America. We started a dossier for Guatemala, but then everything stopped, so we have switched to Panama. It is a new program, but someone posted on the Panama board who received a referral of a six-week-old baby. The cost is less than Guatemala also.

Good luck,
Joan

[wintak]

We accepted referral at 2 days old on Feb 8. He is now 8 months old..quickly going on 9 months with no end in sight of coming home.

We had not been told anything of the Hague, either. Hindsight, I guess.

Anyway, if I had been told it was a year wait, I would have expected it. I feel I've been strung along. First it was July, then August, then Sept...no one even mentioned Oct and now we're easily into November before he even thinks of coming to the U.S. And the sad thing is, no one can DO anything. We're at the mercy of the political games.

Very discouraging and I feel that the election will be a turning point for us, at least.

___________________________
Amy
losing faith

[waiting4james]

We accepted our son's referral at six 1/2 months of age in February, he is now almost 15 months and we are just destroyed. We are still in family court and making no progress. Think hard before you jump in, we were very surprised as all of this mess took place RIGHT after the referral. We were already in love. Agencies have the upper hand because they have the baby, when you feel you are getting the run around there isn't much you can do about it if you are unwilling to give up on the child you've come to love as your own. It's really hard... last night I cried on the shoulder of my very sweet husband for the millionth time. Make sure if you do go forward your are prepared and have a good support.

Chelsea