[DogLoverRuthie]

Those of you who have your children home, would you please post how old they were when they came home? Did you request an infant? Most agencies that I looked at it seemed like the average for Guat was 10 mo.

[Brie Brock]

I do not have our daughter home yet. She was 5 days old at referral and she is 3 months old now, we just entered in PGN and I am hoping to have her home in the next couple of months. I just got back from a visit and I saw several families bringing their babies home at 5 & 6 months old. So they can be younger than 10 months.

If you want a young child make sure that you are totally paper ready INS, HS, Dossier done before you accept a referral.

Good Luck,

Brie

[alyssa&avery]

Ruthie:

Daughter:
Referred before birth home at 5 months old

Son:
Referred at 2 months home at 7 months

So, 5 month wait for each.

Hope this helps.

Lori

[DogLoverRuthie]

Hey, thanks for the info. Excuse my ignorance, please explain PNG?

[99hopeful81067]

Hi Ruthie,

PGN is the Procuraduria General de la Nacion ... like that tells ya a whole lot... what it is is the authority in Guatemala that gives final approval of Guatemala's international adoptions. On this board you'll see people reporting ecstatically that they're "OUT" and what they mean is "out of PGN." Once PGN has given its approval, you're very close to going to pick up your child. People are "in PGN" for anywhere from a couple weeks to several months. You can learn more at www.guatadopt.com.

[becky]

Referred at birth, home at 4.5 months. I was paper ready and I used the same agency at Brie Brock.

[kelleymac]

Referred at 3-months, home at 7.5 months. We were NOT paper ready and had our little boy home in less than four months after our dossier hit Guatemala. That is NOT typical, so don't base decisions on it.

Best,
Kelley

[Kate'sMom2B]

Our daughter was 7 months, 1 day old when we brought her home last week. And we were *not* paper-ready, in fact our daughter was exactly 3 months old when we sent our dossier to the agency. We were fortunate to not have any delays at any step.

As Brie said, being completely paper-ready before accepting a referral gives you the best chance of bringing home the youngest baby possible. Along with choosing a good agency of course. If we had been paper-ready at the time of referral, our daughter would have been exactly 4 months at homecoming. We could have waited, but we had a lot of signs that this particular girl was meant for our family.

Best of luck.

[Gabby's Mom]

Referred at 2 weeks; home at 11 months---this was last summer during the Hague mess when everything virtually shut down for 6 months. Things seem to be running much smoother and quicker now.

Maria

[DuckyDowney]

Danny came home at 5.5 months. The process from the time I submitted my dossier was only 3 months.

[zanjen02]

Hi! Our agency for our first two adoptions was not a good one and we were not paper ready at all! Gabriel was referred to us at five months old and Delaney at one month old. We were finally paper ready about two and a half months after their referral. Gabriel came home, after all paperwork was in Guatemala, at the age of fourteen months, process took seven months. Delaney came home at twelve months of age, bringing it to nine months from paper work arriving. Also, you have to take into account that this was the end of the times that the passports were taking weeks to have completed instead of one day as now. Gabriel was actually out of PGN the day after his first birthday in July. We waited two more months before we could travel to pick him up. Delaney was out of PGN August the eighth, and we had to wait three more months to pick up date for her. So glad that they have a one day passport now! Anyway, we learned from this, carefully chose the wonderful agency we have now, got our papers together, and accepted Lucy's referral last December 17 at two weeks of age. Our dossier arrived in Guatemala the 29th of December and we were out of PGN March 24. Making her coming home trip at the age of four months and five days old! Less than three months in process from Dossier arriving until leaving PGN!!! Praise God!

[neenasee]

We got our referral 1 month before being paper ready (this is not typical). He was 2 1/2 months at referral and should be home next month at 9 months. If you want a younger baby, tell your agency that you want a referral of a newborn and wait until you are paper ready to accept it. It is possible to bring home a 4 month old if your case goes smoothly.
Good Luck!
Nina

[rlf0504]

Same agency for each:
Carlos-referred at 20 months, home at 2 years, 8 months
Isabella-referred at 3 days, home at 4 months.
We were paper ready for Carlos. Not quite ready for Bella.
Different cases, different time frames.
All the best,
Rhonda

[taylorlogan]

I was paper ready at referral and he was referred at 3 days old, home at 3 months and one week. I was very lucky.

[Chrysanthemum]

Rena was referred at 6 days. We were out off PGn when she was 4.5 months......the lawyer couldn't find her birthmother for the final decree for 6 weeks and then there was a passport slowdown! I picked her up the day she turned 7 months.