[oldbear]

After 7 weeks in the Embassy awaiting preapproval we now find out that they will be issuing an I72 as they need our child's grandfathers information. At least this is what our Senator's office told us.

I assume that the Embassy needs the grandfather's consent (as well as the grandmother's) as the mother is a minor. Does he have to go to the Embassy to sign his consent?

What really concerns me is

1. What happens if the grandfather has "disappeared" and has no contact with the family

2. What happens if he is still a part of the family but does not consent to the adoption. I realise this is unlikely....

3. Could we really be out of Family Court without the grandfather being involved?

I'm assuming if he is deceased then "all" the attorney does is present the death certificate to the Embassy.

Our agency is not much help over this but I guess someone here must know the answer!

Alex

[jlinberger]

Interesting. We only needed grandmother's consent- our birthmother was a minor. DIdn't need grandfather's- he was out of the picture. So, to answer question one- ours didn't need to sign as he doesn't even live in Guat anymore. (he lives in the states somewhere). There was a little information on him provided, but no need for a signature.

On a positive note though- what was really neat is that we also have a picture of grandmother- something I am sure ANtonio will cherish!

[jlinberger]

ps- the photo of grandmother was provided in our final documents when we got down to Guat. I guess since she had to sign off, they also took a photo of her. Something to perhaps look forward to??

[Kimberj71]

As I understand it (and I could be wrong), the grandfather's signature is required if the grandmother has passed away.

And I think if this were true, the grandfather would have had to sign or cosign(?) the parental rights relinguishment to the attorney (the first sign off).

Hope that helps a little.

Kim

[delaware1]

I was under the impression that when the birthmother was less than 18, both of her parents need to consent. If there are cases when both signatures are not needed, I don't know what the rules are that would allow for that.
There is a very real possibility that if the grandfather is deceased the embassy will insist on an acceptable death certificate.
I hope this gets straightened out for you.
-Kathleen

[tooskis]

Alex,

There was another recent thread started a day or two ago where there was quite a bit of discussion on this topic. I think it is titled "is your birthmother a minor" or something similar. Though our birthmother is a minor, the Embassy at that time (Nov 2005) did not ask for the birth grandfather info (or it slipped by!). On the other hand, now that we are in PGN, the PGN reviewer did ask for birth grandfather relinquishment. The other thread might be helpful since it was from someone in the same situation with an I72 regarding the grandfather.

Best wishes to you. I hope all of us with minor birthmothers get our issues resolved quickly!

Dee

[rrrajan]

not being an expert, but from what i understand (we have a minor birth mom), both grandparents if they are around need to sign off.

if the grandfather is deceased or out of the picture, then i think he does not. your attorney may need to prove he is out of the picture.

if the grandfather is around but does not agree to the adoption, then that would probably spark and issue, and probably an investigation at the PGN level. i was told that PGN investigations of minor ** cases most frequently occur when the ** and one or both or her parents don't have the same mindset when it comes to the adoption.

i'd discuss this more with your agency.

[oldbear]

I'm still waiting to hear from the embassy as they have not issued the I72 yet but I'm wondering what happens if the grandfather can't be found. What happened if he died in the troubles but there is no death certificate?

Does the embassy have a mechanism for dealing with this like forms that can be submitted or what?

Seems plumb crazy to me that the US embassy is causing this holdup. I mean if the birthmom and her mom signs off you'd think that would be enough for the US. I can understand (maybe) the Guate courts being this fussy but America?? Sheesh

Funny thing is I'm not alone in this situation either!

[tooskis]

Oldbear - Regarding your question on what if the grandfather died some time ago and they can't find the death certificate, this happened to us but in PGN. The grandmother didn't have the death certificate of the grandfather (he died 20 years ago) so she had to go to the town he died in and make a sworn statement of death that was then signed by the mayor. Sounds easy, except they kept issuing the document with typos so it had to be re-done 3 times!! Plus the town was 3 hours outside of GC. This stalled our case for about a month! Anyway, perhaps the Embassy would take the same type of sworn statement?