[mildredjohn]

The Congress just finalized the voting and the law was passed with the majority of the votes from the Congress.

[sfalone]

Hi Mildred,

Were you able to watch it? Did you hear anything on the grandfather clause?

Stacy

[mildredjohn]

Everything was read so fast that I couldn't hear anything about the grandfather clause. They recessed, I just heard the last 15 minutes.

[ourjourneytwo]

There is an article on Yahoo, world news, about it, it sounds good to me?

[merrillbears]

Yahoo just posted an article that stated all adoptions currently in progress would be allowed to continue under the existing rules.

[skipdaisy]

I hope this AP article is correct and based on what was passed today!!!

[Guatemom]

Have they defined what "in process" is???? That's my big issue---who is covered in the grandfathering??? Anyone out there? I'll keep searching also,

[cjrogers]

The Guatemalan Congress just passed law 3735 pretty much as it was drafted. The effective date of the law will be December 31, 2007. All cases will need to be registered with the Central Authority by January 30th in order to continue under the laws in effect at the time they were started. The Central Authority will be an autonomous organization called the Consejo Nacional de Adopciones (CNA). The CNA will have a directive body made up of 1 representative each from the Foreign Affairs Ministry, Supreme Court, and Social Welfare (Bienestar Social). Each organization must name its representative within 2 weeks of the effective date and write regulations with 60 days of the effective date. The law does not define specifically what an “in process” case means.

JCICS will be analyzing the new law and will provide additional information as it becomes available.

As we have just received this information this is all we know now. There will be more specific information released as the days go by. Some time next week we will have another conference call to discuss what we know. The JCICS website is JCICS2 and you may want to access it frequently over the next several weeks to keep up to date on the latest information available.

[Alexa07]

If the AP article is true, then this appears to be very good news; for us in process and ultimately for the future children in Guatemala. We still want to see Congress confirmation on what is considered 'in process' but if it is what everyone (stakeholders) have been saying all along ie having POA registered, then those with referrals should be breathing a little easier right now. Half holding my breath to see what 'in-process' means..........

[skipdaisy]

Thanks for the info!

How can they not have "in process" defined in the law!!!!!! That is maddening!!!!! They better not tell me now, after all this, that its going to take a few MORE weeks to figure out what in process means. GRRRRR....

[cjrogers]

and the Central authority is not even created yet. This is insane.

[Mommy24]

I have merged all threads discussing the new law into one thread in effort to keep all discussion in one place.
Please keep all discussion on this thread.

Thanks

[JosieWales]

OK. So, what does this mean if Owen's b/mom gives birth before 31 Jan 2008, we could accept it? I really don't understand how far the grandfathering goes, as everyone else has pointed out.

[pvanabel]

So if our POA gets to Guatemala by Jan 30, 2008 we would fall under the current adoption process?

[robandjulie]

Originally Posted by Alexa07

if it is what everyone (stakeholders) have been saying all along ie having POA registered, then those with referrals should be breathing a little easier right now. Half holding my breath to see what 'in-process' means..........

Don't forget the JCICS concern was that some of the stakeholders were saying "in process" meant IN PGN, so that's certainly still a very important point to clarify! I can't imagine our case getting into PGN by 12/31 (not sure we're even in FC yet), so we'll keep praying and hoping.