Update after the appointment today with Mr Tecu in CNA

Well I went today to meet with The Central Authority. I met with Mr. Tecu. He was a lot younger than what I expected. He looked about 36 or so.. He was very nice. Serious, but nice. Roberto, my attorney first started by explaining our whole situation to him. Then showed him some of the documents that he wanted to see; the DNA test, the correct birth certificate from the birth mom, the paper from the courts, ect. Then after he had an idea of our situation he explained what we would be expecting. He said that it was very important to know that I have visited three times now with Mateo in person. He says that one of the most important things for the C N A is that they know that we have built a relationship with the child, mainly by having quality time spent with him. This made me feel bad for the other families that needed to be transition cases as well, but didn’t know that they needed to go on visits to see their child to build this relationship for proof. Many cannot afford to do this.
He said that there are families in Guatemala that want to adopt children and that they would typically have them have first choice, although since we have proof that we have built a relationship with Mateo, that it is very likely that we will be linked to him. He said there have been no transition cases that have been denied through the C N A when there has been proof of a relationship that has been built with the child; pictures, video’s, ect..time spent with the child. He said that the C N A is not trying to be an obstacle for adoptive parents, but they are wanting to work with us to make sure that the best interest of the child is served. He said that there has been so much corruption that, that is why they are now working with adoptive parents for these transition cases.
So for us this is what he said: Fill out an application with the Central Authority requesting to start the adoption process of Mateo with the C N A. ( He said we will not be able to go through PGN and that Roberto needed to tell them that.) Get a letter from the Embassy attesting to our valid I 171 H form (which I presented him the original to him that day, but he still wanted the letter from the Embassy). I explained to him that I had tried to email and call about 20 times with no response, and he told my attorney to contact another person, I don’t know the name..Roberto wrote it down and told me that he knows this person and will make sure that we get it. He also said he needs to the Minors Court to take out the part in the resolution that recommends Doug and I for adopting Mateo because it wasn’t their decision. So Roberto is doing that part. Then he said we just need to submit the documents for the C N A dossier, which are the requirements I had already gotten done. They are being translated and will be done on Friday. We will submit those and then once he has all the paperwork, which he said to hurry and get to him…that it would take about 6 weeks for them to go through our paperwork and that they have to check and make sure Doug & I had nothing to do with the falsified birth certificate of the birth mother. Then once that is done, they will schedule an empathy study. This is where Doug & I will come to Guatemala for 7 days and keep Mateo with us. Then we will have a social worker meet with us a few times to watch us with Mateo and ask us a few questions. They said they will work with us on the timing of this empathy study…he said we would have about a 3 week notice. Then once the empathy study is done we have two options. We can take custody of Mateo then and stay with him in Guatemala until the adoption is complete, or we can have him go back to the orphanage until we do the final pickup. From the time the empathy study is done, he says it takes about 3 to 4 months before we pick him up.
He said that once the empathy study is done, the C N A general director will have to approved the resolution for us to adopt Mateo. Then the file goes to the family court, and it is there for about 4 to 6 weeks. Then the file will go to ReNap where they will issue a birth certificate with our name on it, and then it will go to immigration and then to the US Embassy where we will get his visa and then take him home.
So in a perfect world, the paperwork that we have to submit will be to the C NA by the end of next week, and then they will review it for 6 weeks, an empathy study will be scheduled..so maybe in May or so, and then we will go for the empathy study. Once that is done we will have about a 3 to 4 month wait before we will officially be able to bring him home.
So I am thinking it will be August, or September. Sounds like a long time, but at least I have time frames, which I haven’t had this whole time. I did ask how many transition cases there were in C N A and he said that he couldn’t tell me because that information was confidential.
So tomorrow I have all day here at the hotel, we will probably veg out at the pool for the day. We are meeting another couple for dinner here in about 25 minutes.
Xoxo, val