~At Home With Olivia~: This Was a GOOD Day!

Adoption Timeline

2/26/07 - Sent application to agency
2/28/07 - Started home study update
3/19/07 - FBI prints taken
3/29/07 - USCIS prints taken
4/10/07 - FBI print clearance
4/26/07 - Received referral photos of Olivia via e-mail (DOB 11/15/05) - accepted referral on the spot!
5/7/07 - Formally accepted referral
5/9/07 - Home study completed
5/31/07 - I-171H approval. Officially "paper ready"!
6/25/07 - New attorney means 2nd POA
7/19/07 - 2nd POA gets to Guatemala
8/??/07 - DNA supposed to take place...birthmother doesn't show
8/27/07 - 2nd attempt at DNA...birthmom doesn't show again!
9/20/07 - 3rd attempt at DNA...same story, birthmom doesn't show
~BIRTH MOTHER HAS DISAPPEARED~
11/15/07 - Little Olivia's 2nd birthday
12/9/07 - We inform agency that we'd like to pursue an Abandonment Decree
12/15/07 - Agency agrees, needs to confer with Guat. attorneys
12/17/07 - After conferring, we are advised not to pursue AD, due to process changeover
1/1/08 - All new Guatemalan adoptions cease - grandfathered cases (like ours) can continue
2/8/08 - Agency has hired a private investigator to search for birthmom...............................
3/3/08 - Received confirmation of CNA registration
4/08 - Private investigator comes to a dead end in finding birthmom
5/23/08 - Renewed USCIS fingerprints
6/11/08 - I-171H approval...again.
7/9/08 - Home study agency says we need to update our home study
8/14/08 - Assigned to our 4th attorney who will plead our case for abandonment
8/17/08- New attorney means new POA
10/24/08 - Homestudy update complete
10/27/08 - Request USCIS for I-600A extension
11/9/08 - Completed the 10 hour course of newly required Adoption Training Education
11/15/08 - Olivia's 3rd birthday
1/13/09 - Attorney meets with CNA for approval to present to Court
2/4/09 - Former atty. receives summons from CNA that he has to present Olivia in front of a judge within 48 hours! (We also find out she has the chicken pox!)
2/6/09 - Olivia is taken to Court, chicken pox and all! Judge allows her to remain with her FF, but calls for one more search for Bmom. Next Court date in June to determine Olivia's adoptability. We're given the go-ahead to finally be able to go to Guatemala and meet our little girl!
4/6-9/09 - Our first trip to Guatemala...we meet Olivia!!!
4/7/09 - Meet with Jaime Tecu @ CNA to discuss our case
4/21/09 - OLIVIA'S BIRTH MOTHER IS FOUND!!!
4/22/09 - Birth mother does not show up for meeting with attorney, Beyla. Won't answer phone.
6/10/09 - 2nd Court hearing. Beyla was made our Mandatory attorney, we were accepted as part of the process. Adjourned until Nov. 17th. We're told we need to redo our dossier. Judge issues an order for the police in birth mother's town to find her and bring her in for DNA test.
8/31/09 - "Brand new" dossier complete. Will take to Guatemala and hand deliver to Beyla.
9/5-9/09 - 2nd visit trip to see Olivia!
9/8/09 - Met with Beyla for 2 hours, gave her our dossier and got up to speed on what's happening in our case and what we can expect at the hearing in November. As we suspected, Olivia's bmom is again on the run. Praying that she'll be found again before the hearing.
11/14-18/09 - 3rd visit trip
11/15/09 - Olivia's 4th birthday! We're celebrating WITH her!
11/16/09 - 3rd Court hearing. A surprise "grandmother" has told PGN she wants custody of Olivia. So the judge sets the next and FINAL hearing for June 9, 2010, to allow enough time to investigate this person and hopefully find her unworthy.
1/15/10 - Olivia starts pre-school!
3/17-22/10 - 4th Visit trip
6/5-10/10 - 5th Visit Trip
6/9/10 - FINAL (not) Court Hearing ~ DNA test taken between Olivia and potential grandmother. Olivia ordered to go to an orphanage. Definitive "FINAL" hearing in 3 months, on Sept.9th.
9/9/10 - F~I~N~A~L Court hearing ~~ NOPE, POSTPONED due to lab mistake on DNA test. Judge calls for new test, new final hearing.
11/15/10 - Olivia's 5th birthday.
12/13/10 - We were told that 2nd DNA test run in Sept. on "grandmother" is in sufficient and judge orders new samples and test run with the inclusion of an alleged "uncle" in January.
5/3/11 - It's now May. We are still waiting for DNA samples to be taken. The "grandmother" apparently stopped cooperating back in October. We've asked all the people we can think of to help with this situation. To date.....nothing.
6/21/11 - Court hearing with new judge. ~ Update, "Grandma" did not show, hearing POSTPONED until August 8th.
8/8/11 - Court hearing...POSTPONED AGAIN! "Grandma" was a no-show. Not sure what the judge will do now...
8/19/11 - CNA decrees to resolve remaining adoption cases.
10/7/11 - Judge @ 3rd Court turns our case over to judge in Escuintla Court
11/15/11 - Olivia's 6th Birthday
2/14/12 - Court hearing ~ POSTPONED!
2/28/12 - Rescheduled Court hearing
5/8/12 - Hearing to get DNA results and judge's decision ~ POSTPONED. No DNA results yet...
8/17/12 - Court hearing. We've heard DNA results came back inconclusive. Judge to make decision on where to go from here. ~POSTPONED~
9/3/12 - Court hearing ~ CANCELED ~
11/15/12 - Olivia's 7th birthday
1/11/13 - Court hearing with new judge ~POSTPONED~
3/1/13 - Rescheduled Court hearing ~ Judge calls for 3rd and final DNA to be taken on March 21st. Will get results sometime this summer
3/21/13 - DNA samples taken. Alleged birth mother is found and gives her sample!
6/2013 - Case sent to Appeals Court
5/14/13 - We're told that our case has been moved back to Guatemala City Court
8/19/13 - Official word that after 3 years, 2 months & 10 days the DNA results for the Guatemalan family in question, are NEGATIVE! They are NOT related!
8/2013 - Appeals Court sends case back to Escuintla Court
9/4/13 - Hearing for adoptability ~ NO ruling
9/18/13 - FINAL hearing. ADOPTABILITY!
11/15/13 - Olivia's 8th Birthday
1/30/14 - CNA Referral!!!!!!!
3/5/14 - Empathy Visit Invitation
3/16-31/14 - Empathy Study
4/15/14 - CNA Approval!
4/29/14 - File submitted to Family Court!
5/19/14 - Adoption Day! Family Court approval! Olivia is officially our daughter!
5/30/14 - Birth certificate!
6/2/14 - Fly to Guatemala to get Olivia!
6/3/14 - GOTCHA DAY! Officially receive custody of her! TB test.
6/4/14 - Olivia gets her Guatemalan passport.
6/5/14 - Olivia's medical exam. I-600 and visa interviews.
6/6/14 - Visa pick-up, CNA restitution meeting. WE ARE DONE!!!
6/8/14 - Fly home! Olivia becomes a U.S. citizen. We are at home with Olivia.

Friday, February 6, 2009

This Was a GOOD Day!

Well, our prayers have been answered, praise the Lord! Today's court appearance went very well.

First and foremost, Olivia will be able to stay with her foster family!!! We're actually thankful that she has the chicken pox, it helped with the judge's decision to keep her with the family! Isn't God's timing amazing?

Secondly, he ordered that there be one more attempt at finding someone in her birth family before he would grant us a Certificate of Abandonment (CoA). We assumed they were going to do this. This means, they have until June to locate them. The next court date is in June, (not sure the date yet). If no one is found by that time, the judge will then declare Olivia as "adoptable" and grant the CoA. From that point the case will be turned over to the CNA and they will process it from there.

The other awesome thing is, that we've been given the greenlight to go to Guatemala and visit her!!! FINALLY!!! We're hoping to go either in March or April, we haven't pinned it down yet. We're so thrilled! We finally get to meet our little girl after almost 2 years of waiting!

This is really the beginning of our process and we have a long way to go before she comes home, but we are ready to do what we need to, to make that happen. Today was a huge hurdle and with God in control, we cleared it.

Thank you for all your prayers, keep 'em comin', we're not done yet!

Yes, today was a GOOD day.

5 comments:

The Heinrichs said...: Praise the Lord!!! I am so happy for you! I cannot wait until you get to meet her! It will be amazing!!!!; February 6, 2009 at 8:04 PM
Kira said...: Yay! I will be sure to keep you in my prayers.

Does it always take this long?; February 6, 2009 at 8:19 PM
Traci Michele said...: PRAISE THE LORD! How awesome is God to give her chicken pox.... in our earthly minds we question God and say "Why would you do that?" Until we see the bigger picture and know that He was in control all the time and it proved favorable in the judges eyes! Ahhhhh, how awesome.

I am so thrilled that you will be able to go visit in a few months. How exciting.

I will definitely keep the prayers coming.

God bless your family!

Love,
Traci; February 7, 2009 at 6:12 AM
Greg and Felicia Huff said...: Wonderful news!!! I am so thrilled she gets to remain in her loving foster home! I am so excited that you are going to finally meet her. AND God's timing is truly amazing! Thank you GOD!!!

Felicia; February 7, 2009 at 2:30 PM
c said...: Wow, what a Romans 8:28 moment. God truly does work all things together for Good.

We love and Miss you,
Scott and Carrielynn; February 8, 2009 at 5:47 PM