PGN!

Yahoo! We are in PGN as of November 29, 2006!!! This is great news, and the last, big hurdle to finalizing the adoption. PGN is the supreme court of Guatemala and they review everything in order to rule out fraud. Many cases get kicked out of PGN, this means you need to fix errors on your documents and enter back in. We will find out in 4 weeks if we have any errors - that would be around December 27. The attorneys in Guatemala check on the case status each week, so hopefully we will get a heads up if we need to fix any documents.

Please continue to pray for a speedy process!

Here is an explanation from another document on the PGN process:
Once in the Procuraduria, PGN, (Solicitor General’s Office) the case will be considered for the issuance of the adoption order. In the Procuraduria, the case is carefully scrutinized by Guatemalan Government attorneys who make sure that all of the requirements for a proper and legal adoption have been met. Time frame for completion of this step is highly variable, and depends mainly on how many of the documents that the Procuraduria attorney asks for clarification or correction on. Usually when a case gets “rejected” by the Procuraduria, the corrections can be made in Guatemala (errors by civil registrars in Guatemala on birth certificates, birthmother’s cedula, etc.) such that the case can be resubmitted without the adopting family having to re-do documents. However, if the case gets rejected from Procuraduria because of faulty documents that were included with the family’s dossier, the adopting family will be expected to reimburse for expenses of registering and translating new US documents, (for example, a police clearance which does not indicate “no record”, a marriage certificate that does not have a date of issuance, a doctor’s letter or homestudy report which causes question of mental illness or alcoholism in the adopting parents, etc.