What it all means...

I've had a few family members & friends ask what all the adoption lingo means, here is a little bit of an outline of what we have left to go through in the process, and a few definitions :) (I borrowed much of this explination from my agency's yahoo group)

The attorney submits the adoption case file and a petition for approval (PA) of the adoption to a notarial officer of the Procuraduria General de la Nacion (PGN.) A PGN notary reviews all documents in the case file and, at his/her discretion, may independently investigate one or more aspects of the case. PGN may reject the file (issue a previo/kick out) any number of times for a wide variety of reasons that range from serious (e.g., irregularities in the birth mother’s or child’s identity documents) to minor (e.g., minor spelling errors, expired notary seals). The attorney for the birth mother and adoptive family corrects the problem and resubmits the case to PGN. Ultimately, the PGN typically concurs with the Family Court’s recommendation and issues its approval for the adoption to proceed. WITHOUT any previos/kickout PGN should take about 8 weeks.
ADOPTION DECREE. The attorney then prepares the final adoption Protocolo or deed, and meets with the birth mother for her to sign her final consent to the child’s adoption. The executed Protocolo is filed with the Archivo de Protocolo. At this point, the child is legally the child of the adoptive parent(s) under Guatemalan law.
CIVIL REGISTRY AND PASSPORT. The attorney presents the required documents to record the adoption at the Civil Registry where the child’s birth was recorded, and requests that a new birth certificate be issued to reflect the adoption, and to change the child’s surname to that of the adoptive family. The attorney then takes all documents including the new birth certificate and applies for the child’s Guatemalan passport. The child is again fingerprinted to affirm his/her identity. There has also been a 2nd DNA test added
US EMBASSY – FINAL APPROVAL AND VISA. The attorney presents the case file with the child’s passport and new birth certificate to the US Embassy. The Embassy again evaluates the file and, if all documentation is in order, issues a “Final Document Approval” or pink slip. After the attorney receives this approval, the adoptive parents and child appear at the US Embassy for final verification, and an embassy official then issues a visa for the child’s entry into the US.

Soooo...seems like alot. But we are still praying to have Corynn home by Christmas..though at times it seems impossible to me. Hopefully we will go into to PGN & have a reviewer who has a kind heart & won't pick through our file for ridiculous reasons to give us a previo/kick out.