Any referrals from Panama yet??

I did not realize there was a referral list from the DNA in Panama. I only know that our agency received the referral on August 25th, and our documents were submitted by the attorney on July 11th. I do not know if there were more people ahead of us or if they wanted a girl or some other criteria. I do not know exactly how the matches are made. I also know that our agency monitors the attorney closely, and they have already switched attorneys once in the process. I don't know the circumstances of that switch. I am now trying to get information on the remainder of the process, and we are not getting responses very quickly. Having live in Panama for a year, I understand that everything can wait until tomorrow. So, the process is always slower than we are use to. So, now we are waiting again.

Kirsten, You could be right. :( Lauri, After a year of waiting, I understand your reference to "Manana is soon enough"! ;) Hang in there! Rebecca

Hi Lauri... congrats on your pending adoption... Just wanted to contribute a thought to the subject of agency/vs. independent adoption.... Out of the 6 friends who all adopted independently in Panama (as we did), 1 had her adoption completed in 3 months (which was a miracle), 1 had their adoption completed in under 6 months, the rest had their adoptions completed in 8 months or less. Mine took longer since it was a relinquishment, and the birth mother was very young (we had to wait for her 18th birthday to roll around). It just depended on the court.... the judge..... the attorney's willingness to roll out of bed in the morning and get to the court house and put the pressure on (so you gotta hire a good one), and whether or not you run into various employees of the court system who might harbor ill will toward Americans... not to mention, no one in the court system is beneath looking for a bribe or two..... Our attorney REFUSED to give in to that (not sure how agencies handle it) - thus, ours took the long route. Our attorney was a former judge... so court employees were a bit afraid of her..... :) Right now in Panama, the fees that agencies (that are rapidly moving into Panama) are charging for adoptions are starting to trickle down to the Panamanians, and it could stir up quite an alarm..... they fear a sudden "rash" of abandoned babies (once birth mothers hear about what Americans are willing to pay for a baby), and - to a country that pays $20/month for rent.... everyone might start trying to get in on the adoption "movement". It worries me a bit. It sounds like the agency you're involved with is doing a great job so far.... does the 6 month rule not apply anymore? I know the laws have changed dramatically over the past few years.... Best wishes.... kp

Is the 6 month rule, the one I asked Lauri about, e.g. that a child needs to be available for domestic adoption for 6 mos. prior to international? Debra

I could be wrong, but maybe the "six month rule" was the way things were done in the past, before the last set of changes. In our agency's handbook, they state that the babies can be as young as 4 to 5 months at the time you bring them home from Panama. Joan

... hmmm.. saw at one website (World Partners? Not sure I have the name right) where they say that in Panama, children "6 months of age and older" are available.... But I haven't found anything "legal" at any websites (although I did go to a govt. adoption statistics website that went up to the year 2000... and the new adoption laws were being drawn up just prior to my leaving there.... Feb '99.... ). Wish I was more help. I can only HOPE that babies can be adopted as EARLY and as QUICKLY as possible, and that this has been recognized by Panama! That would be GREAT news!!!! I'll be checking back here to see if Laurie has updates on this baby....... I truly hope this baby is fortunate enough to have a normal infancy! GOOD LUCK Lauri!!!! :) PS: re: Authentification of Birth Certificates/Marriage Licenses... If you sent your originals to your agency/attorney, changes are THEY then sent them in for authentification - which the agency fee would cover (thus the cost of adoption thru an agency - they do all the nitty gritty work). We did our authentification via the Consulate in Florida - they were wonderful, careful and expedient (we sent a SASE/fed ex envelope at that, to them, which made the process about 8 days in total). I believe authentification is still a requirement. re: changing attorneys- I'm sorry to say this, but attorneys are a strange lot there in Panama. They "get to it when they get to it" ... unless you pay them extra to do otherwise. We hired a slime ball at one point JUST to get ONE piece of paperwork moving that seemed stuck..... we couldn't tell our attorney about it, because we were afraid it would hurt her feelings. But... it worked... he had a friend who had a relative.. who had a sister in law.. blah blah blah..... It was worth the $300 to get that done. It cut our process down by, probably, 3 months. Once.. our attorney wouldn't go to the court house with our paperwork (this was our FIRST attorney, not the one we finished with) because it was raining...... o.k........ maybe that seems legitimate.... but it was rainy season. Rainy season lasts 6 months...... UGH. re: why we changed attorneys: not for any other reason except that our first attorney was moving to the States. :)

We received notifcation yesterday from the Agency Attorney that our baby would be legally eligible for adoption the first of November. He will be 3 months old at that time. The attorney said the paperwork is ready and the process takes about a month to get through the courts. We are suppose to be able to travel for our first trip the beginning of November for 1 week. They don't know when the second trip will be. (We are hoping before Christmas.) We will keep you posted on the process that we are going through.

Do you think you can get guardianship during your trip in November? If so - that would be awesome!!! I'm curious which court the child's case is being handled in...... I know each one by heart at this point...... OR......do you know if all adoptions are now being handled in just "one" central location? Will you have your psych evals done in November? When the time comes..... and you guys are at the Consulate getting your Visa stuff done...... remember TWO things: 1. I suggest you use Hospital Nacional for the child's visa well-baby check.. it's JUST down the street from the Consulate.. and it is VERY VERY nice (new). 2. HAVE EXTRA EXTRA EXTRAS of the child's visa photos!!!!!!!!!!! Get as many as you can afford!!! The VISA staff (whom I got to know pretty darn well - ha) messed up on our paperwork 4 times!!! Here I was, with one foot out the door, and I'd notice small mistakes (like "male" checked instead of "female", then our daughter's name misspelled, THEN, the dates were wrong, etc etc). I thought I'd never get out of there...... ugh. BUT.... I was prepared.... in that I have AMPLE supply of VISA photos..... we used ALL BUT ONE!!! When I finally did leave, the staff clapped.... it was pretty funny .. but then I got in a taxi to head home (finally), and we got stuck in a demonstration on Avenue Balboa.... ugh!!! :) If you're not given custody of the child (it's hard to do, I hear) in November, and you go back in December - how old will the baby be at that point? You are so blessed to have found an infant... what great news..... you've got the "extra" time to get a good bond in infancy - that is so important. Congrats. :) ~kim p.

Laurie, We are adopting from CAI also, and we are so happy for you!!! I have to ask also if you get to take the baby back with you after the one week or if you have to leave the baby? I am hoping you get to take him with you:) Good luck you and your new family are in our thoughts and prayers, also thank you for sharing it really really helps!! Tanya B

We are hoping to receive at least temporary custody and bring the baby back with us. But our agency cannot say at this point whether we will be able to. To the next response: Thanks for all the advice above on what to do when we get there. It will come in very handy. We have already completed our psych eval in the States and sent it with the dossier. I don't know at this point whether we will need to complete another one when we get there. The psychologist that we used, sent our exact test with his assessment in the paperwork. Through our agency, we are being taken one step at a time. Since Panama is new for them, they cannot map out the entire process. So it is great to hear from those who have been through it.

My husband and are working with WPA and are now waiting for our referral. Our dossier was submitted to Carmen and approved around September 15. We were told to expect a referral quickly, but it hasn't happened yet. Our agency has not told us where we are the list of families awaiting adoption. We also don't know if we're just waiting for Carmen to approve a referral that had been identified, or if our referral has not yet been identified. I know it's a new program, but the "wait and see" is driving me crazy. I just wish we had a few more specifics about where we are in the process. Good luck to everyone. Keep posting! Reba:(

Hi Reba, Congrats on getting this far! The wait will be one of the hardest parts. Just out of curiosity what age range are you seeking. And why did your agency say to expect a quick referral? Lot of chidren available? And did they say how long the list is of families awaiting adoption? Thanks! All the best, Julie

Reba, Did your dossier have to be translated? When did you submit it and how long did it take them to translate it (if you had to do that). My DH and I are sending our completed dossier to the agency hopefully on Oct. 10, and I was just wondering what happens next. I agree with you about the waiting game, it really is hard. It is the anxiousness of wanting a child that makes the wait so hard, plus all the unknowns. Good luck. TanyaB

Any news from your agency? Have you received a referral, yet? Just wondering...since it's been a couple weeks since your last post. Our dossier was submitted to Carmen (DNA director) on June 6, and we're STILL waiting for a referral. Age requested: infant to 7 years # of children: 2 siblings preferred, but 1 OK, too Sex: at least 1 girl (have 3 boys already) Race: any Medical conditions: most (open to drug exposure, not alcohol!) :rolleyes:

Rebecca, We have not received our referral yet. Everytime we talk to our coordinator she says "We expect it to be in the next week or so". I guess if she says that every week, she'll eventually be correct! The waiting to sooooooo frustrating! But it's more so since our coordinator is overly optimistic and keeps telling us that they expect our referral soon. I know she's just trying to be positive, but frankly, realistic works better for me. I hate getting my hopes up! Good luck to you, too. Let's keep in touch. Renn