Been out a while-question

Welcome back, ydh! That's exactly how I understand it, which is why the process can lag for no apparent good reason--that they do a kind of pre-referral, then do the abandonment on that particular child. I think this way opens itself up for more frequent disruptions, but I believe this is the usual way of doing things. I've heard a different scenario as well, depending on which agency you're going through. That the agency itself adopts a particular child so that abandonment process is done before you're given the referral. And that technically, you're not adopting, you're actually re-adopting. Because I'm impatient, and I suppose no one else has the patience of Job either, I wish all the kids in the orphanages were adoptable, instead of waitiing and hoping nothing falls apart. Sure, I have tons of ideas on how to improve Panama's system...don't we all? hehehe Good luck to you!! Robin

thanks for the reply-- this is the closest we have been yet. Everything up to this point has been "Speculation" but this has come for the Director- so I want to believe it. Have you adopted from Panama-- if not where are you in the process??

Hey, Y, glad to see you're still hanging in there! You may recall that we are adopting independently, and never did receive a referral from the DNA (after they've had our dossier for 10 months). HOWEVER...remember those two sibs that our friend & attorney found? The DNA social worker submitted his report recommending termination of parental rights just about 3 weeks ago! And he began his investigation of these two children way back in August. So as you can see, it can take a LONG time. Now the case is in front of the judge, and who knows when the judge will actually rule on abandonment. In the meantime, our attorney has tried for the past 3 weeks to get an appointment with the judge, but no luck. She has, however, told the judge's secretary about these kids and our "dire" situation (INS paperwork expiring in June). So hopefully the termination will happen soon. Once it does, THEN the guardianship hearing can be scheduled. So in answer to your question, the DNA staff (social workers) do an abandonment investigation and submit a report to the judge, but it's the judge who makes the final decision (along with a "fiscal", or group of legal officials). And all of this takes time...lots of it. But if you got a referral from the DNA, it will happen eventually. (Odd, though, that you got a referral before the rights had been terminated. It sounds like this is the second time they have done this...I thought it was a rarity!) Rebecca formerly reb621

I think we are on this "dire" list too. Our attorney said we are on the "urgent" list of parents-- we have some language discrepencies with her-- but I think maybe that marks us to the officials as we have been working on this a while. So I think that is good. We are independet too-- but at least now I think I am getting pretty good information. So does it look like you are getting these two children?? Sounds like it!! Has your lawyer told you how long you will stay when you go?? 15 days is what I was told by our ex-agency-- our current attorney is not wanting to pin it down exactly-- she says "at least" two weeks.

For now, it LOOKS like we are getting these two siblings. However, their TPR hasn't happened, yet. (That's what we're waiting on.) Once it does, they'll hold the guardianship hearing. Sara (spanzeri) mentioned a 6-8 week period after abandonment has been declared (the TPR hearing) that children have to remain available to Panamanian families. However, ours are "older" (5 and 3), plus they're siblings. So it's likely that the waiting Panamanian families will not be interested in our two. We're keeping our fingers crossed that the DNA will forego this 6-8 week waiting period. But our attorney keeps cautioning us, "One step at a time!" :D Our attorney WAS telling us to expect one month (but this was months ago when she thought the judge would order "guardianship" since the kids are older). However, she told another client that she can get her in and out of Panama in just one week! (A smaller province that does adoptions faster---several hours away from Panama City.) The big issue will be how long the U.S. embassy takes. One of the first visits we'll make is to the embassy to verify that list of docs we'll need for the visa applications, and we'll go ahead and have the doctor appointments and visa photographs done. (I'm assuming we can do these before we have legal custody.) Since ours won't be infants, the embassy's orphan investigation should go much faster (plus, we'll have the adoption decree and proof of orphan status from the orphanage). Our attorney hasn't been real clear on how long we'll have to stay---probably because she hasn't even been able to meet with the judge, yet, to ask! Again, "one step at a time." :p I'm glad to hear that you're finally getting your info directly from the attorney! Rebecca

Just a comment on the US Embassy part, our understanding is that nothing can be done with the Embassy until you have the formal documents from the court. They will not allow you to take the children for medical evals until they have the documents. Now, this is information from our agency, and we did not talk directly to the Embassy while we were there. Just wanted to set expectations. There is an e-mail address that I have for the Embassy, if you want to try to get information: Panama-Visa@state.gov