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We live in Bristol County Massachusetts and adopted our son in Guatemala in December 2004. We have not "re-adopted" yet because the judges in the Probate Court here require adoptive parents to hire an attorney to facilitate a search for the unknown birth fathers of their Guatemalan children. In other words, our Guatemalan adoption is not recognized by the state of Massachusetts. (This detail was not divulged to us by our agency until after we were ready to "re-adopt.") Guatemala does not terminate fathers' rights in the adoption process and the courts do not like this. I have spent hours and hours on the telephone and doing research to find some way to make our child a citizen without having to "re-adopt." What are the chances of a father coming forward you might say? True--not good, but there is the possibility he may and then what? The Guatemalan authorities understandably frown on this requirement. And then there is the issue of the exposure of the birthmother to this "nonsense" (an attorney's words). It looks like we are going to have to move, give up our support system and lengthen my husband's already lengthy commute to work--just a few drawbacks among others. Has anyone here successfully litigated this in Bristol County and been granted a waiver of this requirement? The attorney claims that would be unlikely. In addition, the clerk in Bristol County Probate Court told me that Suffolk County and other counties require an unknown birth father search. Would people tell me in which county in Massachusetts they re-adopted a Guatemalan child and if a birth father search is required? Thank you.
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We did not adopt internationally, so the readoption issue does not apply to us. However, our son's birth mother is Guatemalan and although he was born here in Mass, a search for the birth father still had to take place in Guatemala. No one claimed paternity after the designated period of time and our son's adoption was approved. We're in Middlesex County. I believe the law is the same for all adoptions in Massachusetts - relinquishment has to be signed off by both mother and father. If the father cannot be found, there must be an effort to locate him, i.e. legal advertisement in a local newspaper, etc. I'm sorry for all the problems you're going through, I hope it all works out.
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I understand what you are saying. But you adopted your child in this country. Our adoption occurred in Guatemala and the decree was issued in Guatemala. We were told by our agency that he is ours and went to Guatemala believing that. Now, we are being told by the Probate Court in Massachusetts that he is not out child. We now have to essentially attempt to adopt him in the U.S. And this situtation is fairly unique to Bristol County for some reason. I have been unable to locate anyone who adopted a child in Guatemala whose adoption was not recognized by the state of Massachusetts except for those who brought their children home to Bristol County. Perhaps the U.S. government should not recognize adoptions from a country which allows adoptions with relinquishment only by the birth mother? But currently the U.S. government recognizes Guatemalan adoptions. The state of Massachusetts does not, which means our child cannot become a citizen--unless we move to another county which does recognize our Guatemalan adoption decree. This is why I am looking for people from other counties to make sure they did not have to search for the birth father. This is a step which should have been done in Guatemala before the adoption was finalized. Now Bristol County families of adopted Guatemalan children are in for a shock when they arrive home and attempt to "re-adopt" so they can make their children citizens. (Our agency did not tell us this would happen.)
We adopted our daughter from Russia and another board member checked with the bureau of vital statistics in MA and was told that MA is actually one of the states that does recognize foreign adoption and so we were not required to readopt in MA - I'm at work now but I'll see if I can dig out her email with the exact response. I know the process in Russia is different than Guatemala as we have a birth cert from Russia with both of our names on it. I'm not sure if that makes a difference. Hope that helps a little...
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Hi- Yes she is - I have to check but I think one of the differences between Guat adoptions and Russia adoptions are what type of visa the kids come into the country on - IR-3 vs IR-4 - but of course I'm not sure which is which. We came home in Jan 2005 and so we were automatically sent a Certificate of Citizenship certificate within 30 days from when we came home. I think that changed in 2004 sometime - previously you had to apply for the COC but now it's automatic. Here is the info from that email I was talking about - and it mentions the IR-4 visa so perhaps this is part of the problem? They told me that readoption is NOT necessary in MA to obtain a birth certificate, and in order to get one for X, I could bring in his Russian adoption decree, along with a notarized english translation to the DPH Vital Stats bureau in Boston and they'd issue a birth certificate there. The only stipulation is that they said they can only include on the birth certificate what it says on the adoption decree, and sometimes the decree isn't too detailed and the birth cert only will say parents names, child's name, dob. Which seems like all that is needed anyways...? But they do reiterate that readoption in MA is not necessary, as the MA Gen Laws have a law that is passed which states that MA will recognize any foreign adoption decree where the child has entered in on an IR-4 visa as just as valid as one which was issued in MA. So I guess I'm not sure if that helps you or not - maybe you can check with the Dept of Vital Stats as well? Also have you tried the Guatemala board - I know there are a ton of MA parents on that. As far as the COC thing - I know some of the parents on the Russia board did adopt their kids when you still had to appy for the COC and there were some recent posts about what they did. Good luck - (I'm sure you thought you were done all the red tape and paperwork PRIOR to bringing your child home!). Karen
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