UPDATE: September 21, 2004 SHE'S HERE!!!! We arrived home at 10:30 p.m. tonight. We are exhausted and thrilled to be back in the U.S. Cassie and Allie have clicked already and I know they will be fast friend. September 9, 2004 Our tentative travel dates are for us to leave on Saturday, September 18th and to return home on Tuesday, September 21st. If the rest of the paperwork is not completed in time (we are waiting on the Embassy final approval), then our travel would be pushed back to 9/25-9/28. Wish us luck!!! August 27, 2004 We received word that we exited PGN this week! The agency estimates that it will be 2-4 weeks before we travel - I can't tell you how excited we are... June 28, 2004 Not much has happened. We received our Visa preapproval from the Embassy on April 27th and it was entered into PGN on May 3rd. The PGN will not start a case review until the preapproval is received. So our actual PGN timing didn't start until May 3rd. So, we have been in 8 weeks. The time frame for release from PGN is varied! Some people are released in 2-3 months, some aren't released for entire year - it just depends on which attorney you get and exactly what your case is. We are starting to think that Allie will NOT be home in time for her birthday, but our main goal is just to get her home! April 21, 2004
I am sorry that I haven't updated this page in so long. There have been so many things that have happened. In January of this year, we found out that lawyer who was handling our case had not done any of the work that she said she had. She has now been banned from the Embassy in Guatemala and essentially stole our money. Plus, we found out that the little girl we were trying to adopt was taken from the foster home she was in and placed in an orphanage because the lawyer did not file some of the correct paperwork. So, needlesstosay, we had to abandon that case (plus we were told that once a child had been removed from foster care, it was almost impossible to adopt them). November 29, 2003 I'm so sorry it has taken me so long to update this page. Things are still moving along in Guatemala for us. Let me try to sum up what has happened. We had our fingerprints for INS done on Sept. 19th. We received our INS approval on October 18th. I'm not sure of the exact date that we entered Family Court, but it somewhere around October 1st or so. The birth mother was interviewed on Nov. 12th and the foster mother was interviewed on Nov. 15th. We received our DNA authorization sometime this week, but were notified on Nov. 26th. Now, they can schedule the birth mother and our soon-to-be daughter for DNA tests. We should be receiving the social worker report in the next few weeks and exiting Family Court. Our case will then be submitted to the PGN, which unfortunately seems to be in a quagmire at the moment... I will try to update as soon as I have anything else. September 11, 2003
Well, two days ago, our agency called and told us that the birthmom had changed her mind and Stefiny would no longer be our child. However, today, we were matched with another adorable little girl. Her name will be Caitlin Mishell and her birthday is May 7, 2002. September 3, 2003 We were finally matched with a toddler girl from Guatemala! Her new name will be Caitlin Marie Stefiny and her birthday day is December 24, 2001. It will be a long road, but will be so worth it in the end. Our entire family is excited - I will keep you posted... May 20, 2003 Well, it looks like domestic adoption won't be for us this time around. We have decided to pursue a Guatemalan adoption of a toddler girl. This will work out much better for our family anyway. We are in the process of getting our dossier together. We will also be having our international homestudy starting at the beginning of June. I will post a picture of our referral as soon as we have one. Pray for us! September 4, 2002 There haven't been any new developments. It looks like Kevin and I were correct and nothing will come of this adoption application. We are planning on going to either Russia or Guatemala in 2004 or 2005. Cassie is extremely anxious for a baby brother or sister. We also are waiting patiently. We know it will eventually happen. April 26, 2002 Sorry I have taken so long to update this page. We finished all the necessary paperwork and jumped through all the required hoops. We completed all this in January. We are not very hopeful about the outcome considering how few placements our agency has had lately. If it happens, it happens. Just wanted to update everyone. September 26, 2001 Yesterday was our home visit and it went well. Though we were disappointed to hear that their placements are way down than they have been in previous years. With the addition of our family, there will now be 28 families waiting. Most of the waiting families are like us, have adopted one and are back for their second child. The longest waiting family has been waiting 2 years. I think Kevin and I are at the place where if it happens that's wonderful and if not, then it wasn't meant to be. We have a wonderful little girl now and if we add to that, great - if not, oh well. I have my individual interview Monday (10/15/01) and Kevin has his on 10/11/01. I will update more after these interviews and then I guess we will be officially waiting. September 17, 2001 We sent in our paperwork on Thursday, September 6th and already heard that our home visit is going to be next Tuesday, September 25th. Our house is, obviously, already clean, but there were lots of updates we wanted to get done before then. I guess we will just do what we can do. Anyway, the same caseworker who did our post-adoption visits with Cassie is going to be doing our homestudy this time and so we feel very comfortable with her. I guess that's about it for now. I will update after the home visit. September 1, 2001 We are going to be sending in our paperwork to adopt our second child on Wednesday, September 5, 2001. We are just waiting on Kevin's physical form to be filled out by the doctor on Tuesday. I will update this page when anything regarding this new adoption happens and let everyone know what we are having to do. Hopefully, this adoption will go as smoothly as Cassie's did.
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Our case for Allie is really progressing well. We have already been entered into and exited from Family Court. DNA has been done already and results sent to the Embassy. We are currently in PGN (which is the last court) and are also awaiting the visa preapproval from the Embassy. We are hopeful that she will be home this summer before her birthday - since she and Cassie will be having a party together. I will try to keep things updated a bit better.
