Good news...I think...

Well, Guatemalan congress finally passed their new adoption legislation and it did include a grandfathering clause for in-process cases. I don't know if we're out of the woods yet though, there are still A LOT of unanswered questions about the process and if it will even work. But instead of speculating, I'll just post the email we received from our agency:


"Dear Waiting Guatemala Families,

Through the Associated Press, we can confirm that adoption legislation has been passed today in Guatemala and will become effective on December 31, 2007.

Bill #3735 or the revamped Ortega Bill contains a grandfather clause for pending cases and requires the formation of a new central authority. While the grandfather clause in the bill is assuredly good news for all our families, we are still awaiting a few details on the process.

We know that the new central authority will be called the Consejo Nacional de Adopciones or CNA. We know that theoretically the CNA will start to work on December 31, 2007. We also know that we will have 30 days to register all of our pending cases with this new authority once it has been created. And, we know that our legal teams will move as quickly as possible to register your cases.

We still do not know what the new definition of a pending adoption case is according to bill 3735. And we do not know if the CNA will be fully staffed and ready to register thousands of pending cases in 20 days.

For now we will celebrate that a grandfather clause was included in the legislation, and wait for more news about the details of the process and what this means for the future of adoptions in Guatemala."