guatemala900

The US Department of State, Office of Children’s Issues has released a new statement regarding Guatemala.

Click here to read the most recent.

The Guatemala900 recently traveled to Washington DC and met with Susan Jacobs, Special Advisor on Children’s Issues with the US Department of State and Fernando de la Cerda, Minister Counselor with the Guatemalan Embassy.  Susan Jacobs confirmed that Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom and the Guatemalan Department of Foreign Ministry is indeed taking steps to help the Guatemala900 reach a resolution. The Guatemala900 also has been seeing many cases that have been stuck for an extended period of time begin to move forward in the adoption process.

Fernando de la Cerda expressed his continued commitment to the children of the Guatemala900.  His counterpart at the Department of Foreign Ministry in Guatemala City Lissette Ordoñez also continues to give attention to the cases of families who have volunteered their information, and reports that President Colom will be having another meeting with his team next week to assess the progress and remind the courts on the details of the grandfather clause of the Ortega law.

The Guatemala900 is continuing to search for families who may not have learned about the recent survey co-sponsored by JCICS, CCAI, and the Guatemala900 and is obtaining significant help from JCICS, who has been working with USCIS, in trying to get the word out so that, “no family,” as Fernando de la Cerda states, “is left behind.”

Guatemala Minister Counselor Fernando de la Cerda is returning to Washington, DC today after an intense 10 day trip to Guatemala which included 2 meetings with Guatemala President Alvaro Colom. Fernando is reporting significant progress in finding solutions for moving the adoption cases of the Guatemala900 forwards towards resolution.  Fernando’s efforts in Guatemala also included individual meetings with the PGN, CNA, Court of Appeals, MP, and with his own Department of Foreign Ministry.

On Monday, July 26th, President Colom hosted a meeting with the highest level officials from the PGN, CNA, MP and several high level lawyers. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss adoptions, including the resolution of the grandfathered cases.  The same group along with the Deputy Secretary of Interior and high level officials from the Secretaría de Bienestar Social (SBS) convened again on Monday, August 2nd and will do so again next Monday, August 9th.  Fernando reports that President Colom was sympathetic to the children who are in limbo and spearheaded discussions with the other officials about how cases can start to accelerate towards resolution.  Fernando is optimistic that end result should be some significant measurable progress in the coming weeks and months.

As a condition, the officials in Guatemala are requesting information on the remaining cases.  Specifically, Guatemala is asking for :
• Adoptive Family’s Names
• Child’s Name
• Biological Mother’s Name
• PGN or CNA identification Number

Fernando de la Cerda said “I cannot stress enough how important it is that we have this information.  There is no way for us to try to help without it.”

Families can ensure that their information is provided to Guatemala by completing the JCICS/CCAI/GUATEMALA900 survey. Over 125 families have already completed the survey, and their information has already been sent to Guatemala.  Fernando de la Cerda indicated that the Dept. of Foreign Ministry has already started to process the families information that was provided.   Guatemala indicated that they need to have ALL of the families information for the next meeting with President Colom on Monday, August 9th.   JCICS, CCAI, and Guatemala900 will send any addition family information that is obtained this week to Guatemala at the end of the day this Friday, August 6th.   IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT FAMILIES COMPLETE THE SURVEY!

Click here to participate in the JCICS/CCAI/Guatemala900 Survey

Fernando de la Cerda, Minister Counselor at the Guatemala Embassy in Washington, DC , has returned to Guatemala and will be meeting with officials from the CNA, PGN, and MP and others.

Fernando also announced the creation of a position at the Guatemalan Foreign Ministry that will deal with adoption issues full time.  Fernando was very excited about the appointment of Lissette Ordoñez to this position, as it will give his department someone on the ground in Guatemala City who has immediate access to the organizations dealing with adoptions in Guatemala.

Fernando’s trip will last 10 days.

Two of the Guatemala900’s greatest allies are Joint Council on International Children Services (www.jcics.org) and The Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute (www.ccai.org).  These two organizations are tirelessly working for the Gautemala900 grandfathered cases every day.  JCICS and CCAI recently approached the Guatemala900 and expressed a need for a comprehensive database of remaining grandfathered cases.  JCICS and CCAI expressed that having this information will maximize the effectiveness of their advocacy work.

We know that the families of the Guatemala900 are no strangers to surveys.  As we all know the Guatemala900 conducted a major survey as recently as April for the Congressional Briefing in Washington, DC.   Surveys take up precious time and much of the information will be redundant with previous surveys.  So why participate in another?  The reason is simple - it will give our powerful allies the best tools to advocate for all of the children in Guatemala and families in the United States that are awaiting due process.  The database created from this survey will supersede all previous databases, so it is important for all families to participate.

To minimize the chance for data transfer error from our current database, we respectfully ask ALL Guatemala900 families to please participate in the the new survey.   It should only take 10-15 minutes to complete.  JCICS and CCAI will email to their extensive contact database in an attempt to find more Guatemala900 families, thereby expanding our voice and making us that more more effective in our efforts to to obtain “due process, due now!”

To participate in the JCICS/CCAI/G900 survey : CLICK HERE .