First steps

First we have to go thru a homestudy to make sure we are a nice enough family to adopt a child. Our visits are scheduled on Feb. 13 at their office and Feb. 24th at home. There are many many other papers we need to complete. Doctors statements, FBI and local police clearance for example. The list goes on and on. Each paper needs to be notarized then sent on to the state for further certification. It will take about 2 months to complete this (we hope not more). The agency then takes all these papers (called a dossier) and sends them on to Guatemala where they then approve us as prospective adoptive parents. Then we wait for our referral which can take up to 3 months. On our agencies webpage there is a nice explanation of the whole process.
Why Guatemala? Many reasons actually. You get referrals of healthy newborns which are relinquished for adoption most often due to poverty. The babies are put into foster homes where they receive alot of love and individual attention. The mother is required to take a DNA test to prove that she is that babies mother and a photo is taken which we will receive. Our agency does many blood tests to assure the babies are as healthy as possible. We can visit our child as often as we want but only 1 trip is required for pick up which lasts about 5 days. Plus the children are beautiful. :)