Birth parent interviews and other news

We were pleased to find out this week that all of the families' birth parent interviews were conducted at the US Embassy in Haiti. Our lawyer in Haiti (Kiki) contacted Patrick and informed us that all went well. This is yet another huge step to be completed in the process. We also found out that the US Embassy did not request DNA testing. Sometimes the embassy will request this if there is a concern that the person claiming to be the child's parent isn't really the parent. They also request testing a lot of times if the father is the one who brought the child to the orphanage. We are so thankful that DNA testing wasn't required because it is quite expensive.

We have been praying for one of the families we traveled with because their daughter, Celine's birth certificate could not be located. They informed us this morning that Celine's birth certificate has been found and hopefully their Dossier will be sent to IBESR in a couple weeks.

Due to the recent elections in Haiti, there will be a new director appointed to the IBESR. We are praying and hopeful that this new director will help speed up the process. In the meantime, we would prefer that our Dossier would get out of IBESR before the changeover takes place. It takes time for people to get settled in to their new positions so this can cause a backlog in paperwork. Our Dossier has been in IBESR for a little over 2 months now.

We recently purchased the documentary "Adopting Haiti" for Lydie. We are thankful to have a resource for her to help her understand where she came from and what she experienced when she gets older.  If you haven't watched "Adopting Haiti", you can by going to Hulu.com and typing "Adopting Haiti" in the search box. The documentary is about an hour long.  Patrick sent us post-earthquake pictures of the truck she slept in for four months. It's hard to imagine what life must have been like for the nannies at that time. I think the nannie's face in the foreground speaks to the desperate situation they were in. The little girl the nanny is holding is Patrick's daughter, Valancia. She was barely holding onto life. Her skin was literally hanging off her little body.  Valancia was humanitarian paroled after the earthquake and Patrick showed us a picture of her now and she is a beautiful, bubbly, healthy little girl.

I should add the that the white stuff under the nanny's nose is toothpaste. It was used to mask the horrible stench in the air.