Haiti to tighten adoption rules

Haiti to tighten adoption rules

This is a headline that can really cause a lot of anxiety. The Haiti team that we stay in contact with has been discussing this all day. There is always a lot of unknowns and theories during international adoptions. It can be risky if proper channels are not used during the process. Thankfully, we are with a reputable adoption agency and our orphanage (which is technically a creche-pronounced cresh) is reputable and authorized by Haiti to adopt internationally. Only a creche in Haiti is legally allowed to adopt children out. A person can't just visit a random orphanage in Haiti, pick out a cute kid and start the adoption process. Most orphanages do not have proper means to go through the adoption process. I can get pretty upset thinking about the group of baptists who took children out of the country without using the proper channels. They refused to respect the law and did what they thought was right. Although Haiti is a very difficult place for children, we must be respectful of the process, no matter how long it takes. Now, because of the acts of a few who thought they were doing the right thing, they may have jeopardized the adoption process for many others. Let's pray that doesn't happen.

Frustration

For the past month we have been had some frustrating emails back and forth between the Haitian Embassy, our adoption agency, and our lawyer in Haiti. On May 12th we received an email from the Haitian Embassy stating due to the fact that our children were not biologically related, an extra fee was to be paid to process their immigration file. The frustrating part about this is we were told by our adoption agency (Judy) many months ago that we would need to pay the fee while we were in Haiti. Unfortunately, in the meantime Patrick took over for Judy and was not aware of this issue. We asked several times before we left for Haiti if we would need to pay anything while we were down there and the answer was always no.

Well, they were wrong. You would think that it would be an easy problem to fix. Just wire money down to our lawyer, and he could go to the embassy and settle the balance. We went around and around with our adoption agency and finally we got an answer that the money was to be sent to the Dept. Of Homeland Security in the United States with a letter explaining the check and everything would be fine. Yesterday, we got the whole packet back, plus our uncashed check stating that they could not process our request. Grrrrrr!

We called Patrick and told him what happened. He said he was pulling his hair out at the lack of accurate information of our own United States agency. So we are back to square one. We found out that even though the American Embassy in Haiti and the US are run by the same people, they don't communicate with each other the way we think they should. So, we are back to looking at the option of either wiring the money to Kiki in Haiti and having him walk it in, or Patrick is taking another group of families to Haiti in July, and he would be able to pay it then.

Every adoption has a frustrating story, and this one looks like it's ours. Thankfully, this doesn't slow down our process at all because US Immigration is one of the last steps in the process. The lesson for future families adoptiong from Haiti is THERE IS A SEPERATE FEE FOR NON-BIO KIDS FOR US IMMIGRATION. Sometimes it's frustrating being the guinnea pigs.

Livesay [Haiti] Weblog: Mari

I had to repost this. She refers to Cite Soleil in this post which is where Samson came from. It's hard to imagine what life is like for so many people in Haiti.

Livesay [Haiti] Weblog: Mari: "Reposting Beth's blog ... The ladies in our program come to us. Our turf. They come on foot, on tap tap and on moto-taxi at least once..."

Happy birthday Lydie!

Today Lydie turns 2. It WILL BE the last birthday without her being with us.  Today I spent a lot of time thinking about her and how she was exactly as we had expected her to be when we met her for the first time in March. Just based on pictures, we knew she was a character. We knew she would be scared of us the first time.  All of those things were true. The most amazing thing was the bond that we formed while we were there for just a few short days. And when it was time to say goodbye and set her down on the floor in the toddler room in the orphanage, she turned toward Stephen and held our her arms wanting to be picked up again and started to cry.  That's an image that stays with you and breaks your heart.

We miss you Lydie. You have been through experiences in your 2 short years of life that none of us can even imagine going through. You are a fighter and a survivor. We can't wait to bring you home. Happy birthday Pretty Lydie. We love you very much.

Pictures!

We are so blessed to have traveled to Haiti with such wonderful people. Several of them are in Haiti right now which is hard. But they have taken the time to send us new pictures of our kids. Here are a few of our favorites. Enjoy!

Livesay [Haiti] Weblog: weep, hope, fight, pray

This is one of the blogs I follow. They are full time in Haiti. She so beautifully wrote what has been on my heart for some time now.

Livesay [Haiti] Weblog: weep, hope, fight, pray: "For a combination of reasons, that I won't bore you with now, I'm experiencing a huge resistance to writing anything of substance in this sp..."

Fees

Everybody knows that adoptions are expensive. A couple of years ago we were prompted to get completely out of debt and the Lord showed us how to do it, we never could have imagined the journey that He wanted to take us on. We have been blessed beyond anything we can comprehend.

...But God. The Lord often uses His people to show His love towards us. Several special people in our lives have been prompted to help us get Lydie and Samson home financially. Each gift has been received with great emotion and thankfulness. Even now it is hard to put into words how humbled we are to have such wonderful friends and family who have joined us on this wild ride of adoption. From a surprise shower at Stephen's school to random gifts received throughout the process, we honestly cannot put into words how loved we feel. You know who you are and we thank you for being such a blessing to us. Our prayer is that the Lord would pour out His blessings on you in return.

Our agency recently gave us a break down of the fees paid in Haiti. I thought it was kind of interesting and thought I would post it so you get an idea of what goes into an adoption. Most of these fees are doubled because we are adopting 2 kiddos.

The great news is we have saved enough to cover the rest of the estimated adoption fees!  Praise the Lord!!

(These are In-Haiti fees only. Does not include adoption agency fees, immigration and travel costs)

 Haiti In-Country Fee Breakdown 

1st Haiti Processing Fees - Due at Dossier Submission 

1st Legalization $60 

2 sets of copies after 1st legalization $7 

Locate birth parents, plus phone card for Parent Locator $8 

Family Council $50 

Social History $200 

Psychological Evaluation $75 

Birth Certificates $50 

Certificate of Consent $50 

Adoption minutes from court $60 

Lawyer’s Fee $250 

Medical certificate $35 

Photos $6 

Gas & Phone Card $50 

Dossier to IBESR $190 

Haiti Processor Service Fee $300 

Total: $1,391 

2nd Haiti Processing Fees - Due after IBESR Approval 

Lawyer's fee $1,400 

Child’s Passport $450 

Child’s Passport photos $6 

Haiti Processor Service Fee $300 

Total: $2,156 

3rd Haiti Processing Fees - Due after Child’s Passport Issued 

Translations for US Government (French to English) $250 

Visa Fee at US Embassy $400 

Medical letter for Visa appointment $68 

Vaccinations when ordered from the Embassy for Visa $100 

Gas and phone card $50 

Haiti Processor Service Fee $400 

Total: $1,268 

Haiti In-Country Fee TOTAL: $4,815