Length-of-stay in a foreign country

People, people, people.... when purchasing, buying, paying fees - in cash, adopting a foreign child, and a certain required length-of-stay is required, don't call your local government rep to complain about the length-of stay.  Even if all the other adopters got to leave after 5 days for a speedy adoption pick-up, STAY the required time... you never know what fate has in-store for you.... who knows, if you're Christian, maybe God is using you to see all the $%&!&!$ signs of corruption and fraud around you...

For the sake of victims of an illegal adoption, please review the following scenario, and ask, "What would I think and do if I were expecting a short adoption pick-up?":

A local couple recently celebrated the five-year anniversary of bringing their daughter home from Guatemala. The homecoming came after the family was rescued in the foreign country by a local congresswoman.

"I really feel that we were the exception, not the rule," Shay Beighle said. "In all international adoptions there are bumps in the road, and it is a huge leap of faith."

On March 5, 2006, Shay and Rodney Beighle traveled to bring their adoptive daughter, Sylvia, home from Guatemala. The typical duration of the pick-up trip at that time was a three to five day in-country stay. For a number of reasons, they were unable to obtain their pink slip (basically the exit slip from the country).

"My Guatemalan attorney didn't submit all our appropriate/required paperwork when he should have," Shay said. "He submitted some but not all, and the one he left out was the I600-A form which is the petition to take an orphan out of the country."

There is a large portfolio adoptive parents create called a Dossier, according to Shay. The Dossier consists of nearly 30 documents, such as background checks, references, doctor's notes, and so on. All those documents are notarized, county authenticated/sealed, Ohio state authenticated/sealed, and U.S.A. authenticated/sealed by the U.S. Secretary of State. Then the Dossier is sent to our adoption agency, to Guatemala, and translated by the Guatemalan attorneys.

"Once the Guatemalan courts (called PGN, similar to our clerk of courts) reviewed our case and approved it, Sylvia was legally our daughter," said Shay. "At that point it became our attorney's job to submit to the U.S. Embassy, and the Embassy would assign us an interview. The interview is very short, and it is where you obtain your child's passport and packet of sealed documents to give to immigration once you arrive in the U.S.A."

The U.S. Embassy was operating on a unique system, and their Guatemalan attorney was not able to submit the paperwork needed.

"After we were in the country for two days, I received an email from the U.S. Embassy stating my I600-A was not submitted," Shay explained. "At that point I called my attorney's assistant. She explained it was his fault, and it would be rectified the next day.

"Day after day, my attorney's assistant would call us with the bad news that my attorney was not able to submit the document. At that time the U.S. Embassy would open a window for such paperwork submission. The window would be open 9 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. Monday through Thursday, and only 25 attorneys would get to submit their documents.

"The catch was, if you were 26th in line on Tuesday, it didn't mean you got to be first on Wednesday. Some of the attorneys had people working for them who would sleep on the street to insure a place in line."

Sylvia was legally their daughter, but they were unable to leave Guatemala with her. They needed the proper paperwork that would lead to her passport and a meeting at the U.S. Embassy.

After nearly three weeks in Guatemala, they met an American couple who told Shay that she could take over her own case. Being a U.S. citizen, she entered the embassy, and the staff there suggested she contact political help from their home state.

At that point, Shay called David Kelley at 7 p.m. on a Thursday evening, and by the next morning she had an email from Congresswoman Jean Schmidt's office stating she would help them bring their daughter home.

Over the next few days, she was in constant contact with Teresa Lewis from Schmidt's office as she prepared to enter the U.S. Embassy to obtain Sylvia's paperwork that was necessary to get her passport. Schmidt and her staff were also in contact with the U.S. Embassy on behalf of their case file.

"Five days after my phone call to David Kelley and contacting Jean Schmidt, we were on a plane flying home with our precious daughter," Shay said.

[From:  Peebles family's adoption leads to lengthy stay in foreign country, April 13, 2011 ]

First of all, the daughter is not 'theirs' until the adoption is final.  Second of all, there is a lot of fraudulent paper-work,/documentation passing as "legal".  The Aparents may have had no reason to think there was any problem with the adoption process itself, outside of delayed paper-work.

PAP's need to WAKE UP and stop acting like 'those (bad adoption) stories' only happen to other people, using other adoption agencies, other adoption facilitators, and other adoption lawyers, and choosing other sending countries.  Corruption and illegal activity, like child trafficking, coupled with doctored documents, are a universal trick and trade in Adoptionland.  These adoptions ought to be ILLEGAL, and heavily investigated, not fast-tracked and made more simple.

<shaking head at the arrogant ignorance!!!>

Good grief... THINK before you call your senator/member of congress to voice a concern or complaint and ask a favor, whilst paying huge cash fees so "your child" can be handed over to you, so you can be free to hop on a plane and never return to that god-forsaken region adoption headquarters again.  As a new American AP, you never know whose stolen child you may have in your arms, crying, and needing comforting, and a safe return.

American PAPs considering ICA, OPEN YOUR EYES, and complain about the right things to complain about -- NOT the boo-hoo scary length of stay or time it takes to take a single child, under the age of five, "home". Adoption scams are too bad and aplenty in ALL of Adoptionland to go without serious complaint.