JCICS Update

As you all know the last several weeks have been very tense since the announcement was made by Guatemala that effective Jan 1, 2008 they would become a Hague country and all adoptions with the non-Hague countries (the US) would CEASE! Through everyone rallying together and making their concerns heard to our political figures good news was shared by the Joint Council on International Children's Services (JCICS). The Hague compliant bill 3217, that was passed on October 3rd will have an amendment added to it, that if approved, will allow transition cases to proceed to completion without interruption. This amendment must be favorably voted on before it can be added to the bill. This will be done on or after Nov 4. Hopefully they will get to it sooner because I have had enough of this roller coaster ride and I am sooooo ready to get off and bring Olivia home.

This is a great step in the right direction but it is not a done deal yet. We must continue to keep this matter on the forefront and continue to pray that the amendment will pass and adoptions will continue so that our children will come home.

This is part of the e-mail that I received from my agency today. You can read the rest of this on http://www.jcics.org/

Guatemala – Transition Cases
Joint Council is pleased to confirm that the Hague Permanent Bureau has now joined with Joint Council, the U.S. Department of State and others in agreeing that transition cases should be allowed to proceed to completion without interruption. It is our understanding that the HPB has now conveyed their revised position to both the Berger administration and Guatemalan Congress.

Thank you to everyone for your prayers and continued support!!