Dossier in Haiti

We received good news while traveling last week. Our caseworker received our dossier back from the Haiti consular office in the Washington DC last week Thursday. (My dad's 70th birthday.) She sent it off to IBESR in Haiti on the same day.

This means we are finally in Haiti -- via the dossier! It took about 2 weeks for the dossier to be translated, and another 2-3 weeks to be authenticated by the Haiti consulate in the US. There is no more US work to be done to prep our file to enter the process in country.

Once IBESR receives the dossier, they will notify the attorney who works with our creche, Rivers of Hope, and who is representing us in Haiti to pick up the paperwork and submit it to Foreign Affairs for legalization in Haiti. We have been told to expect about 3 weeks to complete legalization. 

Once legalized, the dossier will go back to IBESR. IBESR will review our paperwork and, if all goes well, approve our family to adopt a child from their country. 

There was more good news coming for other families adopting from Haiti last week. I am so happy that two families from our agency who have been waiting on IBESR for over a year finally received approval to proceed with adopting their children. They received referrals right before the laws were changed and have been waiting since.

One agency said it feels like there might finally be light at the end of a long tunnel called Haiti adoption reforms. For our family, we are in an interesting spot in that we are starting this process just at the time that the reforms are being finalized and implemented. Kind of like driving on a road that has just been repaved. So new I can smell the asphalt!