May Adoption Update

Well, we are still in a waiting pattern. No specific news out of Haiti concerning our adoption. We continue to hear that the temporary suspension of new applications for adoption in Haiti is a good thing. Good for us and good for other families like us in that it will speed things along. And also good for all the kids in Haiti waiting to be adopted. The government of Haiti is moving to only work with accredited orphanages or creches. The orphanage we are working with is in this category and continues to be top notch.

Our May update on Little Mister was extra special. They celebrate Flag Day and Mother's Day in the month of May. Our contact at the orphanage wrote the update as if Little Mister was writing to us. Here it is, plus some photos with the beautiful Haitian countryside in the background.

Hi Mom and Dad!

I have had a fun month here at GLA.

We had a parade on Haitian Flag Day.  It was so much fun.  We knew that it was flag day when we saw Molly getting all the red and blue flags and t-shirts out.  I got to choose if I wanted to wear a red or a blue shirt and then waited to be called to the yard. I chose to wear a blue shirt. Once we were called to the yard we lined up in two lines and got a flag to hang onto. Next we started singing and making music as we marched down the street we live on. We walked all the way down to the end of the street before we turned around.  It sure was fun to wave my flag and sing along to “Mon Drapo” as we walked around.  After we returned to our big blue gate and made our way back into the yard where there was a balloon drop!  The visitors had blown up balloons and dropped them from the balcony above us.  I watched as the balloons fell down and then ran as fast as I could to get one to play with before all the bigger kids got to them first. It was so much fun to have so many colorful balloons drop down from the sky! It was a very busy day and I slept really well all night.

I really like living at the Toddler House with all the bigger kids.  They teach me so much and I like to play in the yard with the slide, swings, and plastic playplace. I can’t wait for you to see how big I am and how many things I can do now.

I am so excited to meet you some day soon but I hope you know that I am doing well here at GLA.  I get lots of love from my nannies, my teachers, and Molly and Joyce.  I am enjoying my life here while dreaming of what it will be like to come and live with you.  

I love you.
Your little boy

Update on Adoptions in Haiti

We got word today that IBESR (Haitian Social Services) has suspended new applications for adoption. This will not affect our application and in fact, we believe it will help speed things along

Here is the text from the press release.

Haiti's adoption authority, l'Institut du Bien Être Social et de Recherches (IBESR), informed U.S. Embassy Port-au-Prince that it will suspend processing of new adoption cases effective May 7, 2012. IBESR indicated that the suspension will enable it to expedite processing on its backlog of pending cases and begin internal restructuring to bring it closer to international standards. The U.S. Embassy has been assured the suspension is temporary and that IBESR will continue to process all cases that are filed before May 7.

If you have questions about the status of your adoption case, please work closely with your adoption agency or facilitator. Please refer to our website at adoption.state.gov for updates on the temporary suspension.

Leslie and I view this as a very positive development. Anything that "expedites the backlog of pending cases", is something that we are in favor of.

Now let's all pray that the timing of expediting the application is on U.S. time and not Haiti time.