OK, the two relatives that the kids live with both went into court on friday to give their statements for the guardianship proceedings. Our lawyer, the fabulous Priscila Sanchez, said that Eddie's guardianship could be official as early as two weeks from now!!!
Possible change in schedule: We had originally been planning to bring them here in May thinking that their school year ended at the same time as ours. We've learned that the kids' school year ends in January. So, we can bring them here earlier and get them right into school. It would be a repeat of the same school year for a couple of months, but it would give them a chance to adjust to the language without the pressure of being graded (we'd make sure the school district let them "audit" the classes). This way they would have close to 6 months before the next school year to improve their english. We have three school districts in the valley that we can choose from to find the best fit for each of them. Luckily, open enrollment applications aren't due until after our trip to meet the kids, so we'll know more about what their grade levels and interest are.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Monday, November 17, 2008
Plane tickets, trip #1
The plane tickets have been bought!!! We'll be flying into Quito on Jan. 16th (via Los Angeles and Panama) and leaving on January 24th.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Citizenship:
Our caseworker at the U.S. Consulate in Guayaquil emailed on friday to say she's received all of the final DNA documents and wants to know when we can come in! Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure Eddie has to have guardianship of the kids before we can apply for their U.S. Passports, which we plan on doing at the same time as the Consular Reports of Birth (which no guardian is required for). So, we have to wait for the guardianship. But, we're going to double check just in case.
Guardianship:
Eddie heard from our lawyer today, she has all of the documents we've sent to her and is going into the court on wed. to file the petition for guardianship. So, we should know then about how long it will be until it will be finalized. We are so excited to be getting closer to having all of the paperwork out of the way. Unfortunately, since I last looked at plane tickets a month ago, the prices have gone up $200 each, even on Copa Airlines (out of Panama) and Delta has the most confusing new system for using skymiles that will rule that option out! Ugh, we just want to get there and be able to finally meet all of the kids!!!!
Our caseworker at the U.S. Consulate in Guayaquil emailed on friday to say she's received all of the final DNA documents and wants to know when we can come in! Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure Eddie has to have guardianship of the kids before we can apply for their U.S. Passports, which we plan on doing at the same time as the Consular Reports of Birth (which no guardian is required for). So, we have to wait for the guardianship. But, we're going to double check just in case.
Guardianship:
Eddie heard from our lawyer today, she has all of the documents we've sent to her and is going into the court on wed. to file the petition for guardianship. So, we should know then about how long it will be until it will be finalized. We are so excited to be getting closer to having all of the paperwork out of the way. Unfortunately, since I last looked at plane tickets a month ago, the prices have gone up $200 each, even on Copa Airlines (out of Panama) and Delta has the most confusing new system for using skymiles that will rule that option out! Ugh, we just want to get there and be able to finally meet all of the kids!!!!
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Guardianship:
Here is an email Eddie received from our lawyer in Ecuador this morning:
"Yes Mr. Granda, the money was transferred to my account and I just received all your documents. The only thing left is the birth certificates. When I receive them I will present the request at the court in El Oro. I will update you with any new information and when I receive the other documentation. I will have everything ready and I will update you next week. I am starting everything and the court request is almost ready to file next week."
We wired $300 down to Eddie's cousin on monday so that he could close his shop for the day and travel to three different cities to gather the children's birth certificates and their parent's death certificates (again). Two months ago, those were the only original documents we had in our possession that our lawyer needed, and we were working on getting all the other documents from U.S. sources. But, since they were stolen with everything else, we have to get them again. One step forward, two steps back!
Here is an email Eddie received from our lawyer in Ecuador this morning:
"Yes Mr. Granda, the money was transferred to my account and I just received all your documents. The only thing left is the birth certificates. When I receive them I will present the request at the court in El Oro. I will update you with any new information and when I receive the other documentation. I will have everything ready and I will update you next week. I am starting everything and the court request is almost ready to file next week."
We wired $300 down to Eddie's cousin on monday so that he could close his shop for the day and travel to three different cities to gather the children's birth certificates and their parent's death certificates (again). Two months ago, those were the only original documents we had in our possession that our lawyer needed, and we were working on getting all the other documents from U.S. sources. But, since they were stolen with everything else, we have to get them again. One step forward, two steps back!
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Guardianship:
Eddie just returned from a day-trip over to Los Angeles. He was able to get the last of the documents that our lawyer needs to get things moving - the Power of Attorney. So, now we have everything she needs to give to the court for guardianship except for the kids original birth certificates and their parent's death certificates that were stolen.
Citizenship:
Our caseworker at the U.S. Consulate in Guayaquil got an answer back from the legal dept. in DC about exactly what they want from the DNA lab to finally certify the kid's paternity as accepted. I've forwarded the response to Affiliated Genetics, so within a week we will have that piece of the puzzle in place.
Yay, another productive week!
Eddie just returned from a day-trip over to Los Angeles. He was able to get the last of the documents that our lawyer needs to get things moving - the Power of Attorney. So, now we have everything she needs to give to the court for guardianship except for the kids original birth certificates and their parent's death certificates that were stolen.
Citizenship:
Our caseworker at the U.S. Consulate in Guayaquil got an answer back from the legal dept. in DC about exactly what they want from the DNA lab to finally certify the kid's paternity as accepted. I've forwarded the response to Affiliated Genetics, so within a week we will have that piece of the puzzle in place.
Yay, another productive week!
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Good news for in both categories!
Guardianship:
We can pay our lawyer in Ecuador now!!!!! The money for our loan came through on friday, so we can finally pay our Saint of a lawyer (I know that word in front of "lawyer" seems crazy, but it's true), who has done a lot for us already.
Citizenship:
Since we have the money from our loan, we paid up on friday and got the results. All six children are 99.7% - 99.9% likely to be half-siblings of Eddie (that's how the tests results are worded). This is fabulous news, because that means that the children have that same percentage likelyhood of having the same father as Eddie, which is what the tests were done to prove in the first place. Since we are claiming their right to U.S. citizenship through their U.S. citizen father. We needed to prove that they were his and the consulate wouldn't accept just their birth certificates with his name and signature on them as full proof (because their mother wasn't married to their father. Now we just need the consulates legal office to officially accept the use of Eddie as the representative for the father's DNA and give us some sort of document stating that they accept, so we can proceed to trying up any more loose ends before we schedule a date to fly down there to Guayaquil.
Guardianship:
We can pay our lawyer in Ecuador now!!!!! The money for our loan came through on friday, so we can finally pay our Saint of a lawyer (I know that word in front of "lawyer" seems crazy, but it's true), who has done a lot for us already.
Citizenship:
Since we have the money from our loan, we paid up on friday and got the results. All six children are 99.7% - 99.9% likely to be half-siblings of Eddie (that's how the tests results are worded). This is fabulous news, because that means that the children have that same percentage likelyhood of having the same father as Eddie, which is what the tests were done to prove in the first place. Since we are claiming their right to U.S. citizenship through their U.S. citizen father. We needed to prove that they were his and the consulate wouldn't accept just their birth certificates with his name and signature on them as full proof (because their mother wasn't married to their father. Now we just need the consulates legal office to officially accept the use of Eddie as the representative for the father's DNA and give us some sort of document stating that they accept, so we can proceed to trying up any more loose ends before we schedule a date to fly down there to Guayaquil.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Things are finally moving along again!
Guardianship:
After calling a dozen times in a row, Eddie finally got through to a real person at the Ecuadorian Consulate in Los Angeles. He was able to confirm that they received his paperwork (a month ago mind you) for the Power of Attorney, so our Lawyer in Ecuador can be his representative in the guardianship proceedings. He scheduled an appointment to go in a sign it all for Oct. 9th and bought a plane ticket.
Citizenship:
KC at Affiliated Genetics called to say that the DNA testing and comparisons are ready for us. She couldn't give us the final results, because we have to make our final payment ($1250), but hinted that everything looked good. We closed on our home refinance on Monday, but it the money won't be deposited into our bank account until friday. So, we have to wait patiently for a couple of days until we can pay to get the final results!
Guardianship:
After calling a dozen times in a row, Eddie finally got through to a real person at the Ecuadorian Consulate in Los Angeles. He was able to confirm that they received his paperwork (a month ago mind you) for the Power of Attorney, so our Lawyer in Ecuador can be his representative in the guardianship proceedings. He scheduled an appointment to go in a sign it all for Oct. 9th and bought a plane ticket.
Citizenship:
KC at Affiliated Genetics called to say that the DNA testing and comparisons are ready for us. She couldn't give us the final results, because we have to make our final payment ($1250), but hinted that everything looked good. We closed on our home refinance on Monday, but it the money won't be deposited into our bank account until friday. So, we have to wait patiently for a couple of days until we can pay to get the final results!
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