It's Official!

It's official- Shaina is now legally our daughter and legally Shaina Swarthout!!!!
We have our official adoption decree signed and legalized. It is surreal to know that Shaina is now officially, legally our daughter!!!

What does this mean? This means next time we go to Haiti we can leave the creche with Shaina. We can take her to a hotel, a beach resort, anywhere we want because she is OURS! We could move to Haiti and she would be with us and all would be good. It also means that we have exited Parquet and, as of August 18th, we are in MOI. What it does not mean is that we can bring her home yet. She is legally our daughter but still does not have permission (read passport and visa) to leave the country and come to the US.

But we are CLOSER!

As I mentioned, we are now in the MOI phase of the Haitian adoption process. Here is an overview of what happens in MOI from Diana Boni of ABI Adoptions (love her):

Ministry of the Interior
All international adoption cases are reviewed by the Ministry of Interior. In order to obtain authorization to request a passport, the following documents must be submitted for each child:

1. Four passport sized pictures
2. Birth Certificate
3. Attestation for the Birth Certificate
4. Extract from the National Archives for the Birth Certificate
5. Relinquishment
6. Process Verbal of adoption
7. Adoption approval judgement
8. Adoption Decree
9. Attestation of the Adoption Decree
10. Power of Attorney for creche director and/or attorney
11. Stamp from DGI
12. Notary letter for the passport
13. Identification card of facilitator and/or attorney on the case
14. Biological parents' identification cards
15. Adoptive parents' MOI form, identification, and passport photos

The Ministry of Interior will grant authorization to submit the dossier to Haitian Immigrations for a passport.

Haitian Immigrations
The facilitator will submit authorization to apply for a passport to Haitian Immigrations. This is generally a quick process - one to two weeks, if all equipment is working properly.

 

So this is where we are. We are hearing MOI can be anywhere from 4-12 weeks and then another week for the passport to be printed. Of course we are hoping for the 4 week mark as our hope is to have Shaina home by Christmas (4 years of holding on to that hope).

Thanks for all of your prayers and support! Please keep them coming. We still need about $5000 to finish paying our agency, pay for visa and medical fees and travel costs to bring our baby home.