Hopefully our hard work is paying off.

This is what was just posted on the Guatemala 900 site.

Guatemala Minister Counselor Fernando de la Cerda is returning to Washington, DC today after an intense 10 day trip to Guatemala which included 2 meetings with Guatemala President Alvaro Colom. Fernando is reporting significant progress in finding solutions for moving the adoption cases of the Guatemala900 forwards towards resolution. Fernando’s efforts in Guatemala also included individual meetings with the PGN, CNA, Court of Appeals, MP, and with his own Department of Foreign Ministry.

On Monday, July 26th, President Colom hosted a meeting with the highest level officials from the PGN, CNA, MP and several high level lawyers. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss adoptions, including the resolution of the grandfathered cases. The same group along with the Deputy Secretary of Interior and high level officials from the Secretaría de Bienestar Social (SBS) convened again on Monday, August 2nd and will do so again next Monday, August 9th. Fernando reports that President Colom was sympathetic to the children who are in limbo and spearheaded discussions with the other officials about how cases can start to accelerate towards resolution. Fernando is optimistic that end result should be some significant measurable progress in the coming weeks and months.

As a condition, the officials in Guatemala are requesting information on the remaining cases. Specifically, Guatemala is asking for :
• Adoptive Family’s Names
• Child’s Name
• Biological Mother’s Name
• PGN or CNA identification Number

Fernando de la Cerda said “I cannot stress enough how important it is that we have this information. There is no way for us to try to help without it.”

Families can ensure that their information is provided to Guatemala by completing the JCICS/CCAI/GUATEMALA900 survey. Over 125 families have already completed the survey, and their information has already been sent to Guatemala. Fernando de la Cerda indicated that the Dept. of Foreign Ministry has already started to process the families information that was provided. Guatemala indicated that they need to have ALL of the families information for the next meeting with President Colom on Monday, August 9th. JCICS, CCAI, and Guatemala900 will send any addition family information that is obtained this week to Guatemala at the end of the day this Friday, August 6th. IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT FAMILIES COMPLETE THE SURVEY!