Why Does it Have to Take So Long?

We get this question a LOT. Especially after we say that it could take another year to 18 months, and even up to 24 months before Trey Amos can come home. WHY?????

Well, the short answer is that...it's Haiti. Haiti is a developing country and the government offices just simply aren't run efficiently. Sometimes we think we have it bad here in Canada.

The longer answer is that there are many steps to the Haitian adoption process:

• The first step is that our dossier has to be combined with Trey Amos' dossier. The children's dossiers are made up of a social history report of the child, a psychological report, a medical report, lab results, the birth certificate, and the death certificates of the biological parents or the relinquishment papers. Archive papers must be attached to prove that the signatures on the birth / death certificates correspond with the officials that signed them.
• Then the child's dossier has to go to legalization and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. When it comes back it must be prepared to go into IBESR by a lawyer. IBESR = the National Office of Social Welfare.
• Then the dossier (now Trey's and our combined dossier) needs to be approved by three different offices within IBESR. There can be 500 dossiers at any one time in IBESR.
• After IBESR, the dossier goes to Parquet, where it is reviewed and signed.
• Then the dossier comes back to the lawyer and is prepared to go through Courts. Again, the signatures on the adoption papers need to be proved to come from the said official. Then the signatures must be legalized at the Minister of Justice Office. And then the signatures must be legalized at the Minister of Foreign Affairs Office.
• Then the child's passport is applied for through the Minister of Immigration.
• From there it goes to MOI, the Minister of Interior for review and approval.
• Once approved the dossier goes back to the Minister of Immigration, the Orphanage submits further paperwork, and the passport is granted.
• The child then needs a visa medical exam in order to get the visa.
• At the same time, on our end of things, we must apply for Trey's Immigration to Canada.
• Once the passport and visa and immigration stuff is all done, we can go pick him up!

So that's the process in very vague and general terms. The dossiers sit on someone's desk and a dossier might get pulled from the middle of the pile, approved and signed. Another dossier might sit on a desk for months and months before it ever gets looked at. There's no rhyme or reason, and there's no first come, first serve! We really need some huge prayers that our dossier is one of the lucky ones that gets moved along quickly! And of course we need to pray that the whole system starts speeding up for all the waiting children in Haiti. Hurry home Trey Amos!