A few days ago I blogged about a rumor that Oscar Berger would support grandfathering cases in the system before the Hague is implemented. No official announcement has been made to date, but according to the JCICS (Joint Council on International Children’s Services) we can anticipate one on October 19th.

Guatadopt reported today that “President Berger publicly confirmed the intent to grandfather current cases.” Berger said: "I have never said that I want to stop adoptions. What my government wants is full respect for the legislation that is about to be approved and full compliance with the Hague (Convention).

Apparently, the JCICS has “direct communications with the Office of Guatemalan President Oscar Berger.” I sure wish I did. Actually, I’d be happy just to get a response from VP Eduardo Stein to my email (with attached photo of Ella and I) where I demanded that he retract his statement about us adoptive parents adopting for the sole purpose of obtaining children’s body parts. I’d give my last uncapped teeth for an interview with this pair.

And continuing on, I’ve heard another rumor (not from “particularly” reliable sources) that the American Embassy has more people processing Pre Approvals for adoptions in order to hurry adoption cases along. At one time Pre Approval was a two week process. Then as Guatemalan adoptions came under more scrutiny and criticism, the US Embassy in Guatemala informed adopting parents that the process could take up to sixty days while they scrutinized the adoption papers more closely. In actuality it has taken MUCH longer in many adoption cases. I would hope that the US Embassy in Guatemala would do everything in their power to move cases along as quickly as possible without jeopardizing the integrity of the process.

Now moving from Guatemalan politics to parenting my Guatemalan princess, my dear little Ella, who is just one week shy of turning two years old was expelled from preschool. I’d prefer to say that she is a dropout, but we really weren’t given a choice.

I’m trying to make this humorous but I won't succeed because in reality I’m still really upset over the incident. This is what happened. I took Ella to preschool last Tuesday. This was her fourth time; the other three had gone well and she was getting more comfortable with every visit. But last Tuesday she was not a happy camper and wouldn’t stop crying. The preschool teacher first said that she started crying after I left and didn’t stop for two and one half hours; then said that she was fine and then suddenly started crying. I never did get the story straight.

Said teacher has an emergency calling card I prepared and laminated for her. It is taped to a cupboard in the preschool kitchen. It says: "Please call home (phone number clearly printed) if Ella is upset and cannot be consoled. Only if there is no answer at home, call my cell phone as otherwise it is turned off."

Well, for some hairbrained reason the teacher called my cell phone, which was in my car and turned off, and left a message. I was sitting at home writing my blog. My home phone never rang. It is a quick eight minute drive to the preschool, and if I had been called I would have made it in five.

I arrived at the preschool a few minutes early to pick up Ella. Through the window by the door I saw Ella standing in the hallway beside the shoe rack holding her shoes and clutching her blankie. When she saw me she started to wail. The preschool teacher came into the hall, rolled her eyes at Ella, saw me and opened the door. I grabbed Ella and tried to console her, all the while listening to the teacher tell me how she didn’t get any preschool activities done because of Ella’s crying and that even the other kids wanted Ella to be quiet. She then said that Ella was simply too young and maybe she should come back after Christmas.

I was so overwhelmed that I just kept apologizing. Stupid me! When she said she had called my cell phone I asked why she hadn’t called home (as the instructions on the card clearly specified.). She said she hadn’t thought of it. I won’t bore you with the rest of the details of the conversation. I acted like a deer caught in the headlights. I just wanted to get out of there; Ella was screaming and the teacher wouldn’t stop talking. I finally told her that I would leave so she could do an activity with the children (hint hint). She told me that she loved Ella but had a daycare/preschool to run. Hmmm....Ella refused to return the teacher's wave goodbye and I don’t blame her. Instead she shook her head from side to side several times.

I cried all the way home in the car and then called my husband to blow off steam. I could barely hold off calling that teacher and telling her what an irresponsible, unsympathetic, and rude person she was.

For three days after this incident Ella would not let me out of her sight without screaming. I won’t ever know what happened in that so called wonderful preschool. I’m guessing that the teacher was busy talking and “something” happened that really upset Ella. If she had only followed the simple directions on the emergency calling card we could have prevented this whole disaster.

But here is the silver lining in this cloud. This is NOT the preschool for Ella or for me. I don’t care how many children have passed through that preschool’s door; if the teacher can’t follow simple directions on the emergency card, I don’t want her caring for my child.

I can’t help but wonder if other parents had similar incidents but didn’t want to say anything because this place had such a “good reputation.” The days I sat there with Ella until she felt comfortable, the other children were happy, but the teacher did seem distracted and tired and in hindsight there were a few other “red lights” that I chose to ignore because she came so highly recommended.

Most important of course is that Ella is fine now and back to her happy self. Mommy is still not fine and will take much longer to get over this as I feel very guilty for having left her there. I’m usually a pretty good judge of daycares and teachers.


Further Reading:

A statement from President Berger’s administration as it was sent to the Joint Council on International Children’s Services via email.

Photo credit: Google Images