e-mail
Another common wait list you will find on adoption boards, lists, etc. is called and “FC wait list” or some variation of that title. These are families whose case is now in the hands of the “Family Court”
Although the term “Family Court” gives an impression of an official court setting with testimony and trial, it is almost completely an administrative process. This process mainly involves a social worker, the attorney, and the family court judge as people who are working on the case here.
Once the attorney submits the dossier and a request for a social worker to be assigned to the case, the social worker will review the case from every aspect including the family dossier, the birthmother, the foster situation, child’s legal and health status, etc. The social worker will focus on the birthmother for a while. They must verify that they know that the adoption is not reversible, and that they will lose all guardianship. The social worker must also attempt to verify that the birthmother was not coerced or bribed into giving up their child. The social worker will also visit the child whether they are in an orphanage or in foster care and evaluate the health and growth progress. The social worker will attempt to determine that there is no family left who wants to take custody of the child
In the case of an abandoned child, the process of family court is somewhat different but still very similar. In this case, there is no birthmother to interview. Instead the social worker must review the court documents that have declared the child to be legally abandoned. This includes 3 months of public announcements that this child is up for adoption. If no one steps forward to claim the child, and other conditions are met, then the courts will issue and abandonment decree. The social worker must still visit the child and perform the other checks as well.
Most of the time the social worker will then put together the facts of the case as well as their recommendation that the case be approved (assuming everything is in order). The case is presented to the Family Court judge who will approve the case as being presentable to the PGN.
Setting an estimated timeline for the Family Court is just as tricky as any other area of the adoption process. When looking at the exit dates of recent Family Court Waiters, the duration as between 30 and 40 days. There were a couple who were significantly longer and a few who were shorter. A good place to continue checking the times is on the Guatemala Adoption Forum and look for a regular post called “Family Court Waiter’s List.”
Special thanks goes to www.guatadopt.com who taught me the basics of some of these “must know” terms.
Please feel free to respond in the comments with additional info including you own Family Court timeline and the dates you were in there.
