Here's how it happened

Monday, December 4, 2006 (from Joanne)
The case for (Ingrid's bsister) is all but at a total standstill. It is in the PGN but keeps getting kicked over to the Minors side (but not in the Minors Section) for review etc. We have hired 2 outside attys to monitor this case and everyone agrees (including the previous boss to the PGN ) that the PGN is making much too much out of the two cedula issue. Also, it seems to everyone involved that the PGN has no intentions of clearing this case for approval. BUT it is not denied. Just not approved. Everyone has been waiting for much too long for this case to be approved. The other family is giving up even though we have asked her to hang on for one more week. There is a meeting with the PGN and our hired atty and the case atty this Friday. We are taking the BM with us too. (The agency) arrranged for that meeting and I am sure that we used up every favor we ever thought we had and any we might hope to have for years to come to get that meeting. Luckily the secretary to the boss has taken a bit of pity on this case and situation. So if they meeting goes "ok" then maybe there is a chance to get the other case approved. At the meeting the boss is suppose to tell the atty what the issue is. There are no other previos and no other issues so we have no idea how things will go. As a reminder - the BM second cedula clearly states that she had a cedula from another municipality and that this is a replacement. No one tried to hide it and people get replacement cedulas all the time. There must be more to it but obviously no one knows what it is, not us, not the atty, not the PGN reviewer, no Adoption Supervisiors (otherwise they would have told you) and not whoever the other family denies hiring to check on the case.

We have fought a long fight for this and I have no idea what we are going to do if this case is not approved. Well it has to be denied or it will just linger forever in the PGN or ???? Either way, we can not do the case of Ingird without an approval on the first case. Please ask your pals at AS if they think otherwise. I called them when I was in GC last week but of course, they will never return a call from a mere agency. Perhaps you will have better luck. Our team is split as to if we can do Ingrid even with the denial from PGN. The main thinking / concern is that if the PGN denied or just did not bother to approve the first case, then they will do the same thing with the second case.

We are so sorry but I wanted to give you some time to get a plan for your adoption depending on how Friday goes. Thoughts?

December 7, 2006 (from AS)
Good evening Stacy,Well, later the day sometimes means for us late the day ... but our scanner is online now, so please find the negativa from the archivo de protocolos attached to this email. Like already mentioned, your POA never ever was registered at Supreme Courts, therefore no adoption could have ever started.Se suscriben de usted cordialmente,Edwin & Manfred

The family trying to adopt the bsister was told by Joanne that if that meeting on "Friday" (Dec 8) was not successful for whatever reason, she would get a new referral as early as Dec. 10. I don't know what was told to that other family on December 8, but I know that by that date they ALREADY HAD THE REFERRAL OF A NEW BABY. (Joanne's hijinx ensued, she asked for almost the ENTIRE fee and did not apply any of the fees already paid which goes against her contract, and that baby was not adopted by this family. But my point is, the other family DID get a new referral as early as December 8, the very day of the meeting I was told about.)

Monday, December 11, 2006 (from Joanne)
Stacey- (I'm used to people spelling my name wrong. This one bugged me, though. I mean, you're basically about to tell me that I've lost my daughter and you can't even spell my name right? Nice to make me feel supported, but you haven't made me feel supported through ANY of this nightmare so I guess I shouldn't have been surprised.)

It is time to decide what to do. The case of (the bsister) is still in the PGN but it is suppose to be referred to the Public Ministry (the other family told Joanne that according to someone she personally spoke with at PGN, the case was in the Penal Section and was being looked at for possible fraud) which means that absolutely nothing will happen with the case. There is no reason for this but this case has been nothing but roadblock after problem. The atty hired to process this case for us - Lic XXX XXXX had a sit down meeting with the boss of the PGN and the boss could not say one specific thing that was wrong with the case. The issue of the two cedulas was discussed and the boss said that he is concerned about fraudulent cedulas etc and that this case is being referred for more review. The thing of it is---- everyone knew that she had one cedula from one town and then a replacement from another town. It is clearly written on the replacement cedula. We sent our own hired attys to both Civil Registrys so we know that they are both legal and original. Nothing seems to go right with this case. So if that case is not going to get approved, then there is no way to do the adoption of Ingrid. We are researching other options and are open to more ideas. We have calls out to both Adoption Supervisors offices to see if they have any ideas. I am sure that if they did, they would have already told you. (I've spoken with the two big Adoption Supervisors group. One is the Edwin and Manfred, they were already working for me. The other specifically said that Joanne did not hire them for anything.)

At this point we have to consider the case of Ingrid as lost. The original office that had this case is not considering the case of (the bsister) as lost so they are not considering the case of Ingrid as lost. (Strange thing about that - they were different attorneys! Different attorney = different office, right? That was the reason that I was originally told they didn't realize there were two cedulas. But that was waaaayyyy back in March or April and Joanne didn't realize that I'm a SAVER of documents. But at any rate, the girls were being placed through different attorneys. Why should the original office have any say on if Ingrid's case is lost or not? It's been "lost" for months now! Especially since no office had ever filed a Power of Attorney to actually have a case to lose.) That said, there is no way that we can see that either case can get approved at this point.

The atty office is not giving back any money and seeing as we do not do any cases with them and have not for awhile (except for all the other ones I've heard about since, apparently), we do not have a credit to use or to use in the future with them (except Ingrid's foster sister, who with MY same attorney and had not been out of PGN yet so there's a credit to use in the future with them). That said, we can work to get you back $8000 of the total funds paid and the dossier (which of course is outdated ) and you can go to another agency to start another case. We have spent over $6,000 on this case (and I gave you $11,500, not to mention the money I spent on my homestudy and immigration and dossier and a trip to Guatemala, and OH YEAH MY HEART) and you were offered to stop the case long ago but you wanted to hang on (because you gave me no choice when I called you in April and you talked me into waiting, and then when I called you in July you chose to ignore that I actually asked for a new referral, and you ignored it every time I mentioned it since then). We have personally paid the foster care for the past six months and have paid for all of the attys that we have brought in, the PGN insiders that tired to help (you're saying you paid PGN insiders that tried to help, that's what you said, you're ADMITTING TO BRIBING PGN and expect ME to pay for that???? Or you're bribing PGN with your own money, after having accepted a huge fee from me??? I was never asked to bribe PGN, and I did not give any consent for you to bribe them on my behalf.) and anyone else with hopes of getting (the bsister) done and getting Ingrid started.

We can go back to the original office and try to get a replacement case but I would expect that you would rather have your funds back. I am not sure of what the total amount that you paid to start the case was (you don't have records of how much I paid you???? What kind of business operation are you running there? Just check your contract as of the date I signed it, back in September 2005. That clearly says how much I paid.) but we can get you $8,000 back which is most likely less than what you paid. This is a very unusual offer as other agencies (I can name at least 8 off the top of my head without thinking too hard) would not offer you $1 back let alone $8,000. (That's why I didn't hire the other agencies. I hired YOU. Frankly, I don't care what other agencies would or would not do right now. A lot of of other clients wouldn't have put up with your shit as long as I did. I can name at least 20 off the top of my head without thinking too hard!)

We are devastated for Ingrid. I will talk to (the foster mother) personally to see what we are going to do. Perhaps we can process an Abandonment and then do the case that way in a year or so. Our heads are still spinning so I have to think about our options more later. Meanwhile, you need to come to terms with what you must have known was a great possibility. (Yeah, I've known it was a great possibility. I've been asking about it as a possibility since March 29, when you first told me about the two cedulas.)

We sent you a very long and very detailed message last Monday but you either did not get it or you chose to ignore it. I am going to go with you did not get it (we had a few other emails that same hour that were lost in space). (I didn't choose to ignore it. I chose not to respond. Because I've known this for two months already and I wanted YOU to tell me yourself. Just like you didn't always answer my questions, I didn't feel the need to send a terse "Thanks for the update." It was NOT an update. It was NOT very long OR very detailed. It's the message posted at the beginning of this post.)

I am so very sorry for you but more so for Ingrid.

HATE is not too strong a word.