Thursday, August 13, 2009

Pray for Fernanda, her friends and her future family


Urugent Prayer Request:
Calvo’s: Request prayer for Fernanda and the other orphans awaiting adopting in Guatamala. Their orphanage has been raided by local government officials who are holding the children hostage and posing the threat of nullifying the work that 15 families have nearly completed in order to finalize the adoption of these children (including Fernanda). This political maneuver could result in these children being sent away to unknown homes/orphanages. Pray for intervention on behalf of these kids! They ask that we pray that the U.S. State Dept. get involved if necessary.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dear Friends,

This morning the hogar of Primavera was raided again. The District Attorney, the PGN and the National Council of Adoptions came to the hogar, with a transfer order of Cesar, whose adoption started as a relinquishment, turned into an abandonment and it is already at the PGN for final approval. When the lawyers hired by the hogar opposed the transfer, they said that they would take all the children as well. As I write this, they are occupying the hogar with armed men with assault rifles and would not let me in. Their argument is that "the children are `abandoned' because the director of the hogar is in jail". That is so absurd, because even if the director Enriqueta Noriega is in jail, the children are well taken care of so that is no reason to take the children to an overcrowded state orphanage. The only thing that it is stopping them from taking the chidlren is that the lawyers told them that without a court order they can't take them. I hope that they do not find a place to transfer them today and that we can do something to stop them. We need you to call the State Department to pull their strings so they leave the children you are adopting, at the hogar that has been their home for many months and to respect their legal obligation to allow the grandfathered adoptions to proceed without any further problems. Call your senators, call everybody who would help.

I will do here everything I can to stop them, but I can't fight this war alone, I really could use a lot of help.

Susana

Anonymous said...

Dear Friends,

Against the law and against the best interest of the children, without a court order and under a heavy rain, the triad of enemies of the children, put them in their cars and took them away. They also raided the drawers and stole clothes, shoes and everything they could.
Tomorrow we will start the uphill battle to get them back. Pray and call everibody who would and could help.

I am so sorry!
Susana

Tim Oas said...

Very powerful time at camp tonight as Dawn asked those that have been adopted to come up pray for Jeremy and Lexie Calvo representing Fernanda. Wow. I'm holding back tears now still...

Anonymous said...

This came in last night from our lawyer.

Dear Friends,
We still don't know where are the children. Tomorrow is a holiday for most
public offices, so we don't expect any news until next week. I am trying to make
sense of all of this, but I can't. Please keep putting pressure on your
authorities, so they demand of the PGN to respect your children, because it is
one thing not to intervene in the legal issues of the country of origin of the
children, but it is quite a different one when the local authorities disregard
the law and take children who are under the legal custody of an orphanage, by
force, against the wishes of those responsible for them and without a court
order.

And keep praying, please.

Susana

Anonymous said...

Below iswhat I asked Kevin to post. I am fine, heartbroken, but fine.
This came from my lawyer today. It is lengthy, but it may be helpful in clarifying why things are happening as they are.


There are no news today. A judge was supposed to come to verify that the children were taken, but did not come. Today is a holiday for the state enitties, so it is hard to make anyone move. We will have to wait until Monday. The nannies are devastated.

The DNA sample of Loyda arrived safely yesterday and next week we will have results. We will file charges against all those who performed the atrocities of these months, and especialy for yesterday's.
A big group hug,
Susana

The kidnapping of the Children at the Primavera orpahange

Yesterday , the hogar of Primavera was raided again. Oscar Rivas and Rafael Curruchiche of the the District Attorney Office (Ministerio Publico), Jose Miguel Morales Lopez of the PGN and Jaime Tecú of the National Council of Adoptions came to the hogar, with a transfer order of Cesar, a two year old boy whose adoption started as a relinquishment, turned into an abandonment and it is already at the PGN for final approval. When the lawyers hired by Primavera opposed the transfer, based on the Abandonment Decree of Cesar that states that Primavera could continue the adoption initiated in 2007, if the CNA did not find a suitable family for Cesar within ten days. When the CNA did not place Cesar with a Guatemalan family, Primavera proceeded with the adoption already in process, it was approved by the Social Worker appointed by the Family Court and the file is now at the PGN pending approval, but the CNA refused to obey the court order and decided to take Cesar away,just to show who is in command.

The occupation of the hogar took place with the overwhelming help of policemen armed
with assault rifles and the agent Oscar Rivas , who was extremely rude, did not let in Susana Luarca, the lawyer of the hogar, arguing that there were already three lawyers inside. Around noon, they decided to take all the children with them, with the lame argument that "the children were `abandoned' because the director of the hogar is in jail". That has no legal grounds, because the director Enriqueta Noriega is in protective custody, not in jail, and furthermore, the seventeen children were under the care of three nannies, a cleaning woman and a laundress/cook who take very well care of them, so there was no reason to take the children to another place.

First they went to the Court of Appeals of the Childhood and Adolescence, to denounce that the children were at risk, in order to get a court order to move them. The time was running late, the court closed without giving them the order. That did not stop them. They went back to the hogar, ordered the nannies to prepare the children to go, and when they refused they opened the drawers and filled garbage bags with clothes and shoes, which is a felony, and under the rain, packed the seventeen children, aged from six months to six years into a minivan and took the children to the court that remains open all night, and left them there for over six hours, as the TV news reported, showing the children being treated as criminals, sitting on the floor of a court, waiting for a place to be sent. Around midnight, they found where to place them, although in different orphanages.

Primavera never has accepted children kidnapped from other hogars, in order to discourage the PGN from doing those illegal transfers of children. That is one of the reasons why it is being targeted. We hope that the places where the children are, have their best interest at heart and do not use them as pawns to further their own agendas. The best way to show that they want the best for these precious children would be to actively collaborate in sending them back to Primavera, where they belong, because there are court order for each of them to stay at the hogar Primavera until the finalization of their adoptions.

Susana Luarca, attorney at Law

Matt said...

This is the name of the orphanage where Fernanda has been found:

Casa Bernabé
Km. 26 carretera al Salvador
Departamento de Guatemala

Please pray for her physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being. She, along with all the other children, have been had quite the traumatic experience over the last week.

If all goes well, Fernanda will be returned to Casa Primavera very soon with the other children. We are believing that God is going to use this situation to further his cause on behalf of all the Primavera children and to expedite the processing of the pending adoptions.

Fernanda's case has one more signature needed by the PGN. Then we need approval from the US Embassy in Guatemala to attain her birth certificate, a physical, her passport/visa and the final DNA test.

Our lawyer is working very hard to bring Fernanda back to Primavera, and from there to finalize the adoption paperwork. We are grateful to her for her tireless pursuit of justice and her unconditional love for those children. She is an amazing woman.

As a family we are believing in faith that "they meant this for evil, but God meant it for good", and that through this trial He will prove Himself just and true to His word. Though we cannot possibly see all that is behind this injustice to the children, we know that God has been working His miracles for each child and that each of their lives will somehow bring glory and honor to His name.

Thank you so much for your prayers and your support. Please continue praying, as we have a few more hoops to jump through. We will keep you posted.

Grateful to God for such a wonderful network of praying friends,
The Calvos