Power Lawyer Marta

About one month ago, my friend Chris (in photo, Margarita took this) and I met with a lawyer named Marta, who Shannon, another friend, quickly dubbed Power Lawyer. After a brief 20 min meeting with her, both Chris and I knew that we had to hire her. She knows the system forwards and backwards and has a good relationship with all the levels of the adoption process. After going to the court and asking to see Margarita’s file, all public information here, she discovered that my previous lawyer had not done anything for almost over a month. The file was just sitting there. Therefore the additional costs in hiring a new lawyer at this stage is well worth it since she knows what the heck she is doing.

We are waiting for the Child Welfare Institution to send the Family Court their communication that I have passed all the requisites and their testing. Once the family court receives this report they then will proceed with the legalization of the adoption sentence, which takes 3 weeks. My lawyer then takes the sentence and it is notarized into a public deed which I and the director of the child welfare institution will sign. Then Power Lawyer takes these various papers to the registry office to the island of Roatan, where Margarita was born, to obtain a new birth certificate with me as the mother. I then take that to immigration to get Margarita a Honduran passport.

Simultaneously, U.S. Immigration is doing their Orphan Child Investigation. I had to pay a fee, have my fingerprints taken and provide a whole slew of additional paperwork on the legal status of Margarita, death certificates of her biological mother and the woman that registered her as her child, and when they asked for more proof, I just called Power Lawyer, and she got the documents from Roatan for me. Really, she is well worth the money she is charging if she completes this in less than 3 months, like she has promised.

I will be in Phoenix April 3-10^th, so hope to see you then.

Hugs,

Reunited with Misael

I have been with NPH Honduras for over five years working as the Home Correspondent. In 2003, I had the opportunity to spend 2 weeks at our home in El Salvador to help them develop their website content. I thought before arriving, that I could never have the same connection with children in another home as much as Honduras. I was wrong. In El Salvador I found a large rented house with over 100 boys ages 8-18. They immediately welcomed me and I soon felt right at home with many curious children asking questions concerning my life and habits. “Tia, why do you paint your hair, do those holes in your ears hurt; pulling in and out my earrings, do you know that caffeine is a drug?”...as I sipped my morning coffee.

These were the cutest boys I had ever seen until I met Misael. Misael was a 6 month old infant who lived in the babies home. His case was referred to NPH by the Secretary of Health. His father was paralyzed from the waste down and has since died. To add to the difficulty, his mother is mentally ill and could not properly care for him and his 3 siblings. They had no electricity, no water, no bathroom and hardly any food.

I was able to see his home, meet his father and document bringing his half-brother, Carlos, to the NPH home.

Almost 4 years later, during the February International Meeting in El Salvador, I got to see Misael again. A shy at first, little 5 year old. He agreed to sit with me during mass where he looked at me inquisitively. The children, like in Honduras, grow up so fast. In a blink of an eye this little infant is now in kindergarten and his older brother Carlos is in the percussion group playing the bongos. When I spoke to Carlos and told him that I remembered his home and his family he told me that his goal is to continue to study to help support his brothers. His eyes shone with such pride as he played with the music group and I thought what a life changing opportunity for this family. There are countless stories like this within our homes but it makes such an impression when you see the results over the years that NPH achieves. It also validates the work that everyone contributes to, everyone that participates in this NPH family is helping a family like Carlos and Misael.