Hope

 This was an update from our adoption agency today. I had actually hear rumors of this yesterday, but we didn't get confirmation until today.

Hello Haiti families and Happy 2013!

On January 2, USCIS posted this message on their website:

"Adoption Information: Haiti

Haiti’s adoption authority, the Institut du Bien-être Social et de Recherches(IBESR), has informed the U.S. Government that they are now accepting new adoption applications for Haitian children who were either documented as orphans before January 12, 2010, or who have been relinquished by their birth parent(s) since the earthquake. The U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince has also resumed normal visa processing."

This is the link to the statement:
http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=93f463fc4cbfb310VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=ecab18a1f8b73210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD

We have also been hearing that Haiti will announce a list of adoption agencies that will be accredited to work in Haiti on January 10, 2013.

As we hear more information about the process of adopting in Haiti and about Bethany's accreditation, we will send out portal messages to let you know.

If you have further questions, please don't hesitate to contact your branch worker or your Global worker.
Have a great day, and best wishes in the new year!
The Bethany Haiti team

SO...what does this mean exactly? Well it means that IBESR is open to accepting referrals again. We don't know what the new procedures are yet. We don't know if there even are new procedures.

We also don't know if they chose Bethany as one of their accredited adoption agencies to work in Haiti yet, but we have Faith that they will choose Bethany so we can move forward.

If they choose Bethany this means they should start giving families referrals of children again. This is HUGE. We are hoping and praying that this is true and we once again have HOPE.

We would really appreciate your prayers for good news in the next week. January 10 can't come soon enough!!!