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To add to Becky's well-placed points: There are efforts to draft Hague-compliant legislation that would retain most of the current system's architecture while providing much more comprehensive regulation and oversight and adding much needed transparency to the process, especially at the birth mother consent stage.
It should be noted that DOS is not eager to shut adoptions from Guatemala down. DOS is exerting pressure because Guatemala is not currently Hague-compliant; that is, DOS is only exerting pressure so that Guatemala can remain an option for U.S. adopting families after the Hague is implemented in the U.S.
Yes, this is a "crisis." But it is also a great opportunity for meaningful reform in areas that have long needed to be reformed. One hopes that the stakeholders will set aside long-standing hostility, suppress their egos, and sit down at the table together to find workable solutions.
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