[nikkianni]

There's a story on msnbc.com about the way Guatemala is reviewing all pending adoptions. It just made my heart break. (I'd put in a link but I'm semi computer incompetent so I don't know how).
These poor women who already made the choice of adoption for their children are being reunited with them, then forced to go before a judge (with baby in tow), and review everything all over again. I know that it's necessary to review the cases to make sure there was no fraud, but this just seems cruel.
Not to mention that even when it is proven that a situation was legitimate, they're still not allowing pending adoptions to move forward, so these babies will be spending years in orphanages instead of homes.
This whole process just seems terrible to me. Terrible for everyone involved. Birthparents are having to make the decision again, potential adoptive parents are losing a child as well, and the kids; well that's the worst thing of all. All possibility for a loving home will be taken away for many of these children.
I know that when a system is corrupt it must be fixed, but when is the price of fixing it too high?

[JLW99]

I think this is all a result of the alleged corruption in adoptions in Guatemala in the past. Even if only 1% of adoptions were corrupt, that is too many. I don't agree with their methods, but they have to be sure that a.) the child is the genetic offspring of the woman signing relinquishment papers, and b.) the woman actually chooses adoption for her child, or re-chooses it as the case may be. I am angry that the birthmothers are being treated so poorly by officials...but I wouldn't want to think a child was adopted wrongfully either.

[jren]

There's a woman in my local adoption group that recently adopted from Guatemala. With the changing laws, her child was the last that her DD's foster family would be able to foster since funding for foster families has stopped. The foster family was very loving, but cannot afford to feed a child with no additional funding. I understand that corruption must be stopped, but they had already done multiple DNA tests (baby must be tested at several different ages to ensure it's still the same baby and birthmom and no switching has occured). Also, as I understood it, the corruption was not within the foster system segment of adoptions. Maybe something that could have been stopped while keeping foster based adoptions open? Instead, with pressure from US, they halted the entire program. Does Guatemala have the resources to handle an adoption overhaul of this magnitude? Where will the babies go that are unable to be fed by their birth families? As in my friend's case, her DD's birthmom could truly feed no more children, and no US welfare system to apply for. As I understood it, there are no orphanages standing by waiting to accept babies, and since the foster system has been completely shut down I worry about what will happen to the children.

[JLW99]

I agree with you, jren. They let things go for way too long, then tried to "fix" things and now the children and their families (birth and hopeful adoptive) are hurting.
I hope things can be somehow straightened out, but that doesn't help the children who need homes right now....it seems like any overhaul of the system would take a very long time and many innocent people will suffer. Guatemala must become Hague compliant to re-start its IA program, and that would mean instituting all kinds of safeguards against corruption. Sad, because most of it is due to greed on the part of agencies and facilitators and Guatemalan attorneys. And the fact that many were willing to turn a blind eye to corruption for so long. The corruption was in a small number of adoptions, both in the hogars and the foster system---attorneys allegedly recruited birthmothers to relinquish and then placed the babies in group homes or foster homes, and paid them out of the fees collected from agencies and PAPs. Very sad situation, and I hope it can be resolved.

[Hadley2]

It is very, very, sad for the children and families already suffering. I don't minimize that or the longing of people here who would like to have a family. I can't emphasize enough that I realize and understand the love, longing, and good intent of individual families...

But I think it is about a lot more than just "pockets" of corruption, and, honestly, I'm not sure "corruption" is always the best word for what desperate people do in desperate circumstances.

As unintended as it surely is, the aggregate effect of this outside demand for children coupled with other very strong and powerful forces does contribute to the nightmare children and families in Guatemala are living on a daily basis. The more I read and learn, the more I can't get over the horror of the numbers and the reasons behind them.

One out of every 100 births...I checked it, and it is true, one out of every 100 births in Guatemala ends in adoption in the United States.

Imagine if one out of 100 children born in this country was surrendered by grief-stricken parents overwhelmed by poverty to a country hundreds of times richer. In a country of large families, that means that far more than 1 out of 100 families are torn apart every year. Imagine if every fourth or fifth family you knew was losing another child every year....

Imagine if the women of this country were poverty stricken and had no access to birth control of any kind, or real family planning, or any choice whatsoever about what happens to their own bodies--no hope of and sometimes no knowledge of the very things that have emancipated the women of that very rich country that is adopting their children. Imagine if you were one of them and had to choose between keeping a child you didn't plan but love with all your heart nevertheless and the subsistance survival of the children you already have.

These children are not orphans. They are not abused. They are not unwanted. They are grieved deeply by families that are overwhelmed by the dictates of authority and denied the very simple tools and knowledge--birth control, family planning, choice--taken for granted by every woman in that much-richer country and accessible to virtually every woman in the developed world.

These parents are slaves to their fertility, producing and surrendering their much-loved children to richer nations at a tremendous rate. Those with the power and ability to give them the tools they need to stop this continuing sorrow--including, as a matter of policy, our own nation, the very nation that takes so many of their children every year--refuse on "moral" grounds.

This one country is emblematic, I think, of why advocating and promoting children's rights, the Hague Convention, UNICEF's work, etc., is so important the world over. As a matter of compassion, social justice, and social health, children have a right and vested interest in being raised by their families and in their country of origin when possible. Mothers and fathers have the right to plan their families and keep their children and not be coerced into exporting them by the easily remedied pressures of overpopulation.

Families should not be torn apart for economic reasons. Too many children are being born into unsustainable conditions, too many families are being sundered, too many cultures are being pushed aside as a matter of not just traditional religious beliefs but national policies, including our own, that discourage responsible family planning and access to reliable information and tools.

Exporting children is not a sustainable or productive solution to overpopulation and poverty.

Although it will surely cause great pain in the short term before it takes full effect, in the long run, I am hopeful that steps such as these that push back on nations' own resources and policies with regard to their people will lead to consequential changes in the conditions that led to the forced disruption of families.

In the meantime, I am truly very sorry for those caught in the cradle/crucible of change and would hope our country would step in in some constructive and truly compassionate way to minimize and mitigate their suffering.

[DPline]

Hadley2 -As a mom to two children from Guatemala I agree with much of what you said. As well as disagree with some. But I thought you might be interested in this thread that discusses that 'one out of every 100 births in Guatemala ends in adoption in the United States' statistics.

How to find a non-biased source on Guatemala's birth to adoption rate?

Not in any way trying to argue. Just wanted to expand on this often used statistic. Including whether it only includes registered births (in a country with a huge rural and often desparately poor population.) Devora's last post (post #11) also really gives a lot of great information about the situation regarding health care and education in Guatemala.