[clara]

This is the article I read that promoted my concern and is why I posted about illegal adoptions from Guatamala in the first place.
I am not doing this to undermine anyone involved in proper and legal procedures, but I do think it necessary that potential parents of children adopted from this country are aware of what is happening.

I know that were I and my husband going to do adotp I would want to know that the procedure has been fair and willing and that the grounds fo the adoption were real.

I have thought long about whether or not to post this and my decision to do so is based on my distress that such things can occur in any country at all and that adoptive parents, American or otherwise could unwillingly and even unknowingly find themselves complicit in such a set up.

I would like this post to be considered information, not an outright condemnation of international adoption or Guatamalan adoption in particular. It is I believe seriously counter productive to blindly dismiss these occurances and similar opinions expressed by international bodies. Countries have banned adoption from G for very good reasons I should think and not just anti-adoption propganda. This is about the worst kind of abuse of trust and these are young woman in crisis, perhaps even some who have/had no intention of reliquishing their child: not a listing of commodity shares.

One of the key safeguards put in place by authorities is DNA testing and birthmother interviews: what guarantees are given to prospective parents that such tests have not been done under coercion? And when interviewing the birthmother she is not going through the adoption process under extreme duress? What cross-checking mechanisms are there? I would want to know such things for my own peace of mind and heart.

I sincerly believe that anyone looking to adopt from countries abroad have to scrutinise every detail, check and check, because I would bet my bottom dollar no one would want this seventeen year old to be their own daughter. My point is that this kind of process takes a major leap of faith in the honesty of strangers and it is not failproof.

As I find links and more information I will post it on this thread.


'A baby factory for rich countries'
In Guatemala, theft and coercion alleged in adoption efforts
By Letta Tayler, Newsday, 11/27/2003

GUATEMALA CITY -- Alone and seven months' pregnant, teenager Carolina Mendoza Velasquez thought she had found guardian angels when a Guatemala City couple hired her as a live-in maid and said she could continue working for them after she gave birth.

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But the day after Mendoza delivered Luis Enrique in May, she said, the couple locked her inside a Guatemala City clinic, wrenched her newborn son from her arms, and forced her to sign papers giving him up for adoption.

"They said my baby would go to a family in the United States and have a better life," recalled Mendoza, 17. "When I told them I wanted to keep him, they said, `If you don't sign, we'll kill you.' "

Mendoza's story is common in Guatemala, the number one supplier per capita of foreign children adopted in the United States. Between one-third and one-half of Guatemalan children sent abroad for adoption in recent years have been taken from their biological parents illegally through bribery, coercion, or outright theft, prosecutors and international child advocates say.

"Guatemala is starting to become a baby factory for rich countries," said Sandra Zayas, the country's special prosecutor for crimes against women and children, who is investigating 95 cases of potentially fraudulent adoptions to nations including the United States. Adoption agencies and lawyers here and in the United States adamantly deny widespread problems.

Guatemala is the latest of several countries where adoptions have come under international scrutiny. Its practices underscore the difficulties in meeting wealthy nations' demand for adoptive children without trampling the rights of families in poorer ones.

Canada, Spain, Ireland, and the Netherlands have suspended adoptions from Guatemala in recent years. The United States has resisted calls to do the same, although it has suspended adoptions from Cambodia since 2001 and from Vietnam since January because of alleged baby trafficking in those countries.

"We are concerned," Stuart Patt, a State Department spokesman, said of alleged adoption rackets in Guatemala. "When it happens, it's a disgrace. But we do what we can to prevent it."

The US government has implemented DNA testing and other procedures to ensure that Guatemalan babies bound for the United States have not been stolen, Patt said. Critics say those measures are insufficient.

Adoption practices in this desperately poor Central American nation -- where most abortions are illegal and contraception is almost nonexistent -- made headlines recently when Costa Rican authorities discovered nine Guatemalan babies in the capital of San Jose that they believe were awaiting illegal sale abroad.

Guatemalan adoptions began as a humanitarian practice for orphans of this country's brutal 1960-96 civil war but mushroomed into an estimated $50-million-a-year business after the conflict ended. US parents usually spend about $20,000 to adopt a Guatemalan baby, much of which goes to facilitators and lawyers in Guatemala. Nearly 3,000 Guatemalan children were adopted last year, up from 512 a decade ago, according to government figures.

That's more than from any country except China and Russia, which have far larger populations than this nation of 13 million. Eighty-five percent of Guatemalan children adopted last year went to the United States, according to US immigration statistics.

A lucrative foreign market lures a vast web of doctors, midwives, nurses, social workers, orphanages, notaries, lawyers, and judges into greasing the adoption wheel, according to prosecutors and child advocates.

"The tone often is, `We want to help you,' " said Hector Dionisio, a lawyer with the Guatemala City branch of Casa Alianza, a Latin American organization for at-risk youths. "But there's also robbery and coercion."

Teams of scouts regularly visit houses of prostitution and poor neighborhoods to offer pregnant women 5,000 to 20,000 quetzales ($625 to $2,500) for their newborns, child advocates say. Others simply grab children from their mothers' arms at markets or in hospitals.

Zayas's office is prosecuting a case in which a newborn vanished from a hospital in January, to be found in a safehouse with 30 other infants during a raid weeks later.

Marcela Cruz Paz, 22, recently told Newsday she almost lost her son Manuel, now 11 months old, in a scam last year when she answered a newspaper ad reading: "Nannies wanted. We'll help if you're pregnant."

Cruz's employers placed her in a house where she became one of four young pregnant women caring for two motherless infants. Authorities raided the house in August 2002 and threw Cruz and another pregnant woman in jail on charges of baby-trafficking. Cruz said a lawyer representing her employer told her he would only bail her out if she agreed before a judge to give her boss her child upon its birth.

"I was terrified and hysterical and had no money, so I agreed," Cruz said. Her sister contacted human rights investigators, who had to escort Cruz out of jail to prevent her former employers from seizing her. Courts dropped the charges against Cruz, but they also dismissed her countersuit against her former employers.

Under mounting pressure, Guatemala adopted in March the provisions of the Hague Convention, an international treaty that requires all adoptions to be handled by a central government authority. But in September, the country's highest court nullified Guatemala's participation following a lobbying blitz by Guatemalan adoption lawyers and US adoption agencies.

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[clara]

This is a Canadian adoption site notification

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------





Adoption



Guatemala Alert !
The Ministry of Children and Family Development, Adoption Services would like to bring the following information to the attention of adoptive parents who are considering adoption from Guatemala.

In July 1999 the United Nation Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography visited Guatemala. The resulting report focussed on the sale of babies and young children for the purpose of intercountry adoption and the lack of legislation, policy or infrastructure to prevent such trafficking.
Since October 25, 2001 adoptions of children from Guatemala have not been facilitated in British Columbia. At that time, exceptions were made for those who had already completed homestudies and had applied to adopt in Guatemala prior to October 25, 2001.
On November 26, 2002 Guatemala acceded to the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption. This law came into force in Guatemala in March 2003 and procedures in line with the Convention were implemented in March 2003.
In July 2003 the Government of Canada, with the unanimous support of the provinces/territories raised an objection to Guatemala’s accession to the Hague Convention, thereby allowing the Government of Guatemala sufficient time to incorporate the standards and requirements of the Convention into its adoption procedures. (The Netherlands, Germany and Spain also objected to Guatemala’s accession.) Once these measures are put in place, the Government of Canada will review its objection with a view to having it withdrawn.

Raising such an objection does not affect Guatemala's accession to the Convention, but it does prevent the facilitation of intercountry adoptions between the acceding state and the Contracting state (Article 44.3), that is between Guatemala and all the provinces/territories.

The Canadian Embassy in Guatemala reports that the conditions which led to the suspension of adoptions in 2001 continue to exist, and issues of child trafficking continue to arise.

A temporary term and condition has been placed on British Columbia agency licenses disallowing them from participating in any adoption from Guatemala except for relative adoptions. Home studies completed by British Columbia licensed agencies must have a notation in the body and on the sign off page that indicates it cannot be used for adoption from Guatemala. Given that Canada has raised an objection to Guatemala’s accession to the Convention, Article 44.3 prevents the facilitation of intercountry adoptions between the acceding state and the Contracting state, that is between Guatemala and all the provinces/territories.

This situation will be reviewed regularly by the Director of Adoption and will continue until the situation in Guatemala is rectified.

Updated: October 16, 2003

[clara]

http://www.mcf.gov.bc.ca/adoption/index.html

for anyone who wants to verify the previous post.

[csw]

Hi Clara,
I appreciate that you are so caring and seem very concerned about the reports in the articles. There are numerous safeguards in place in Guatemala. The birthmom has to sign 4 times,,,2 of which are without the lawyer present. Also there is a DNA test. This is one of the times where the lawyer is not allowed to be present,,,in other words, the birthmom goes of her own free will.
Our adoption is taking a long time...the birthmom will have about one year to change her mind. I am glad she gets so many opportunites to make sure this decision is right for her.
Unicef is one of the groups that is trying to stop international adoption's in Guatemala. There is also may be new legislation proposed there after the new Congress starts. We are all waiting to see what will happen there!
Thank you for your concern, but please note that you cannot always believe what the media writes....take care, Cathy

[becky]

Clara,

I will once again remind you that 'journalists' are looking for a story...and they will print anything they can find that seems juicy.

Not to say that sometimes women are forced to do things they don't want to do...but that could happen....whether someone here in the US was waiting to adopt the child or not.

I appreciate your efforts to 'inform' us all...but as we mentioned the last time you posted, we are all very well aware of the UNICEF supported campaign against international adoptions and the fact that the media buys right into it. As we all can see...it makes for a 'great story'.

[Hanna'a Granny]

you know clara you must really be a sad person. I would not even think about going into the adoption room and trying to discourage people. They are honest good people in this room and they have had many heartbreaks since they have started the adoption process. I hope that you have children and do not have to go through what many of these wonderful people have been through, and if you dont then i hope that when you decide to adopt if you have to that your adoption will go smoothly. But as of today, I feel like you need to keep your thoughts to yourself about Guatemala, because the parents here know exactly what is happening and you dont. They have enough to worry about so you need to take your comments and go somewhere else that people wallow in self pity.

Waiting for my precious granddaughter

[Grandma2CiCi]

Hanna's Granny, you took the words right out of my mouth!!!! I couldn't have said it better. We've all read the articles and heard the horror stories and don't need to be reminded of government and media propoganda and other people's opinions. Our children are only trying to give a loving home to a deserving child.

Clara, I hope you can enjoy the holidays with your family. You needn't worry about something you probably know nothing about or have only gotten a minimal amount of information on. We've been living this nightmare for months, I don't think you have. Please leave the worrying to our adopting families, many of whom will spend Christmas with empty arms.

Another waiting grandma

[KevinK]

Clara,

Iwill not criticize you for your concerns as I know how you feel, I would never want to support a corrupt system. I can also tell you that I, along with several other people, have researched the realities in Guatemalan adoption. And by researched I mean not accepting anyone's info, but rather to looks at the different sides and use some pragmatic thought.

Here's what I can tell you. Adoptions in Guatemala are not 100% clean. But if you look at adoption's goal as being the matching of children voluntarily relinquished and/or in need of a home with good parents, the system is very effective. The fact is that most of the "problems" that can be proven have been issues like a birthmom being married so she has her sister relinquish the child, thinking the DNA will be close enough (which it isn't). And I am sure some birthmother payments do exist. But this would likely be to get someone to relinquish to lawyer x versus lawyer y, not to get them to relinquish their child.

The other thing you have to watch for in analyzing these stories is what is legally possible on the Guatemalan end versus where the receiving country is. About 95% of all guatemalan adoptions go to countries like the U.S. with very specific DNA testing requirements. The scenario mentioned in that article could not result in a valid-DNA test for an adoption into those countries because they have to be pre-approved and taken at specific locations by specific doctors. None of the media stories ever take five minutes to research the adoption process in order to see if these stories are true. Nor do you hear UNICEF or Casa Alianza saying that they should close adoptions only to countries without proper requirements.

I have personally attended UNICEF/UN sponsored seminars. I am a strong believer in the UN so my natural tendency is to trust them. But as I have learned about adoption I have discovered that their position is based on complete idealism and little reality. And then the people in their local offices find these people with their stories. I can't say what really happened to the women in that news story. Employers of domestic servants have been known to "force" them into adoption. But it is out of fear of losing one's job, not death. That is wrong, it is real, and yet it is not a focus of any stories. So my guess is that there was some truth to the story and some of it was intentionally exaggerated.

Please visit www.familieswithoutborders.org and download and read the 60+ page report that was put together. It will give you a different perspective that may make you comfortable. We should all remember that Guatemala has the highest fertility and infant mortality rates in all of the americas. It has among the highest rates of child mortality, malnutrition and extreme loverty. It was racked by 35+ years of civil war that destroyed families and much of the agriculutral base the majority of people depend upon for survival. And like everywhere, the Guatemalan people believe a child is a precious gift. Is there any reason to doubt that 3,000 women a year decide that adoption is the best route for them out of love for their child?

[Bitsy]

Oh please, this again? This sounds like UNICEF propaganda if I have ever heard it. Becky, Cathy, Kevin and Hanna's Granny all said it so well. WE know so much more about the Guatemalan adoption process than most anyone. We could go on and on about how the Birth Mothers are privately interviewed by Guatemalan social workers, how there are DNA tests and how they have at least four opportunities to have a change of mind in their adoption plan for their child. Not to mention how our own US Embassy oversees the process. They investigate when need be. Just ask....many have had it done on their own case. But, sadly, some people don't want to hear the facts and only want to spead a juicy unfactual news report. Just because it is in the paper does not make it true. Just because UNICEF says it is true does not make it true either.

I hope that if you are REALLY interested in uncovering the truth then you will seek out information in a productive way like Kevin has suggested. This is certainly not helping you discover the truth. It is only causing people to get upset. I thought we had already been through this before. As I recall, your thread on this before was removed because of its content. I am really hoping that the moderators remove this entire thread as well.

Perhaps you should join the Big List. You will find MANY who are VERY knowledgeable on adoptions in Guatemala there.

I honestly do not think this forum is the place for this type of post.
I hope you are able to find out the truth.