[heartafteradoption]

I am a 20 year girl that knows I am going to adopt one day and I love learning about it! Adopting from Guatemala sounds very interesting to me, but I was wondering: why did you all pick Guatemala? And did any of you get two children at once?

[mksilvermoon]

i chose Guatemala for many reasons - some being - i am a single adopter, i wanted to be able to provide birth family information for any child i would adopt, i wanted to fall in love with the culture and country - Guatemala was an easy choice for all of those reasons!

and i knew when i was 17 that adoption would always be my first choice in having a family (there is a lot of adoption in my family)

so good luck and i hope one day it can happen for you

MK

[redru2004]

I also knew quite young that if I were going to have a family it would be through adoption. DH and I had talked about it while we were still just dating and he was on board. When it came time to start the journey we looked at several different countries as well as domestic. In the end we choose Guatemala for many reasons: We liked that there was private foster care instead of orphanages in most cases, we loved the fact that the children get good medical care, the age of the children was a factor, we loved the idea that we could visit our son during the process, we liked the fact that Guatemala was a relatively short flight away, and that when we do pick up we didn't have to be in country for weeks at a time and the more we learned about the culture the more we fell in love with the country.

[Betelnut]

Good reasons:

Fostering vs. orphanages;
You get information on the birth mother at least (name, age, general health);
Only a six hour flight and a three day trip to pickup (Russia you have to go twice with a long flight; China 2-3 weeks and very long flight);

Disadvantages:

Extremely expensive >$20,000 for country fee along;
Current bureaucracy is horrible;

Good luck deciding!

[beverlyanderic]

i agree with the other posters about fostering, closer than other countries, info about birthmother, etc.

i also have to agree on the pricey cost with guatemala- many are $30K+ without travel expenses. even though i'm very happy about choosing this country, i am envious of our friends paying only $20K through china however, china can now have a 2+ year wait- wow!

good luck with what you decide!
eric

[Tamiswaiting]

Originally Posted by redru2004

liked that there was private foster care instead of orphanages in most cases, we loved the fact that the children get good medical care, the age of the children was a factor, we loved the idea that we could visit our son during the process, we liked the fact that Guatemala was a relatively short flight away, and that when we do pick up we didn't have to be in country for weeks at a time and the more we learned about the culture the more we fell in love with the country.

These are precisely the reasons I chose Guatemala, also.

[JustBarbara]

I was in the Russian program but that closed temporarily for 8 months (my agency's accreditation lapsed before my homestudy was completed). Now Russia is closed to US agencies - at least for the foreseeable future.

I speak some Spanish, love the Central and South American cultures and wanted to adopt an infant and Guatemala was it. BUT the best thing about the Guat program is that they ask the birthmother four different times if this is what she believes is the best thing for her baby - I really, really like that. Some people probably think it's strange that I feel so strong about this but I never, ever wanted to feel that my baby came to me in any questionable way. My son came home at 5 1/2 months which now seems abnormal. The DNA testing is also a great thing. As are the foster homes and small hogars not huge clinical orphanages.

The COST if you go through an agency is upwards of 20k - and most I've read are closer to $30k plus so start saving Other countries are less expensive but you do get medical and birth information which often you don't with China.

Things have slowed down considerably but as you do your research you'll find there is an ebbing and flowing to countries and constantly changing policies. Right now since Russia is basically closed, China will no longer accept singles and Guat is slowing down a lot. But who knows in a few years things will probably look very, very different. And other countries are also expanding their adoption programs - Vietnam and a lot of African countries. Romania may reopen again - but I remember about 10-12 years ago Romania was a horror story of the conditions of their orphanages and lots of media coverage in this country of neglected children but things apparently have improved a great deal since then and folks are pushing for the US gov to resume adoptions from Romania.

Good luck in wherever and whatever you decide. And yes, there are folks who do adopt twins or two at a time so if you think it might be a possibility when you start your process - ASK for the form to request adopting two. And when you are closer - ask agencies to give you references from those who have completed the process recently and perhaps one from someone who is in process. - Barbara

[heartafteradoption]

Thanks so much for all your replies. Some more questions:

- I had heard that from Guatemala you usually get a younger child. With all the bureaucratic problems going on right now, is this changing?
- I know this might be touchy, but I do feel a pull to "help" a child that otherwise would not have a family. I kind of get the impression that a lot of people adopt from Guatemala, or that maybe the children are not as disadvantaged as other countries. I'm not saying this to be offensive but out of interest in how dire the situation is there. Do you feel like the children are in great need of adoption compared to other countries?

[Tamiswaiting]

I don't know if this helps, but here are some stats that I saved from a previous post...

Out of 100 children born in Guatemala:

1 will be adopted by a US family
5 will not make it to their 5th birthday
16 will be born with low birth weight
22 will never see the inside of a school
28 will never learn how to read and write
54 will grow up in extreme poverty and malnourishment
74 will never make it to the 7th grade
84 will need to travel over an hour to reach a health care facility.

[keirasmom]

Yes typically the children are younger, but with all the craziness right now I think that will change and babies will be coming home older than previously.

As far as "helping" a child by adoption, I guess I don't really see that as what we are doing. There are disadvantaged children all over the world and the most disadvantaged are probably in countries that most people don't typically adopt from or allow international adoptions. I do not have any specific statisitics but I believe the children in Guatemala have a rough life regardless of wether or not they have a family. The children in foster care and hogars may even be better cared for than those with their parents. I'm sure that you mean well in your questions and maybe I'm just a little touchy right now so please don't take this the wrong way, but I don't think "helping or saving" a child is really an appropriate reason to adopt. You adopt because you want to love a child and complete a family. It's not like choosing to adopt a pet from a humane shelter rather than an inhumane one. I can't imagine anything worse than growing up feeling that you owe your parents for "saving" you.

[jpl]

I am so happy to hear that so many of you chose to build your family through adoption.
I also knew at a very early age that I wanted to adopt--even long before I met my husband. Thankfully, he was very much on board with it. We are absolutely in love with Guatemala, the culture and people. I think it is so important to adopt from a culture you feel drawn towards. Guatemala was an easy choice for us, since we have always loved the Latino culture, know some Spanish (and are trying to learn Spanish through different audio/CD-ROM programs), and heard wonderful things about the child care. We are also very excited that, since Guatemala is not that far away, we will be able to make return trips with our daughter and vacation in Guatemala when we can. Its proximity will allow us to stay in close contact with her foster family and her birth mother (if she is interested).
I am thrilled to hear that you feel moved to adopt...when the time comes you will know where your heart is.

[curlyqgyrl]

Why Guat?
It was one of the only countries that would take us!

I was 20 when we began pursueing adoption. Dh
was 21. Most countries AND agencies won't even take you until you are 25. We started with Peru and that turned into a huge mess after about a year. After that Guatemala was our only choice (Thank God!). 6 months later we brought our baby girl home. I had just turned 23 and dh 24.

[heartafteradoption]

Originally Posted by keirasmom

Yes typically the children are younger, but with all the craziness right now I think that will change and babies will be coming home older than previously.

As far as "helping" a child by adoption, I guess I don't really see that as what we are doing. There are disadvantaged children all over the world and the most disadvantaged are probably in countries that most people don't typically adopt from or allow international adoptions. I do not have any specific statisitics but I believe the children in Guatemala have a rough life regardless of wether or not they have a family. The children in foster care and hogars may even be better cared for than those with their parents. I'm sure that you mean well in your questions and maybe I'm just a little touchy right now so please don't take this the wrong way, but I don't think "helping or saving" a child is really an appropriate reason to adopt. You adopt because you want to love a child and complete a family. It's not like choosing to adopt a pet from a humane shelter rather than an inhumane one. I can't imagine anything worse than growing up feeling that you owe your parents for "saving" you.

I have done a good amount of research on adoption and I absolutely understand and believe that adoption is not about "saving" a child. Parents are blessed to have children whatever way that happens, and if anyone owes anything (which I don't think that is what families are about), when I adopt one day I will owe them for making me a mom! I'm sure many parents who adopt internationally are touchy about the idea of being a rescuer instead of just a parent - and that's why I attempted to word my post very carefully.

Kierasmom, please do know that I don't see adopting children in the same way as adopting a pet. Even the analogy makes me cringe. I get what you are saying but I hope you understand that the reason I want to adopt is simply because I want to love a child and be a mom.

Having said that, I don't think there is anything wrong with wanting to adopt a disadvantaged child. I really admire people who foster to adopt, or adopt children with special needs. I see adopting from third world countries where the children don't have access to health care and education as helping with another kind of special need. The reason I want to go international is not just to avoid some of the heartaches of domestic adoption but because I think there is a need I can fulfill there. I was asking how great that need is in Guatemala.

Hopefully this explanation has cleared up where I was coming from. Thank you so much to everyone who has provided awesome insight!

[keirasmom]

Kierasmom, please do know that I don't see adopting children in the same way as adopting a pet. Even the analogy makes me cringe. I get what you are saying but I hope you understand that the reason I want to adopt is simply because I want to love a child and be a mom.


I didn't think that you thought of adopting children in the same way as adopting a pet. I do think that your decision to adopt comes from the right place, your heart. I didn't mean for my response to come off the way it did. I do understand what you mean by helping in another way. I am getting very frustrated with people telling me how special I am for adopting and that I have such a good heart (not that I'm not fantastic LOL), but my motive is purely selfish. I wish more people would realize that like you said we are the lucky ones not the children, they are just recieving what every child should be entitled to.

[SKL]

My reasons for Guatemala were also to benefit myself (as well as my future children) - younger babies, quicker process, less travel (time off work), ability to choose the gender (I'm a single mom and didn't feel like I'd be the best parent to raise a young man), foster care / healthier babies, international culture but with fewer language issues (I speak a bit of Spanish and most of the babies aren't yet verbal at pickup), ability to give my children information about their birth family and possibly maintain a connection with their foster family (maybe birth mom too - not sure - but at least the girls can pursue this as adults if they wish).

However, my decision to adopt instead of bearing a biological child was based on a preference to be a parent for an already-existing orphan, rather than add a new life to the population. Not so much to "save" a child, but to hopefully net a positive result for all involved. I do think that there is plenty of room for additional adoptions in Guatemala before the number of needy orphans diminishes.

To be honest, I probably would have tried for at least one bio child had I been married. I would have liked to have the birthing experience and to breast feed my kids. But some folks are so negative on that alternative for a single woman, I decided against it for the sake of my potential children.

I am adopting two daughters who are three months apart in age. I felt they would benefit from being sisters with a lot in common. As the Guatemalan adoption scene gets more scary, I am glad I am completing my family now (God willing), and don't have to worry about whether adoptions will still be open later.

I am a cofounder of a charity that supports programs for orphans and destitute kids and women in less developed countries. If managed well, modest donations can be leveraged to provide basic needs, education, and a lot of hope and self-respect to many needy kids within their own countries. I can't adopt every needy child and I agree that adoption has to be about building the family that I want, not saving children.

But I have to admit that I'd rather be told that people admire my decision than hear a lot of the negative comments some idiots spew about international adoptions.

A lot of my own opinions here - please don't think I judge anyone else's choices - everyone makes the best decision if they follow their hearts.