[momtosami]

Hi, I was wondering if anyone who has an older child from Guatemala has ever tried to locate or find out about your child's birth family there? I often think about if our DD's birthmom is still living and such......

We have a daughter adopted through Domestic adoption recently and it is a semi-private adoption and it is hard for our older daughter to understand why we can send things to Jenna's birthmom and not Sami's birthmom in Guatemala.

Thanks

[Devora]

There are many families who maintain contact with their children's Guatemalan families. There are a number of reputable people in Guatemala who will do professional and ethical searches and help you maintain contact/send support. It is important to check out these types of services ahead of time because you want to work with someone who will be very careful about privacy and safety issues as sometimes the mother hid the pregnancy and adoption from her family or employers.

There is a Yahoo group where you can ask for a list of searchers. Even on that listserve most of them aren't publicly listed by name because the searchers themselves have to be careful about their own safety and privacy. But if you post there and ask for the list it will be sent to you. On that listserve the searchers who are most often referred to by initials are "S", "M", and "F". One of them runs an aid organization that you can use to send aid to your child's Guatemalan and/or foster family. The organization is called Asofamilia and you can find it by doing an online search.

[Saya]

Susan, here is the yahoo group (assuming I am allowed to post this link):

GuatemalaBirthfamilies : Guatemala Birthfamilies

It is a great resource. We did a search but it was unsuccessful, but we are hoping to gather more information and try again. Many people on the list have had successful searches and are now in touch with their children's birthfamilies. Good luck!

[annelisa]

We have a 9 1/2 year old daughter and a 7 1/2 year old daughter from Guatemala. We just joined the Yahoo group and are starting to gather info. Both of my DD's want us to do a search, so we are in the early stages.

[Mardan]

We have a 5 1/2 year old girl as well as a 3 and a half year old boy. We were able to use a searcher and found our daughter's mother and have kept in touch with her. Feel free to pm me if you want more information.

Julie (proud mom to a princess and a prince)