[alreadylove2005]

I just read this and I want to do something, but I don't know what. I knew I could post here to sympathetic ears (well, eyes, anyway) and at least express my ANGER. Children are suffering because of the greed and politics of hateful adults.

From the BBC News "According to the UN's children's agency, Unicef, almost half of Guatemala's children suffer chronic malnutrition" Then, HELLO UNICEF, get out of the way of international adoption.


Why are so many Americans who would love and care for these children being stopped from bringing them home???? I'm guessing that 90% of families who have already adopted would take one or two more children if the cost and paperwork and cr*p were eliminated from the process. Thousands and thousands of children could be saved immediately.



I see the pictures and my heart breaks to think that could be my daughter is she had been born two years later. It could be her bio-sister...... I am so disgusted, frustrated, and angry.



Here's a link to the whole article

BBC NEWS | Americas | Guatemala declares hunger crisis

Thanks for letting me vent.

[guatamama2]

This is why I won't buy Pamper's - because of Unicef. They try to look sooo good donating $1/box for vaccines. Just butt out!!!

I know ALOT of people who would love to adopt from Guatemala and rectify this situation.

Thanks UNICEF!!!

[LaRonda]

How very sad. But are you saying that it is better that all the children in Guatemala be relinquished even though their parents don't or may not want to? I don't understand your sentence. I don't think adoption will help stop hunger.
Please I am not trying to be controvercial, but just trying to understand. I pray that children have food.

[annelisa]

I think what she is saying is that if UNICEF wouldn't have put so much pressure on the Guatemala gov't and wouldn't keep trying to stop ALL international adoptions, those birth parents that cannot afford to feed their children could continue to put them up for adoption and the children would have a better life.

Yes, UNICEF pretends to care, but they don't. The woman that is the CEO is single, without children. I don't think she has a clue!

[Jayjay]

I don't want to sound confrontational, so please don't misinterpret my post, although it is bound to hit a nerve.

I read the same article. I did not feel that it had anything to do with adoption, but was about hunger. These families are desperate for rain and food, but that does not mean they want to give their children up for adoption.

Perhaps we as a community with strong ties to this beautiful country can find a way to direct our energies and monies toward helping this cause.

The article broke my heart and if anyone knows how to help alleviate this suffering please post. I am sure there are many of us who will jump to help.

Peace.

[guatparents2be]

Originally Posted by Jayjay

I don't want to sound confrontational, so please don't misinterpret my post, although it is bound to hit a nerve.

I read the same article. I did not feel that it had anything to do with adoption, but was about hunger. These families are desperate for rain and food, but that does not mean they want to give their children up for adoption.

Perhaps we as a community with strong ties to this beautiful country can find a way to direct our energies and monies toward helping this cause.

The article broke my heart and if anyone knows how to help alleviate this suffering please post. I am sure there are many of us who will jump to help.

Peace.

Agreed. The charity Mayan Families does so much for the families in Guatemala- and they have a good profile as far as admin percentages, etc. I know right now they are doing a drive related to the famine.

[Christie.Josh]

The families of Guatemala are always in my prayers and we feel connected to the country and want to help the people there. Malnutrition is a big issue - UNICEF is messed up because they don't directly help children like most people think that they do in fact they sometimes cause bigger issues- they could do so much more if it wasn't all so polictical.
I too wish that adoption was still open. Hunger is not solved with adoption because it is a choice that only some women make however it should be an option if a mother chooses it. I know that it is a very personal decision with many factors involved not just poverty.

As we returned from Guatemala this spring with our daugther we heard from missionaries, volunteers working in the orphanges and other travelers that the number of abandoned children was on the rise since adoptions ended and sadly some that were left (with a mothers hope that someone would take the child in) were found dead because no one was there to help them in time or there was no room to take them in. That is why adoptions need to be reopened - so, so sad.

[KMatthews]

"As we returned from Guatemala this spring with our daugther we heard from missionaries, volunteers working in the orphanges and other travelers that the number of abandoned children was on the rise since adoptions ended and sadly some that were left (with a mothers hope that someone would take the child in) were found dead because no one was there to help them in time or there was no room to take them in. That is why adoptions need to be reopened - so, so sad."


Reading this breaks my heart!!!! The ones suffering is the children of Guatemala. There are so many families that are ready and willing to help and take the children into their families BUT the Government and UNICEF has made sure that can not happen!!!

[brink]

I have to agree that adoption is not going to aleviate the majority of hunger in Guatemala. And though I understand and share your heart for children everywhere, these extremely poor people need food to feed their families, not an easier way for others to adopt their children. Though we have four happy and well adjusted children adopted from Guatemala whom we love beyond belief, to be completely honest with ourselves, the only reason they are better off with our family than having stayed in their first country with their birth family is because we have access to the things Guatemala can only hope and pray for, enough food to feed our children (so we don't feel our only option is to ask strangers to raise them for us), access to excellent health care, education, financial security. I think we need to be very careful when considering the answers to the miriad of problems the country of Guatemala has faced throughout history. We can only imagine how far the thousands of dollars we each paid to adopt a child times the thousands of children Guatemala has relinquished over the years could have gone to feed, clothe, educate. Instead, a large percentage of that money went to line the pockets of lawyers and other adoption players, who themselves often took advantage of their own people. Rather than helping true orphans, these people made a huge mess of the adoption process.

Our children were separated from their birth families, not so we could add children to our families, but for very difficult reasons on the other end. Though adoption is a truly wonderful blessing for our families and for children who truly need one, there are real issues of abandonment and loss that may be difficult for our children to one day process. Some day, I suspect we each will have to explain these difficult issues with our children. For now, our explanations include mostly stories of our love and devotion to them, our love for their birth family, and the love their first families had for them. Could we have not just as easily helped support those families, so their first family could have remained intact? There are no easy answers, but our children deserve to have us give these issues very careful consideration.

I know long ago there was discussion about those who hoped to adopt their child's bio sibling(s). The point was made that this was comparable to saying we hoped our child's birth mother needed to give up another one of her children. While I don't believe this was truly what anyone was thinking, it did reveal to me that at this end of adoption, we have very little idea of the daily struggle for survival and the heart wrenching decisions people living in extreme poverty are sometimes forced to make. When we can buy ten pair of shoes, hairbows and accessories for our toddlers, and then send them to dance classes, the contrast sharpens greatly. I'm not passing judgement on wardrobe or activity choices, just making the comparison between our lives and that of a woman in Guatemala or any number of third world countries.

[Jayjay]

Nicely said Brink. I was thinking all these things as I looked at my beautiful daughter sleeping in her room, knowing that we are fortunate enough not to have to worry about providing for her basic needs. This is what is so heartbreaking for me - the disparity between my experience as a parent and these parents who no doubt love their children just as intensely. No child should ever have to go to bed hungry, and no parent should ever have to contemplate giving their child up for adoption just to ensure that their basic needs are met. It is a truly heartbreaking situation, and here is where I would like to see UNICEF jump in to provide the much needed relief to these families - put your money where your mouth is.

Thank you to the poster who wrote about Mayan families. I will look into that today to see what I can do to help.

[LaRonda]

Thank you for posting about Mayan Families. I thought they only go to Panajachel (spelling?) or maybe nearby Solola (spelling?). I was not aware that Panajachel was an affected area, I do not recall reading that it was in a red alert area nor a at risk area (it was posted on Guatadopt.com). The areas affected are known as the "Dry Corridor" along the Pacific coast, which Panajachel is not situated there, but I guess every little bit helps working class families.

[JustBarbara]

Very thoughtful post, Brink and one that I am in agreement with to a large degree.

[JillnChris]

Originally Posted by Jayjay

I don't want to sound confrontational, so please don't misinterpret my post, although it is bound to hit a nerve.

I read the same article. I did not feel that it had anything to do with adoption, but was about hunger. These families are desperate for rain and food, but that does not mean they want to give their children up for adoption.

Perhaps we as a community with strong ties to this beautiful country can find a way to direct our energies and monies toward helping this cause.

The article broke my heart and if anyone knows how to help alleviate this suffering please post. I am sure there are many of us who will jump to help.

Peace.

I agree. I don't think the malnutrition has anything to do with adoption. A country should not have to relinquish half of its children because there is not enough food for them. The whole situation over there right now with the food shortage is breaking my heart. I know that we will help however we can this year.

[guatparents2be]

brink, what a well written post. we love our son more than i can express, AND i think if i had understood more about all of the issues you bring up before we adopted i would have approached things very differently.

imho (and i'm sure there will be many who disagree) it is our responsibility as parents of guatemalan children to educate ourselves about these issues before our kids grow up and start asking questions. there are some great blogs out there by adult adoptees (in particular transcultural adoptees) as well as adoptive parents who are asking hard questions. it has been an immense eye opening experience for me to let go of my defensiveness to really consider the points they bring up.

and @ OP, with respect, although i do think there are cases where adoption is a viable option, and i do think unicef is frightening, there is much more that can be done for the starving mothers in guatemala than taking their children out of the country. if a mother wants to make an adoption plan for her child, this is her choice, but it should not be the only alternative to malnutrition, illness and infant mortality.

[alreadylove2005]

I guess none of you know me and I didn't clearly express myself in, as I said, my need to express my frustration and vent. I apparently did choose the wrong venue.

I would never, never, never suggest starving people so that they would have to give up their children, sheesh! I am not a monster.

Yes, ideally, every birth mother would have the opportunity to care for her child and nourish and grow their mind and bodies.

As the title says, I wish I had never posted, and won't come back to read the replies.