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Since this is a blog about adopting from Ethiopia, I rarely mention the adoption situations in other countries. However, right now there is something happening in Guatemala that makes me feel sad and that I believe anyone involved in adoption should care about. For awhile I have heard that adoption from Guatemala has slowed due in part to questions about the ethics of some adoptions. I have heard of many families who have opted to adopt from Ethiopia instead of Guatemala just because of these types of questions.
Currently UNICEF is putting pressure on Guatemala (via financial incentives) to implement the Hague treaty, which they ratified awhile back. The new president of Guatemala is strongly leaning towards that action. If that happens, it would completely shut down adoption from Guatemala. Not only would that affect future adoptions, but it also will prevent the completion of an estimated 5,000 adoptions that are currently in process.
There is currently no plan to make other arrangements for these children who have already been assigned to adoptive families and are currently waiting for their paperwork to be complete. Since Guatemala is a poor country with very little infrastructure to support children in need, that makes the future of those children very uncertain indeed.
If you find this situation as sad as I do, I hope you will consider taking action in one or all of the following ways.
Contact Unicef US and Unicef Guatemala NOW
US: Ann Veneman, Executive Director|
· Their number is 212-326-7000
· Their fax number is 212-326-7758
Guatemala:
Ask to speak with Manuel Manrique
· Their number is 011-502-2327-6373
· Their fax number is 011-502-2327.6366
It is particularly crucial to make your voice be heard between now and Wednesday, October 10th, as decisions are being made this week. You can read more details here. Please don’t delay. Your voice could help give innocent children the chance to grow up in a family.
Thank you so much for dedicating a blog to the dreadful situation right now in Guatemala. For those of us caught up in it, it seems that every day some press source is reporting half truths mixed in with bizarre myths. As someone who has been in process for over a year, it is upsetting to hear reports that make it sound like all you have to do is fly to Guatemala with gobs of money, and fly back with a baby. Other recent press focuses on a tragic kidnapping of a Guatemalan child, and then goes on to question if children whose dna was matched to their birthmother’s, (who made the dreadfully difficult decision to relinquish them) were also kidnapped, which of course makes no sense.
I think that petition might be old, is there a way to get UNICEF to stay out of adoption altogether if they are not going to do something useful?
They don’t have some sort of infilstructure to take care of these children, they are mostly just using meaningless lip service and they are not thinking about the children.
More later, but the petition could be outdated as it doesn’t mention the grandfather clause. (i was just skimming though)
Would putting pressure on UNICEF get them to back down?
Guatemala ratified the Hague convention in 2003 and is just gettind around to implementing it now due to pressure from many areas including the US. The immediate problem is that Guatemala is threatening to not grandfather in adoptions in process when they implement the Hague on Jan. 1st. However, amendments will probably be made in congress regarding this.
The existing president is fortunately the outgoing president, and the run off elections in Nov. will decide the new president, but he will only take over in January.
Thanks for caring about Guatemala Mary – it is such a mess.
Lisa – Guatemalan adoptions
I am so glad you put this up. My best friend is waiting for here daughter right now and this situation is terrifying. I hope everyone who cares for the needy will take action, and pray.
Sorry for not knowing more about the situation, but why would Guatemala ratifyig the Hague mean the end of adoptions from Guatemala? To my understanding, the Hague treaty means countries need to implement certain processes to ensure adoptions are done properly. So how would its implementatiion lead to a closure?
Roma
I think it is because Guatemala would have too much trouble following those rules, and so has decided that they ought to just stop adoptions…
But that would be a better question to ask over on the Guatemala blog!
All the best
Mary
MamaGiggles,
Many countries who have ratified the Hague Treaty have all but closed adoption. For example, Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador and Belize ratified the Hague and adoptions are less than 40 per year now. The number of orphans has not been reduced; it is just so hard to adopt because of the multitude of restrictions. Unfortunately, the “baby got thrown out with the bathwater.”
Lisa S.
http://guatemala.adoptionblogs.com/index.php