Guatemala, a country so close to the United States, part of our continent, is a country of contrasts. Within Guatemala City, one sees high rise luxury hotels, roads filled with modern cars and residential zones of luxury. On the streets, teeming with people and traffic, one sees professionals dressed in European elegance, and women and children dressed in indigenous garments, brightly colored and hand loomed. Going a mere hour into the countryside, there is an indigenous lifestyle that defies time and modern culture: Campesinos living in huts on large plantations, seaside communities relying on earth and sea for sustenance. A country of more than 50 dialects and languages, with a recent history of civil war with its majority indigenous population, and a current attempt to deal with its cultural and economic diversity, Guatemala is clearly, also, a country in transition.

At an Adoption and Child Welfare Conference in Guatemala, sponsored by the Joint Council on International Children’s Services (http://www.jcics.org), a professional organization of licensed, non profit adoption agencies, a Guatemalan Sociologist presented some chilling statistics. More than 70% of Guatemalans are living in poverty and 65% of that group are living in "dire poverty". More than 50% of the children in Guatemala are undernourished, under educated, and have little opportunity of moving out of the circle of poverty which has characterized their population for generations. Now with the breakdown of many indigenous communities, the breakdown of family life, has led to the breakdown in community support systems which enabled people, living in pre-modern conditions, to survive.

This is the population who are relinquishing or abandoning their children.

Most of this population does not marry, but live in common law marriages - some of long and some of short duration. The society of poverty, in breakdown from traditional village and family customs, does not support family life. Many poor women leave their children with their mothers and go to the city to work as domestics, sending their meager earnings (under $200 per month) home. Sometimes the child being relinquished is the "one too many", and the local midwife tells the birthmother about adoption as an option. Sometimes the mother is living and working in a City and learns about attorneys or facilitators who can help them place their child with an adoptive family. Because of the still rigid class system in Guatemala, very few middle class or professional Guatemalans are adopting, so contacts are made with North America and Europe, agencies and individuals, to find adoptive families for the children.

Adoption Programs and Guatemalan Laws:

Intercountry adoptions have been processed in Guatemala for over 25 years. In the last 15 years, more and more agencies have developed programs in Guatemala, usually working with Guatemalan attorneys and representing North American families. Some agencies have also worked closely with Government or private, licensed orphanages to place children who have been abandoned. The Guatemalan law, deriving from Napoleanic law, permits direct relinquishment before a Notary by a birthmother to an adoptive family. The majority of children being released for adoption are, therefore, newborns, whose mothers can’t afford to support them and who are relinquishing the baby directly.

Children in orphanages have usually been abandoned, sometimes anonymously, and the legal procedures for releasing an abandoned child for adoption can take years (though it is becoming shorter now), so those children are usually older by the time they can be adopted. Most orphanages try to maintain active adoption programs, so that the adoptable children will have families, and the adoption programs help them support the children who are in their care, as subsidies from the courts are very small. Many agencies are providing Humanitarian Aid to orphanages or Child Welfare projects, as an expression of their commitment to the children of Guatemala. These projects include support of family reunification services, family support services in nutritional centers and day care centers, medical and dental teams, education and retraining services so that birthmothers can be more self sustaining, as well as funding for childcare and support for children who cannot be adopted. Donations are also made to Foundations and community projects.

Criminalization of Adoption: Despite the social statistics that show that Adoption is a solution (albeit for a small percentage of the children who are living in poverty,) and despite the worthy efforts of many practitioners of adoption (agencies and the attorneys representing them and Children’s Homes), the Adoption process in Guatemala has been under fire in the Press and by other social welfare organizations. Adoption, in Guatemala, has been equated with "child trafficking" by such venerable organizations as UNICEF, Covenant House, and other Human Rights organizations.

With the emergence of the Hague Convention and Treaty on intercountry adoption, establishing uniform standards of practice has become a priority for many Governments. Most Latin American countries have eliminated the possibility of Direct birthmother relinquishment, and established Adoption Programs under their Government Adoption departments and laws. Ironically and sadly, these programs which are supposed to be consistent with the Hague Treaty’s standards and principle ( of supporting intercountry adoption above institutionalization or foster care)stating that all children deserve a permanent family, have gotten bogged down in bureaucratic inertia or the lack of infrastructure to implement the new laws. The numbers of children coming from El Salvador, Honduras, Peru, Equador and Bolivia, have been reduced to as few as 10% of the numbers being adopted before the new laws were implemented. The amount of time children are in orphanages or foster care has increased dramatically. Child advocates are wondering what is happening to those children and families?

Guatemala has been criticized for not participating in the Hague Convention.

Furthermore, when the Government signed the Peace Treaty in 1996, they committed to implementing a new code for children and families, which has been subject to great controversy within Guatemala - considered by legal scholars and the Guatemalan Congress to be, in part, unconstitutional and undermining to the family. This controversy brought adoption to the forefront, with adoption abuses being exagerated by its enemies, and the threat that the adoption law in Guatemala would be changed. For most of 1998 the Adoption Community was anticipating (or dreading) major changes, even while statistically the numbers of children adopted from Guatemala had more than doubled.

Current Situation:

In late1998, the Guatemalan Congress did not approve the New Code of Children and Families, based on its constitutional anomalies. At the same time, in order to address some of the potential abuses (virtually unproven in 98% of cases investigated), the U.S. Embassy and the INS office in Guatemala, instituted a policy of DNA testing for every baby and relinquishing mother, to prove that the baby and mother were indeed related, and to eliminate any possibility of kidnapping or false birthmother representation.

Furthermore, documentation required by the INS office and the Guatemalan courts, along with the DNA testing process, eliminates any possible veracity to claims that birthmothers have been misled about relinquishment for adoption and what it means.

Therefore, the direct relinquishment of babies, mainly newborns, for adoption remains a viable option in Guatemala, one of the few countries left in the region, providing this option. Most infants are placed immediately in private foster care. Some agencies supervise the baby’s medical and foster care via in Country representatives, who work in teamwork with the attorneys representing the legal work. These agencies can also assure that birthmothers have received counseling and prenatal and postnatal assistance (allowable within the law), as well as providing comprehensive information about birthfamily, birthmother, and medical information. In most instances, the amount of information provided can equal information provided in a U.S. adoption or exceed it, as there are no sealed records. The advantages to the children are measurable: they thrive physically and developmentally within a family setting, presenting few of the delays or emotional traumas of children who have been institutionalized. Though the adoption process can be lengthy, and depends upon individual circumstances, most children can come home at under 6 months of age, if referred as newborns. Travel requirements for families are minimal, or children can be escorted, as the adoptions are completed by Power of Attorney ("proxy adoptions").

Adoption of children who are older and either relinquished (in foster care) or court adjudicated (in orphanages or Children’s Homes) is also possible in Guatemala, and more easily accomplished than in many other countries. Most children’s homes licensed in Guatemala have standards of care that are quite high. Statistically, the developmental delays or emotional issues presented by older, post institutionalized children, seem to be fewer in (statistical) incidence than from many other countries in the world. Some postulate that it’s the cultural atmosphere in Latin America - the love of children, the informality, the expression of physical affection - that explains this difference. Some postulate that it’s the absence of drug or alcohol effects, so that the children are temperamentally more resilient. However, we recommend that families adopting children who are older be thoroughly prepared for the adjustment challenges they and their child might face. What we’ve seen is that such preparation, and good medical and psychological information about the child - which can be provided in Guatemala- assists in the family’s overall adjustment and ability to meet the challenges that older children present, and enables families to experience the unique pleasures and rewards that older children provide.

Eligibility: Guatemalan law allows anyone between 25 to 60 years old to adopt. As children are being "matched" with prospective adoptors by their agencies, the policies about placing infants with older parents are usually specific to each agency. There are also no Guatemalan legal policies regarding numbers of other children in a family, or prior marriages and divorces.

Fees: Country fees for adopting a child from Guatemala seem to range from $12,000 – to $20,000. In comparing fees for adoption, families should get a clear idea of what services are included in the fees quoted. Some agencies or attorneys include all foster care and medical expenses and legal expenses in their fees; some break fees down into categories. Though families can work directly through attorneys or children’s homes in adoption, each adoption requires legal services and other social services (receiving accurate medical and psychological information about the child, updates on progress, security features about fees, on going communication - usually in Spanish). These comprehensive services are usually built into an agency’s program and are usually less predictable in direct dealings with an attorney or facilitator. However, families should choose their Agency (or Agent) carefully, check references, and assure yourselves that your priorities and needs mesh with your agency’s priorities for service.

Factors to be considered, along with fee clarification, are the quality of foster care provided, the kind of information you will receive about your child and your adoption proceedings, the history of the agency in the country, the effectiveness and efficiency of the attorneys in working with the U.S. Embassy and Guatemalan courts, ethical policies in working with birthmothers, and agency support you can expect. These factors should weigh as heavily as how quickly you can receive a referral. Compatibility of interests between you and your agency helps in the variable and unpredictable course of an intercountry adoption.

About fees: Often when adoptive families look at Country fees they wonder about the large "discrepancy" between the low per capita income of a country and the seemingly high fees the attorneys and coordinators are charging. This has been a criticism by those critics of adoption, claiming that "trafficking" or buying and selling of children is reflected in fees. But some of the realities of Third World economies are not being taken into consideration in these criticisms. There are at least 2 economies in most third world countries. The majority reflects the culture of poverty. However, most professionals or the growing middle class require significant income to maintain a lifestyle equivalent to that maintained by their counterparts in the U.S. or Europe. Owning homes with modern conveniences, maintaining offices with technological equipment, paying for good health care and education, owning a car, all reflect expenses that are equivalent to those in the United States, and sometimes exceed them in duties and taxes. Furthermore, critics treat an adoption fee as all "profit" for the attorney, conveniently forgetting the large expenses for foster care, medical care, humanitarian aid, communication, translations, legal expenses and the vast amount of paperwork and travel expenses involved in the process. Seen in this light, the "immorality" of adoption fees fades in the face of the age old problem of social inequity. Proponents of adoption believe that adoption is a salvation and solution for a small percentage of those who would otherwise live in poverty, with little opportunity for development. Solutions to the larger social ills don’t seem to be addressed by its critics.

Current Situation: At this time the numbers of adoptions being processed in

Guatemala is increasing by at least 100% each year. In 1998, over 900

Guatemalan children were adopted into the U.S. Stabilization of the process for at least the year 1999 is increasing these numbers. More and more children are being referred. Guatemala is currently the only country in Latin America providing the option of a generally predictable adoption process for infants in large numbers.

Hannah Wallace, Executive Director Adoptions International

*Adoptions International has had an adoption program in Guatemala for 12 years and places an average of 50 children a year, mainly through birthmother relinquishment. A.l. has developed a model of separating the social services from legal services, by having teams of in-country coordinators and attorneys work together to provide the most accurate information and the best supervision of care possible. Currently matches are being made in 0-6 weeks upon receipt of dossier.