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Adoption Changes Approved In Guatemala

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By JUAN CARLOS LLORCA, The Associated Press

Published: December 12, 2007

GUATEMALA CITY - Guatemalan legislators approved a law Tuesday that tightens adoption rules while allowing pending cases - mostly involving U.S. couples - to go through without meeting stricter requirements.

The new law will enable Guatemala to comply with the Hague Convention, an international agreement designed to protect adopted children from human trafficking. The Central American country sent 4,135 children to the United States last year, making it the largest source of babies for American families after China.

Many adoptive parents, some of whom invest their life savings to bring home a Guatemalan baby, feared the changes would leave in limbo about 3,700 children matched with prospective parents. The U.S. State Department had pressured Guatemala to make an exception for pending adoptions in the new law, and President Oscar Berger is expected to sign it.
Guatemalan adoptions are currently handled exclusively by notaries who work with birth mothers, determine whether babies were surrendered willingly, hire foster mothers and handle paperwork.

The notaries charge an average of $30,000 for children delivered in about nine months - record time for international adoptions. But critics claim the system allows birth mothers to sell their babies for profit. In March, the State Department warned U.S. citizens to avoid Guatemalan adoptions until the process is cleaned up.

The new law will practically eliminate the participation of notaries and create the National Adoption Council, an oversight agency including Guatemala's Supreme Court and foreign relations and social development departments.

Orphanages will have to register with the council, which will be responsible for informing birth parents and establishing fees that non-Guatemalan adoptive parents pay to the government.

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