2007 has drawn to a close, and with it Guatemala’s system of notarial adoptions. Tens of thousands of children have found permanent, loving homes outside the borders of their country of birth, and equal numbers of families from all walks of life have been blessed with the joy of parenthood, thanks to that system. The notarial system also brought many claims of attorney and adoption agency incompetence, lies, and malfeasance, along with bureaucratic delays on the part of both US and Guatemalan government agencies.
Looking ahead into the new year, we are left with so many questions, and so many fears. How will the new system function? How will Guatemalan families unable to care for their children manage? Will the new system in fact function, or is the new law a way to eliminate adoptions quietly?
The initial signs are disquieting, to say the least. The new Adoptions Law was passed through heavy international pressure in December, with a very short implementation period and with many questions left open as to how the law would work in practice, how women in need could access adoption services, and what requirements adoptive parents would have to follow. Moreover, the Guatemalan media was filled with commentaries and official quotes stating that, under the new law, an adoption would take at least two years to complete and that the new law’s requirements would have the effect of drastically reducing the number of adoptions.
Notice that Guatemalan officials were not quoted as saying that the new law would reduce the need for adoptions. No, these officials appear to be concerned only with reducing the number of adoptions. Perhaps they honestly believe that the thousands of adoptions over the past several years reflect a corrupt, money-driven system that somehow paid thousands of women to get pregnant and sell their babies to the highest bidder. And perhaps some portion of their claims/concerns are true. Yet equally true are the stories that birth families have conveyed face to face to many adoptive families. Stories of dire poverty and secret pregnancies. Stories of illness and too many children to provide for.
Our worry must also be mixed with genuine outrage. UNICEF and various NGOs that purport to care about women and children might want to take a look at a recent study published in Science Magazine. The study shows the severe harm done to children through institutionalization and the benefits of foster care as a temporary measure for children waiting for forever families. Yet the law that they urged Guatemala to pass does away with foster care. Further proof (if we needed any) that, for UNICEF and organizations like Casa Alianza, the well-being of children is the least of their concerns.
The new Central Authority is not yet running, with only days until the new law takes effect. Where are the counselors who will be able to provide women with advice and assistance? Where are the children’s homes to care for children who cannot remain in their biological families? We as an adoption community are about to find out. More importantly, so are the children of Guatemala.
When Kevin called me yesterday to tell me that Ortega had been passed, I felt that I was punched in the gut. I could write an essay on the "wrongs" of the media, the "wrongs" of the adoption industry and the "wrongs" of implementation...but it would take me days and I have a little girl from Guatemala who needs me to get her to school.
So, I am going to just say a couple of things. While there are many issues that have complicated the whole issue...the most influential players have come down to:
A) Those who see a child in need and will do something about it....and
B) Those who see a child in need and point to them saying "Someone really ought to do something".
You can take a guess who I would put in the B category (starts with a U)
C) There are ways to reduce poverty....education.
D) There are ways to reduce corruption....prosecuting those who hurt the children
E) There are ways to reduce cultural bias....time to heal and effort to solve other social ills (and this applies everywhere in the world)
I don't believe the Ortega solves the problems of C, D or E. There is a lot of B....but very little A. So while the crimes against women and children became the marketing campaign for it, I don't believe it does much about the factors that influence why they occur.
There are VICTIMS of crime and then there are VICTIMS of badly implemented laws. If the constitutional challenges fail, I can only hope that the Guatemala will take a good long look and see if there is a way to make this law function without hurting the people it is supposed to help! The answer is A.