I'm confused??

The article says:

"Commission, Jorge Luis Ortega Torres announced that the favorable opinion was being signed today and the law would be approved in September,"

Yet, then the article posted says "The Commission of the Child and the Family, after analyzing the proposal decided against its approval. The future of such proposal looks very bad"

So was the proposal to prevent singles from adopting along with halting all new cases turned down?

I working on the final steps of my dossier and don't know whether to stay with Guatemala or not??

Please advise

Yes, I am confused to, especially because the above quotation seem to contradict the following from the same article:

"Jorge Luis Ortega Torres announced that the favorable opinion was being signed today and the law would be approved in September . . . . "

Has the law or portions of it been approved to go to Congress? What are the likely next events & timeline with regard to this matter? Please advise. Thanks so much.

In order to be presented to Congress for second reading, the proposal needs the approval of the Commission of the Child and the Family. The president and other two members of such commission are the congressmen who presented the proposal to Congress last February. The rest of the Commission opposed it as it is, so there is no way that the last version of the proposal could be presented to Congress. Substancial changes should be made, in order to get the approval of the Commission and the approval of the majority in Congress and become a law of the country.
I hope this clarifies the doubts.

That helps a lot, thank you. I am also wondering, how many total members are there on that committee? And also, since we may not be ready for referral until January (skipping the holidays), what are annual dates that the Guatemalan Congress is in session. Thank you very much. This site such a godsend of information.

Susan, based on the comment you posted below:

The committe has not passed the bill as of today, 8-10-05. If changes were made to the bill, how long is the minimum amount of time before someone could bring the a revised version of the bill before the committee and try again to get it passed??? I may be getting a referral within a week or two and and am worried.

In order to be presented to Congress for second reading, the proposal needs the approval of the Commission of the Child and the Family. The president and other two members of such commission are the congressmen who presented the proposal to Congress last February. The rest of Posted by Susana Luarca at August 10, 2005 02:53 PM
the Commission opposed it as it is, so there is no way that the last version of the proposal could be presented to Congress. Substancial changes should be made, in order to get the approval of the Commission and the approval of the majority in Congress and become a law of the country.
I hope this clarifies the doubts.

FYI: I posted the correction that Susana forwarded to me in the original article.

I just wanted to add that we sincerely appreciate the efforts of Susana Luarca and the ADA to not only fight for our children, but to keep us well informed of developing news.

Also, what can we do, if anything, to help keep Guatemalan adoptions running smoothly?

Kim,

Try not to worry, adopting a child from Guatemala is a wonderful thing to do. I have never been happier since I adopted my daughter a year ago. If you are able, support the ADA and Susana in their efforts. Take care,

EB
Mama to Anarosa

What is the upcoming Hague Conference in September and what impact, if any, would it have on Guatemalan adoptions?

When could the Guatemalan congress meet again to consider another law similar to the one that just failed?

Hi, Susana Luarca..

A woman on the yahoo Guatemala listserv group stated that her agency has advised her that the reason this law did not pass is because there it is in the summer and there wasn't a full committee attendence. Therefore, it is not a valid vote and it will be brought again before the committee again within the month.

Have you also heard this?

My agency told me that Congress is voting again this coming week... Is this true?

Could someone please reply to some of the above Q's.....will Congress be voting on this again in Sept? Will Hague have an impact on this? What would this mean to those of us who are just starting the adoption process and about to send our dossier to our agencies? Is it safe to proceed with starting a new adoption in Guatemala or could everything come to a halt? Thanks for any help and clarification!

Although not all members of the commission of the Child and the Family were present at the moment, all members were in the building of Congress and could have been called for the meeting at any moment. The members who were present decided to discard the proposal entirely because it was full of potential constitutional challenges. This law proposal cannot be presented to Congress without the approval of the Commission of the Child and the Family and many of its members oppose it. Another proposal will take its place, and another battle will be fought, but it will not happen any time soon.

The president of the Commission of the Child and the Family, Jorge Luis Ortega announced the day before the meeting took place, that his proposal would be approved in September, in time for him to go to the Hague meeting, but now that the proposal has been discarded, he will have to present a new proposal that respects the rights of the people involved, and must of all, of the children who need families. His proposal was an anti-adoption law and that is why its approval cannot be allowed.

Best regards,
Susana Luarca

"With 176 million quetzales being dangled before our government, as a reward for letting UNICEF dictate policies regarding many issues, - adoptions among them "

Hmm.... In the United States this would be called a bribe, wouldn't it! I wonder how many of UNICEF's corporate and major donors are aware that this is how the organization they donate to operates.

Back when adoptions were shut down in 2003 and I was waiting for my son, I wrote as many UNICEF donors as I could find. I did receive responses but for the most part they really didn't seem to care. I do believe it never hurts to let them know, and it definitely made me feel better while I was waiting!