Thanks for posting this! We all need to ban together and send our Senators this letter!! The children need us! CC

Thanks for telling us how we can help.

I am a bit confused though. You feel it would be helpful if we all fax the same "white paper" with a cover letter that we personalize?

If the reps. receive multiple copies of the same doc. "white paper", wouldn't the tendency be for them to ignore it? I really don't know as I am inexperienced at this. Or do you believe it will have the opposite effect, receiving multiple copies will cause them to pay closer attention? Or am I misunderstanding and we should personalize *both* the cover letter and the "white paper"?

I will get started as soon as you reply! I hope many others will too!

Lizzie
Proud Mama to Anarosa since 5-26-04
Waiting for Migdalia, born November 2006

I sent my letters this morning! Thanks for posting this.

Lisa

Lizzie,
Thanks for your interest. We (Families Without Borders) would prefer that everyone send a copy of the white paper with the cover letter. The paper provides much more information than does the cover letter, and will help the representative and staff better understand the points made in the letter. I do not think that sending multiple copies of the supporting information in the white paper will hurt our chances of having the information read... Please personalize the cover letter only, as you would like.

Thanks for getting involved!

Ellen (mama to three children who were born in Guatemala, and member of FWB)

Outstanding response.

Readers, remember that you can personalize the letter. For example, you can add a paragraph at the end telling your own story.

This is fantastic. Don't forget, those who have their children home can help too and so can friends and family as well. The children need a voice.~Pam

Kevin and All:
I wasn't sure how to send you this by email, but I wanted to share with you an alarming story from Guatemala that I found in a newsletter of a small service organization called GSSG. It is from their march 2006 newsletter (Vol IV, No. 1). their website is www.gssg-usa.org. This is the intro of a story written by James White, MD who visits Guatemala once a year on a medical mission.

"Last week, a thirteen-year-old pregnant girl named Martha Esperanza came into my office. Her father works on a coffee plantation not far away, and she grew up on the verge of starvation in a cardboard house, with eleven siblings, six of whom are still alive. A man came in a car a year ago, and offered her family three hundred dollars--a year's wages for her father--for each baby she can make and give him. She now lives and works in his house, tends his garden, washes clothes, was impregnated by men unknown to her, and only wants from me a checkup, perhaps some prenatal vitamins, so the baby she will soon give away will be as healthy as possible. This visit to me is to be a secret; such things are not allowed by the man and his wife. The babies are delivered by the owners in the house. No hospital. No doctors. There are six other girls, ages twelve to fifteen, in the same house, same situation. One recently died in child birth, but the baby wa ssaved, to be sold for three thousand dollars in Guatemala City, she tells me".

Just keep these sort of stories in mind as you proceed with your advocacy efforts. This isn't a UNICEF story, it is a story from a medical provider bound to a code of ethics. He tells this story in good conscience.

I commend Families Without Borders for an extremely comprehensive general over-view of the current situation in Guatemala.

However, I have concerns about some of the recommendations for immediate oversight, which clearly are better than the Manual of Good Practices, but are problematic in themselves:

(1)the general POA which the birthmother provides to the NOTARY is consistent with the Notarial process in Guatemala, which is - as FWB states - constitutionally protected. If the birthmother gives "informed consent" (which can be documented by videotaping the interview she has with the Notary to whom she is relinquishing), ratifies her consent at the Court SW interview, participates voluntarily at the DNA sample taking, and is counselled as to her rights and responsibilities - including the right to change her mind - I don't think that the Guatemalan or U.S. governments should impose restrictions on the POA. The adoption process has become much longer and birthmothers may move, disappear, become ill, die, etc. prior to the case coming out of the PGN, enabling the Protocol to be composed. A blanket requirement that the birthmother sign the Protocol (Adoption Deed) at the end could lead to many adoptions remaining incomplete and puts those children (and their families) at great risk. I compare this to various timing differences in the U.S. from State to State. Is a consent in one State which only allows 2 months for the birthmother to change her mind lesser protection than a State which requires 6 months before finalization.? Rather I would like to see a judicious use of the POA, with perhaps a time period for notifying the birthmother, prior to being able to apply for the amended birth certificate.

FOA has recommended fingerprinting the mother and child and then checking fingerprints at the end. CIS has stated that they don't have the equipment to do this. Therefore, we recommend strongly a second DNA - for the child only - prior to issuing a visa approval.

This is a process which is already in place and can be very efficiently expedited with no additional expense or staffing by CIS.

However, despite these small differences -- I encourage everyone to use the White Paper and suggested letter to address th
e crucial issue with their congressional representatives: implementation of a regulatory framework that serves the best interests of children who need families. I believe the Legislative Proposal which is now on the Congressional website comes closer to maintain this balance than any other.

Hannah Wallace, Focus On Adoption

Thanks Kevin. Oh, and FYI... there's a g in "campaign" (please feel free to erase this comment once you get that fixed!)

ADA just posted an update regarding Guatemala's congress and adoptions! Everyone should read it. Things are happening!

Hannah,
Your alternative suggestions for ways to modify the adoption process in Guatemala to protect against two commonly cited potential abuses are appreciated. No doubt there are other versions of reasonable reforms that could be implemented as well, which is why it is even more frustrating that our Dept of State is so single-mindedly focused on such extensive and overly-restrictive reforms. Hopefully our common message of moderate changes rather than complete revision will be heard by the our government officials and conveyed to those in Guatemala. Maura, Families Without Borders

Hannah,

You refer to the legislative proposal that is on the congressional web site. I'd like to read that. Please provide the link to that.

Thanks in advance, Cheryl