I have a comment to make if I may. My adoption was grandfathered in back in 2007 and I am still waiting for my child to come home. If you had to ask me about adoptions in Guatemala I would say they are far from getting back to the up and running stage. Furthermore I have never witnessed a country so against a child to be adopted by another country as I have witnessed this in Guatemala. This whole concept of your file going into PGN and then kicked out for the first previo they see is just pure chaos. You would think your file would only get one kick out for all previos. Instead it is a game to go in and out three to four or more times. Meanwhile a child sits and waits months on end to go to their forever family. And the adoptive family just has to accept the situation and keep paying for foster care, gifts, visits, etc. Also, now we have the added process of if and when you get out of PGN you then have another month of going through the RENAP process to get a new birth certificate. If you ask me it is nothing workable at this point. I feel sorry for the children and the adoptive families time and time again when I hear their heartfelt stories of how they got a kickout four times or sat in family court for three months. The Guatemala adoptions as we know them need major improvements. I don't see with the current way they are finishing up that they can open adoptions back up on this current level. It is just insanity all the way around. I hear of cases where parents have been waiting two years, three years, and they have accepted it. I say this is too long to keep a child in limbo. My heart breaks that it lingers like this and there really isn't anything more being done for these children. It is just a crime anyway you look at it.

Kevin, the last year under the Hague has been a nightmare. As your remember our children's home, Semillas de Amor, was raided not once but twice by the PGN. We have hung in there and battled the government for the kids. We have also dealt with every Guatemalan entity that has anything to do with kids.

So many of the children's homes have closed and there is no place to send kids any longer. When I met with PGN two weeks ago I was asked to take children and had to say no. We don't have the money to support them and have to focus on the kids we have in our care.

We just finished our first national adoption. It took 10 months. I found the adoptive family and the child had been abandoned with us. I had to fight long and hard to free this child for adoption. In fact this child's case was the beginning of the problems with PGN because I took a stand and fought for her to not be taken from us. There was no fee to the family but still our lives were made miserable by all the government entities involved. The little girl is finally home and with her new family. I don't believe the national adoptions will be much easier than the international ones. And we all know there is not a line of Guatemalan families waiting to adopt children, especially the older kids. Needless to say the CA took total credit for the success of the adoption and we didn't even receive a bag of rice from the Guatemalan government.

We have applied for our certification to work with the Central Authority in adoption. We did this to protect our 16 kids still in our care and without "legal" families. I've never believed in warehousing children and won't be part of that so we may never be involved in the adoption process. The CA application process is long and difficult and we have completed everything and are only awaiting word on our 222 page document with the ministry of education. Everything else is in place and the CA was at our new home in Parramos on Wednesday. We got a big thumbs up from them on the home. You are right when you say the kids have been abandoned. Those of us who have stayed to fight for the kids left behind have been abandoned. Fortunately we have our own beautiful home, 4 acres of land and cars that are paid for. I invested everything into the kids and will continue to fight for their rights. Now, that being said, I have been beaten emotionally for be willing to take a stand for these kids by the Guatemalan government, the US government and some adoptive parents. I have stepped up to the plate and it has cost me so much in every area of my life. I really hope more people will step up and help. There are a lot of children suffering and they need more than a place to sleep and some food. They need love and they need someone to be their advocate. Feeding, caring for and having enough loving arms is not free. All of this takes money. You don't have to live here but I believe everyone who has an adopted Guatemalan child has a responsibility to the children, to those who didn't have the chance to get out.

Nancy

Kevin,

I always appreciate your perspective. Well said.

Melissa

Donde estan Kelly y Manuel? I'm sure they're jetting off on yet another boondoggle while claiming they're doing humanitarian work. Really, I've never met such cynical, using people -- I remember meeting them at last year's Ethics in Adoption conference here in the DC area and they claimed that they were trying to change the system "for the children." Of course, even then it was possible to see through a number of their allegations, but truth certainly wasn't an obstacle to what they were trying to do. Rather, it was something for them to deliberately manipulate. Where is all the money for them to set up a functioning system, one that provides some stability, safety, and gasp, even love to children who have no one to care for them? Oh yeah, UNICEF doesn't give a fig about helping actual children - they just want to keep shutting down adoptions.

After the mess made by our DOS and unicef, now it's time for the Guatemalan Authorities to step up to the plate and give a chance to the Guatemalan children in need. Fifteen months after the Ortega Law went into effect there is no new system in place. President Colom ran a campaign talking about social issues, about the need for social reforms, his committment to help the Guatemalan people in need. It's time for him to show every body that he means what he says. It's time for him to call for a strong action in behalf of the children by pushing for a new system that works good for the boys and girls of Guatemala. Vince.

A a Guatemalan and an adoptive mother of a Guatemlan child, my heart felt as if it was breaking while I read the report.

Right now, I do not have any words as I have to digest it all.

I continue to pray for those who are still waiting for their children and I pray for all of the babies that need homes...

like Nancy said - we have a responsibility to the children in Guatemala who have not got a family today, tonight or tomorrow - donating what we can afford to those who are there helping is what we can do NOW

Vince, the Guatemalan government is not going to step up to the plate for the kids. The Hague was shoved down their throats without anyone ever considering the kids. I am constantly dealing with the legal system, the courts in Guatemala and I have, maybe once or twice, seen someone who truly cares. People don't care because they cannot afford to care. They don't want to lose their jobs or be subjected to harassment by the government. After spending a year of unbelievable harassment by the Guatemalan government I understand why people don't allow themselves to care or be involved. The cost is too great and they truly cannot afford it.

I read the Prensa Libre everyday and rarely see anything about the children and Colom's views on what is going to happen to them. I really don't think he cares.

I have had to turn away so many children from our children's home because we cannot feed or care for them. I cannot even allow myself to think about their futures.

I remember when the peace accord was signed in 1996 here. There was so much hope. Twelve years later there is more violence. Two groups of trained killers were now unemployed but there were lots of narcotics traffickers interested in their skills and that industry has blossomed here. It seems that the governments pushing Guatemala to sign peace accords, Hague treaties are mostly interested in the paper that is being signed and the press. Nobody seemed to care about what was left in the aftermath.

I really hope that it does get better for the kids but I suspect not. I have been in the children's court when a multitude of children are being returned to the court. It breaks my heart because I know there are loving families out there.

I agree with Kevin that there was corruption in adoption in Guatemala but just about anything you touch in this country has corruption attached to it. The Guatemalan government brings out the law when it is convenient. Anyone who has been through the last year plus in Guatemalan adoption knows that. The government in Guatemala has no problem breaking their own laws, accepting bribes and beating people senseless but heaven forbid if a child leaves the country with a loving family because a birth mother had no other way to place her child than to lie about something. I would keep the corruption in perspective. I have seen some pretty major corruption in Guatemala and compared to what I saw in adoptions, the adoptions were pretty insignificant.

The Guatemalan government won't step up, nor will UNICEF nor will the US government. It will be groups of people who are concerned for the kids and there will never be enough of those people.

And where is that anti-Guatemalan adoptions social worker who used to post? I guess she's moved on to other things now that she's gotten her wish to shut down the system.

I believe that all those behind closing Guatemalan adoption, not just making some change, should be made to live the same type of life that these children are now living. Kids returned to their families from closed children's homes. Those kids were taken from the families for some reason and I can guarantee you that there has been no change in the home, Uncle Child Molester is still present. Some children are living on the streets. Overcrowded institutions full of the stench of urine and filth. Not enough food and never enough love.

Sadly the kids are political pawns. I have seen it over and over here.

These people swooped in and stole the lives and futures of many, many innocent children to further their own "careers". It is shameful and disgusting.