Please, can someone tell me if this means that since our agency is not COA accredited that their baby home will be shut down? Or is a hogar and a private baby home different?

I'm trying to NOT read too much into this statement but could this be a step in the right direction that adoptions MIGHT reopen in the future? Could it be that CNA is trying to get a handle on all the hogars to become more organized in the event that adoptions reopen?? Probably a stretch but a girl can dream right????

So, with the lightening speed of the Guatemalan government, they're going to get all the hogares licensed in less than 2 months? I'll believe it when I see it. More likely, there will be more sensation raids when the government doesn't have enough people to get the processing done.:(

T,

I do not believe this has any impact on children in foster care. I believe this has more to do with knowing where all the group faciliaties are.

I will say that I do believe there is a certain legal limbo as it relates to cases that may need to be completed under the new law and the child is under foster care. BUT, I am not an expert on the intricacies of the law in this are AND I think everyone realizes that overwhelmingy, the children in foster homes receive proper care. In short, bigger fish to fry.

Hope that helps,

Kevin
Guatadopt.com

What it says is that by end of June, an entity caring for children must present/file their paperwork. It doesn't say that they homes will be inspected or licensed by that time. You can expect, however, that the CNA is not going to do things in the right way, and they may want to cause drama and sensationalism, and, justify their existence and make it look like they are doing a lot... so expect that they may do some "raids" to find "problems". As of three weeks ago, the "requirements' were not clear and the CNA didn't even know all the requirements, so there really was no way to fully comply.

These requirements have been in place since November 2008. This is not a surprise to anyone, esp. hogars. There have also been numerous workshops held for hogar directors to attend to learn about the new requirements. The "raids" you mention that I know of, were for locating missing children, believed to possibly been abducted. I don't believe it is fair to backhand the CNA for trying to enforce rules and guidelines set up a long time ago to help establish basic care guidelines. How can you argue with requiring smoke detectors and electricity in a hogar? Besides, I have to wonder what is wrong with asking for governmental regulation over child care centers and orphanages in your opinion, Gregory, as it is standard practice in the states, and is one of the best ways of protecting those that are most vulnerable: children. Perhaps in your opinion we should maintain the shoddy self-regulation that happened in Guatemalan orphanages? Or, perhaps you've never been to any? If you had seen some of the things I have, you may welcome the regulations and not criticize those trying to enforce needed *minimum care* requirements.

We have a home, and nothing we have been asked to comply with is beyond what we already want to give the children: a safe and secure refuge.

We are satisfied with the CNA's actions, and can certainly understand when things don't work perfectly, as they try to determine how to proceed amidst residual corruption and graft from the previous ways of doing things. We have consistently seen that honest people have had nothing to fear from their scrutiny.

But people who have tried to forge documents, and fake procedures, have been discovered by these new people, as they were not in the past. When discovered, they have not told their clients that they made mistakes. It is always presented as the government's idiosyncrasies.

Having been in the meetings with C N A and having dealt quite a bit with their interdisciplinary team of Social Workers and Psychiatrists, I can assure you that they have consistently said, and acted accordingly; that they want to help the homes caring for children, and want to ensure that the excesses from the past do not resurface. The paradigm has shifted, and must be understood: they want to get children into good permanent families, but want to avoid even the appearance of profiteering. The Guatemalan Families who have adopted under the new system have consistently shared with us that no bribes were asked for, yet the screening was thorough. There may be international adoptions once the National families have been exhausted, but it will not return to the way it was, where a family contracted with a home or Lawyer here.

We, at Semillas de Amor, have been working on our certification paperwork for months. It is a lot of paperwork and we have also had to deal with other Guatemalan bureaucracies. However, as a children's home that has been in existence for 8+ years I have not found any of their requirements unreasonable. The bigger problem will be how we can fund our homes if we are unable to charge adopting families a fee. I know that the CNA is still looking at that. Children's homes have been operating in Guatemala without any supervision for a very long time and now these homes are being asked to follow the new rules. Not only the rules of the CNA but the ministry of education and the public health department. I have worked with the CNA during court hearings and on our certification paperwork and have found them to be very professional and seem to have the children's best interests at heart. We completed our paperwork a few weeks ago were waiting for the CNA to appoint the social worker who will review the homes, the social worker and psychologist have been appointed so we hope to have a review very soon.