Brakes Put on International Adoptions

This is an email update received from ICF:

The National Council for Adoptions (CNA) suspended the delivery of children to foreign families during the remainder of 2008. The previous decision was made because there are many Guatemalans who are applying to host at home to an infant.
Another reason for the suspension, said the Council is the need to conclude the cases of transition by changing legislation, which means cleaning the system of bad practices and strengthen adoptions locally.

Quote:"In compliance with the spirit of the Adoptions Act it will be sought that children declared adoptable be delivered to Guatemalan families rather than another country. "Rudy Zepeda

It is evident that Guatemala is not in a hurry to arrange international adoption, contrary to their stated intentions at the beginning of last year. Most worrisome is that they can refuse to allow hundreds of children needing families to be adopted, by the simple expedient of only declaring a small number of abandoned or relinquished children to be legal orphans. If they never declare more legal orphans than the number of families in Guatemala who would like to adopt, then there will never be children available for international adoption. Which is not to say that suddenly Guatemala is in economic high times and women are able to support their children and that sexism, racism and elitism have disappeared, and that labor protection laws have been enforced. Absolutely not.
Guatemala is on the edge of economic ruin. It will take many years for the country to cultivate a solid economic base. Competing against the country's attempts to lure businesses to locate there and create jobs, is the expanding gang and drug culture. What we think of as being mostly located in Colombia has traveled widely, like a contagion, complete with professional kidnappers who are very skilled at choosing targets for ransom.
The sad situation of woe is getting worse, not better. The President is looking for ways to uplift the people, but the global economic crisis is beyond his control. With poverty comes desperation and with desperation, corruption. Try to imagine a life where you have no power and you never have the right to say no. That is the life of a Mayan woman in Guatemala.