Guatemala: One Year Later

I found this publication from the JCICS that pretty much resumes everything that has been going on in adoptions in the country, I find it pretty accurate unfortunately, and makes me incredibly sad to say that the press is not showing this reality as much as they showed all of those stories of corruption and theft before the Convention started working. However, I personally find the newspaper Nuestro Diario as not the most professional of newspapers in the country and actually find odd that no other newspaper has published a big amount of stories about children being abandoned alarmingly by birthmothers. Are the authorities waiting for that to start happening? Why won't that really start doing their job and realizing that there are lots of people out there waiting and praying for a child to love and care for and just do something to take these children out of terrible places and placing them in a family? Why are other countries worrying for the sake of our children when they are not showing any concern?

Joint Council Position Paper

On January 1, 2008, under significant scrutiny and amidst allegations of corruption, child trafficking and unethical practices, Guatemala implemented the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption. Guatemala’s participation in the Convention was applauded by the many governments and NGOs who had insisted on changes to the practices in Guatemala and vigorously supported Guatemala’s participation in the Hague Convention. The implementation was seen by many as the answer to corruption and unethical practices.
Now, 12 months since its implementation, has the Convention truly been the answer? It appears that one year later there are more questions than answers, more needs than funds, and for the children in need of a family, more despair than hope.

Since the implementation of the Convention, Guatemala has in fact seen an end to allegations of ongoing corruption in inter-country adoption. Children now have strong protections against child trafficking. Birth families are free from the unethical practices of unscrupulous practitioners. And a Central Authority governing all adoptions has been established in Guatemala.

Over this past year, in addition to these protections, has the Convention’s implementation in Guatemala also served children? Has it enabled children living in institutions to find a family? Unfortunately the manner in which Guatemala implemented the Convention has not resulted in an ethical intercountry adoption system; it has resulted in no intercountry adoption system. The implementation of the Convention has indeed succeeded in adding protections. But it has also failed in its role to serve children. Despite an estimated 6,000 institutionalized children and few domestic adoptions, not one child has found a permanent family through the Convention.

When the Convention was implemented the law stated that the estimated 3,000 adoptions that had been initiated would be completed. One year and countless investigations by the PGN, MP, CNA and Guatemalan courts later, over 1,000 children have yet to have their adoptions completed. Joint Council supports efforts to ensure that each and every adoption is done in the best interest of the children, and recognizes that investigations are a part of that protection. But the cost should not be born by innocent children. Joint Council calls on the Guatemalan government to swiftly bring each pending adoption case to a final resolution and there by end the deprivations of institutionalization.

Protecting children and families from harm is one of the primary roles of the Guatemalan government and their efforts must be recognized and supported. However, much like the scrutiny and attention by the international community exposed the corruption of the prior system, this same community must now refocus their attention to bring to light Guatemala’s ineffective implementation of the Convention and its subsequent impact on institutionalized children and Guatemalan families.

As recently published by Nuestro Diario, a leading Guatemalan newspaper, children are being abandoned to the streets at an alarming rate. With few government institutions to provide care and the closure of many private institutions, some birthmothers are simply leaving their newly born children in trash dumps. Nuestro Diario reports that in Guatemala City alone, 91 children were found abandoned with 70 being new born infants. Twenty abandoned children in Guatemala City were found after they had already perished. What is being done to build a social service system which not only protects children from corruption but also from a tragic death?

The lack of services to children as a result of the poor implementation of the Convention has yet to be addressed by those who supported its premature implementation. With prior knowledge that Guatemala lacked the capacity to properly implement the Convention, why were alternative reforms not considered? Who will assist the Guatemalans in replacing what was the only effective means of finding families for children? Who will help preserve families? Who is building an effective and safe domestic adoption program? Again, one year later there are more questions than answers.

The reform of the previous adoption system and the implementation of the Convention required the collective efforts of many governments and NGOs, including the U.S. and European governments. Building an effective child protection system in Guatemala will necessitate another, similar effort. Given the many challenges the Guatemalan government and its children are facing, no one entity can accomplish this task alone. Joint Council calls on the U.S. and European governments along with UNICEF, the NGO community, and The Hague Permanent Bureau to provide the necessary technical and financial assistance needed to appropriately serve the children of Guatemala. After 12 months and little progress it is apparent that only a collaborative effort can create the full range of desired services.

The formation of a spectrum of services including Family Preservation, Kinship Care, Domestic Adoption and Intercountry Adoption is desperately needed to ensure that children retain their right to a family and are protected from the detrimental effects of institutionalization, or even an unnecessary death. Joint Council calls on all stakeholders who previously asked for reforms to move with speed in order to provide these much needed services.

Some efforts have already begun. UNICEF and the governments of Chile and Brazil have provided limited technical assistance, and USAID is planning two pilot programs focused on family services. These efforts represent a start to services but are clearly not enough. In the past 12 months less than 60 domestic adoptions have been completed. Zero intercountry adoptions have been initiated. And significant family preservation is only in the development stage. When a child protection system results in more children being abandoned and less children finding families, is it not obvious that more needs to be done?

It has been one year since the implementation of the Convention; the children of Guatemala await our answer.