A plan was announced recently that would call for all intercountry adoptions between Guatemala and the U.S. to be suspended on January 1, 2008. This is due to Guatemala's plan to be Hague Convention compliant on January 1, 2008 and will not work with any country that is a non-Hague member after December 31. There are approximately 5,000 children whose adoptions are in-process at this time and the plan also calls for these adoption to not be grandfathered in after December 31, 2007. These adoptions will not continue. (I guess the U.S. did not meet their goal of being a Hague country this year.)
We have been warned for several months now not to start adoptions with Guatemala due to the conditions of their adoption procedures or lack there of. A past blog notes the causes for concern with the country's adoption process and corruption including, unregulated foster care, conflicts of interest, and lack of government oversight.
Another big issue being that Guatemala was not compliant with the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption. While Guatemala has been a part of the Hague Convention since March 2003, it has not enacted the Hague-consistent legislation or instituted the Hague-consistent practices that would protect children. This is set to change by January 1, 2008 when Guatemala becomes a Hague country.
If you would like to make your feelings known on this event, please see 5000Orphans.com to see how you can make a difference in the life of a child.
What's your opinion - bring it to the adoption forum where a discussion on this topic has already started.
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SOURCES:U.S. Department of State Web site
5000Orphans.com