Flor de Maria, an employee of Hannah’s Hope orphanage in Guatemala
City, holds Joseph Rodriguez, Oct. 19. The orphanage, like many in
Guatemala, is funded by proceeds from adoptions and could be affected
by pending reform of the nation’s adoption system.
CNS PHOTO/EZRA FIESER |
By Ezra Fieser
Catholic News Service
GUATEMALA CITY (CNS) — In a quiet neighborhood,
rows of cribs line the walls of an orphanage. Each crib is marked with
a child’s name, a birth date and the name of a family:
“Angela Belen Chez, Oct. 13. Curran Family.”
“Eduardo Javier, Sept. 17. Cowden Family.”
The cribs are separated by months of birth: September babies in one room,
October births in the next. Nearby, women who recently gave birth recover
in one house, and expectant women prepare in another.
For years, this predominantly Catholic Central American country has been
known as an epicenter of international adoptions. The proximity to the
United States and lack of red tape has made Guatemala the largest per
capita source of adoptions in the world.
Adoptions have helped finance the operations of many of the country’s
orphanages, who say they provide a service for an estimated 370,000 orphans
otherwise ignored by the government in this impoverished country.
“Without adoptions, we couldn’t provide health care for these
mothers or provide education and services for these kids,” said
Heather Radu, who runs Hannah’s Hope orphanage in Guatemala City.
But a pending reform would overhaul the system, raising speculation that
the adoption industry, estimated by Guatemala’s vice president to
be worth $400 million a year, will be shattered and the children who receive
care will be left with few choices.
“The government doesn’t help in any of this,” said Mitchell
Globus, referring to services for abandoned or homeless children. Globus
represents Casa de Angeles, a Catholic orphanage located about an hour’s
drive from Guatemala City; the orphanage provides homes to children “left
on doorsteps, abandoned by a disintegrating family ... or given away by
a family member.”
Last year, 4,800 of those children were adopted, with 95 percent of them
going to the United States.
But the same lax regulatory system that made adopting Guatemalans inexpensive
and relatively speedy — typically about six to nine months —
left the system open for abuse, according to critics.
Accounts of abductions are widespread, particularly in the remote countryside,
where residents have been known to form mobs and attack suspected kidnappers.
And reports of pregnant women being paid for their children have been
documented by human rights organizations.
International pressure to fix abuses led the Guatemalan government to
order the system to comply with international standards.
The government has said the change is needed to get the system out of
the hands of a network of lawyers who have been accused of turning hefty
profits at the expense of unknowing, or sometimes unwilling, parents.
Guatemalan President Oscar Berger said Oct. 16 that any change was not
intended to disrupt adoptions already under way, only to ensure they are
just. But the U.S. State Department has recommended couples not adopt
from Guatemala, and UNICEF has said the authenticity of pending adoptions
should be verified.
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