The U.S. government is threatening Guatemala with banning all adoptions from there unless major improvements are made to the adoption process. Several countries that permit adoptions are under severe scrutiny from the U.S., yet most of the near 5000 adoptions from Guatemala go to the U.S. and the State Department deemed the Guatemalan adoption environment as “volatile and unpredictable.” According to Casa Alianza- a child advocacy group: “The ‘jaladoras’ (adoption brokers) start out by offering to pay the expectant mothers’ medical bills and to provide them with economic support, and in some cases they eventually deceive the pregnant women into signing a blank paper, who thus unknowingly authorize the adoption of their child.”
The need for Guatemala to improve its adoption process was emphasized in an editorial in el Periódico de Guatemala, though it also observed that more illegal adoptions may occur if the U.S. ban becomes reality.
Links- Chicago Tribune, azcentral.com, travel.state.gov, Alterinfos, el Periódico de Guatemala Image- BBC News (UNICEF poster warning against illegal adoptions)
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