Abandoned in Guatemala: The Failure of International Adoption Policies

[NationalWarfare]

It's sad, I was adopted from Antigua Guatemala, I was blessed and taken too Ontario Canada. I am so thankful for the adopting parents. I love my parents and I know my parents love me. I want to adopt one kid from Guatemala as well as have my own kid when I'm older. People please understand adopting is a good thing, not a bad thing. I hope every kid in Guatemala has the chance that I did. There birth parents obviously do not want to give them up, but at the end of the day its the right thing.

[stonjes11]

Amazing story. I hope Guatemala re-opens to International adoption. Children are best off in loving families. The process should be careful, but eliminating the private sector is not helping the children with no parents. My perception of Unicef is changed.

[mochafudgetruffle]

@stonjes11 Why do you think children in Guatemala wouldn't be able to get adopted by loving families in Guatemala? Do you think they have to be adopted in America to get good homes? 

[CryingAngel179]

I disagree with everyone who says Guatemala is trying to sell children to the US and I will tell you why. My husband is from Guatemala so I know him well and I know his family well. He is the first of 11 children his mother had and also raised. However we Americans struggle to understand why so many children is born to such a small country. Guatemala is very old fashion. They are behind in many aspects of their culture. As america our great country with great schools talk openly about sex, con

[mayalord984]

God know´s how angry I´m right now! I myself os adopted from Guatemala by Swedish parents. If i wouldnt been that, i would be dead by now! FUCK UNICEF! Save the people, don´t get into bureaucratism.

[peterdodds1]

For the first time, the extent of fraud, corruption, and child trafficking in international adoption between Guatemala and the United States has been credibly determined. Thousands of previously-unreleased government documents obtained by investigative journalist Erin Siegal from the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala paint a vivid picture of what, exactly, the U.S.

government knew about criminal wrongdoing in adoption, including kidnapping, orphan "laundering," and even the murder of birth mothers.

[peterdodds1]

Hundreds of thousands of American children grow up without a permanent home in the foster care system, suffer abuse and live in homes below the poverty line or live on the streets. If parents choosing foreign adoption have as their primary motive a desire to save children, they need not look abroad. A concern associated with the deliveryof domestic child welfare services is that foster care children available for adoption in the United States are being bypassed in favor of foreign children.

[tsw1203]

@peterdodds1 Have you ever looked at how hard it is to adopt domestically much harder then adopting internationally. My family looked into and seriously considered domestic adoption but the fear of loving a child for years and then having them taken away by the birth parent wasnt something we wanted to put our family through. If the system was easier to go through more families would consider domestic take it out on the system and not adoptive famlies every child deserves a loving family!

[EuphrasieF]

@tsw1203

I hear adoptive parents talking like that often, but I never understand it. Usually a parent cannot withdraw consent and/or challenge an adoption years later. The window of opportunity varies from state to state, but it is limited. If you follow the letter of the law, and if you make a point of having both the child's mother and father sign adoption papers, then there is very little chance that a domestic adoption will be overturned.

[ItalianSteamRoller]

Why don't those third world assholes learn how to put on condom on their dicks or their women take the pill instead instead of making babies that can't take care of and give them to whitey ?

[iberogt]

I recommend reading the book "The Baby Business" by Debora L. Spar, Harvard Business School Press which addresses adoption as one of the many forms of selling children, weather we like it or not. Should this industry be regulated ? that is probably the issue at the center of this discussion. The author estimates that in Guatemala the adoption business generated revenues of $50M a year.

[ednalima2011]

I am guatemalan and helped with the approval of the Adoption Law because we were having a market of babies, kidnappings, trafficking, etc. Adoption lawyers as Maria, referred to children as business goods. She is the only one who doesn´t show her face in the video, why if she feels so proud of her former business. This law, like the US Adoption Law, might be perfectible. We certainly made a step ahead. But we should seek women having children they want to keep otherwise God Bless Adoption.

[mirfir]

children should be able to stay in their own nation, if possible. I agree w/UNICEF.

[richardcadbury]

Children are *much* too young to choose nation. A child can't belong to a nation and a nation can't belong to a child.

[EuphrasieF]

@richardcadbury

Of course children don't choose their "nation". They also don't choose their sex. But just as we don't avoid referring to a child as male or female until they are of age, there is no reason to avoid referring to a child as part of a specific nation. Like sex, a child has a nationality at birth; no "choice" on the part of the child is required.

[richardcadbury]

@EuphrasieF "belongs to a nation", in this context, doesn't mean "comes from a nation", or "has a nationality".

It means "belongs to a nation" as in "is owned by a nation". The idea that a national government has a right to keep orphans within its borders in shitty orphanages when they could be adopted into a materially wealthy, emotionally caring family, in order to preserve their "heritage" is sick collectivism. Every child is an end in themself, not a means to an end called "Guatemala"

[EuphrasieF]

@richardcadbury

Leaving children in orphanages vs international adoption is a false dichotomy. Look at South Korea, for example. Over the last few years they have been phasing out their international adoption program and simultaneously have been working to promote increased domestic adoption.

Then, of course, there's the assumption that these children necessarily have no family members who could care for them. That's not necessarily true in all cases. The fact of the matter is that

TBC

[EuphrasieF]

... adoption agencies are, basically, businesses, not charitable organizations, and in both domestic and international adoption, they engage in lots of dubious practices. From time to time, there are instances of outright kidnapping, but more often than not, it takes the form of pressuring poor families or unmarried women to agree to give up their children. The National Council for Adoption has publications on strategies social workers should use in order to convince women to agree to adoption.

[richardcadbury]

@EuphrasieF Kidnapping is a crime in Guatemala and in the USA already. As for the "pressuring" people to give up their kids for adoption, what does this "pressure" entail, exactly?

Clearly, the use of force or the threat of force is totally unacceptable (and already illegal too).

[EuphrasieF]

@richardcadbury

Questionable practices of adoption agencies include biased counseling from social workers designed to discourage young women from keeping their children, and encouraging women to keep other people (including their parents and the fathers of their children) in the dark about their decision.

[richardcadbury]

@EuphrasieF Discourage how? By threatening to beat them up? Or just by talking to them and asking them voluntarily to do something? These mothers, like all humans, have free will.

[EuphrasieF]

@richardcadbury

A person who does not have all the relevant information regarding significant life changing decisions is not capable of making a free choice. If a car salesman doesn't tell you that the model you are considering buying has parts that have been recalled, or a loan officer at a bank tells you that the interest rate is lower than the bank actually charges, or a landlord doesn't tell a potential tenant that the building has structural damage, they are not acting honestly.

...

[EuphrasieF]

@richardcadbury

And yes, sometimes it's possible to find out from other sources that they are misleading you, but that still doesn't change the fact that they are lying by omission or commission.

[richardcadbury]

@EuphrasieF 1) Ability to raise a child: If a woman doesn't have the sense to properly research and rationally consider the fate of her child for the rest of its life, and get a 2nd, 3rd, and 4th opinion, then it's difficult to see why a govt should be trying to stand between that child a loving new family.

2) Willingness to raise a child: If a mother seriously considers adoption an option, even for 5 minutes, then I wonder if she really loves the child as unconditionally as a parent has to.

[EuphrasieF]

@richardcadbury

Well, if you approve of adoption industry practices like one-sided counseling, there's really no point in continuing to talk to you. We have no possible points of agreement.

[richardcadbury]

@EuphrasieF The agencies are uniting a child who has been abandoned, who desperately needs a new home, with a loving family, who desperately want to share their love with a child. Being paid for providing the service doesn't make it evil. And it quite frankly isn't the job of an agency to provide endless counselling and offer up anti-adoption arguements. Given that, it isn't "dubious" or "questionable" to not do so. Where did you get the idea that they should?

[EuphrasieF]

@richardcadbury

Like I said, if you see no problem with practices like one-sided counseling, there is no point in continuing to talk to you.

[richardcadbury]

@EuphrasieF You aren't willing to explain what's wrong with them? You could change my mind...

[EuphrasieF]

@richardcadbury

(Or, in other words, since there is a demand, adoption agencies make a point of trying to increase the supply.)

[tsw1203]

So you are basically agreeing with the destruction of millions of orphaned children leaving them in a country where the government could that could care less about them when there is a family somewhere out there that would love them and provide for them as their own? That is beyond wrong ADOPTION IS A WONDERFUL THING for both the prospective parents and the child(ren) who otherwise would waste away in an orphanage. I have been in many orphanages they are not very pleasant places.

[tsw1203]

My comment was in response to Mirfir!

[EuphrasieF]

@tsw1203

A lot of adoption proponents propose this false dichotomy - international adoption or condemning children to orphanages. It never seems to occur to people like you that there might be other options, including domestic adoption.

[tsw1203]

@EuphrasieF There is the posibliity of domestic adoption but when they are only finding famlies for roughly 60 children a year that is still thousands of children without a family which is why so many countries open up an international program to find children families even the USA has an international adoption program to match children that arent place domestically with families. I would much rather a child grow up in a loving family 1000s of miles from their birth country than no family at all

[EuphrasieF]

@tsw1203

"They are only finding families for 60 children a year."

By "they", you mean the government and/or charities in Guatemala, right?

You may be right, but I'm not convinced it is an immutable situation.

I'm not wholly against int'l adoption, but I don't think adoption is always the best choice. Adoptive parents may or may not prove to be a "loving family;" adopting a child won't automatically make you a better parent than someone who raises biological children.

[hewnandhammered]

@EuphrasieF But you have to admit that there is some self-selection that happens. Families who go into international adoption first must be able to raise the approximately $20-$30,000 it will cost, go through numerous govt-required parenting classes, have criminal background checks, home visits from social workers, etc. Bio families don't need to do any of this.

If anyone has ever even been ACCUSED of child abuse they can never internationally adopt, yet they can have all the kids they want.

[mirfir]

Corruption..duh!!! Child selling and baby markets! Terrible!

[mirfir]

Corruption..duh!!!

[mirfir]

Also, FROM WHERE are they getting these children???

[mirfir]

It's expensive and financially prohibitive for most people. Let's talk about the extreme child trafficking issues that no1 wants confess!!! I AM ALSO AN ADOPTEE.. LET'S EXPOSE THE TRUTH.

[alexismandy]

I don't understand the reasoning utilized when the implementation of specific laws are put into place. Financial gain through human trafficking is WRONG, that is a given. However, not all Guatemalan adoptions were corupt. Now you have thousands of innocent children paying the price growing up in orphanages that aren't even funded. I'm sure they will grow up to be proud Guatemalan's UNICEF, that's if they make it to adulthood.

Great job!

[mcccmar45]

as an adoptive parent of two guatemalan children - who came as babies and who are now in t heir late teens - I cannot imagine ANYONE not wanting to endorse Guatemalan adoption - these children are a blessing - I think that the guatemalan government DID need to exert some control over the paperwork etc but it is past time for them to reopen the adoption program and allow these children to be raised by parents who can take care of them

[bnpixie1990]

Those poor children! Left in institutions where there is no way that they are getting all the attention they need. I don't care what people say, or whose dignity it hurts, children need families. Families are the first social group and not having one, at all, is one of the worst things that can happen to a child.

[Dollfacefromthe56ace]

DIGNITY?! they are abandoning their children...*scoffs*

[chipalike]

Great story... Sad but well done

[alexandraguatemala]

my favorite is the lovely dr. batholet quote, which is something like, "yes there's maybe a profit motive, but it makes things happen." mmmm...documented things like kidnapping and child trafficking?? this youtube snippet has no ethical/moral compass by avoiding mention of the dark side of the notary-driven (paid by those well-meaning private citizens) adoption system. too bad y'all didn't choose to film a video about how to craft a system that would provide protections for children...

[jimisback]

And Adopting in America is REAL HELL!!!!!!!!!

[jimisback]

@jimisback REASON TV needs to look at adopting American children and why people go overseas. !!!!!!!!!

[mirfir]

then maybe it's your fate NOT to have children.

[jimisback]

@mirfir More like it is the fate of children not to be adopted. But more are not adaopted in America.

[annilita]

Much of the Third World will stay the Third World and babies will keep ending up in trash cans and dumped en masse at orphanage doors as long as the Catholic Church continues to preach against the use of contraceptives.

THAT is the real tragedy.

[annilita]

It's very rare for Filipinos to adopt children, because they tend to have large families of their own already due to the influence of the Catholic Church. So there are literally thousands & thousands of orphans who can't be adopted overseas to families who want them begging, filtering through landfills for recyclables to support themselves and younger siblings, being taken in by "kindly" ring leaders who organize them into begging/shoplifting/sex rings, because the gov't is "protecting" them.

[annilita]

Filipinos adopting Filipinos make a token contribution of $100 to the birth mother to cover her medical costs, and may give a similar amount to the doctor facilitating the adoption as a thank you. How is that any worse than the $50K it costs to adopt a child "properly" in the US?

[annilita]

We're Americans living in the Philippines. We have 2 children & could easily adopt Filipino children, but the government makes it almost impossible. It is at LEAST a 2 year process, and what few orphanages there are in the country produce institutionalized children. Why is it this way? To "protect" the children from being used overseas. There is always that chance, but in the meantime, the majority of orphans are living in dumps or forced into domestic or sexual slavery IN THEIR OWN COUNTRY.

[TheRealFallenDemon]

What I love about bureaucratic organisations like UNICEF and government agencies is that they complain about bias in videos like this, but refuse interviews. That one bureaucrat did sound silly, but at least he had the guts to be the fall guy

[sniper6081]

And to think, if we leave the UN all this goes away. Poof! Just like that.

[Aeschylus]

I totally love this no-nonsense nun. At a little 8:50 she wants to say "and all that bullshit", though she somehow manages to keep it PG.

[Dysentery7885]

retarded white people exterminating themselves with their multiracialist dogmatic delusions

[grraadd]

@OCCatholicDude they ate placenta... and baby was still attached to it. When people have not much to eat, dogs are starving. And I'm sickened too, but watching "Soviet Story" hardened me enough.

[ALFTUBE50]

I am adopted, and i love mi parents...my sister and all the family...i was lucky now iam a lawer and entrepenaur..give that kids a oportunity..

[IloveJesusYesId0]

@ALFTUBE50 What kind of lawyer..

Love these stories of people with conscience.. Why in the hell people are sooo proud to have their own biological kids when it's totally selfish in this world the way it is, I'll just never totally understand, unless it's being heartless, ignorant, or needy.. Sadly I understand those things perfectly there are so many examples.

[mirfir]

As long as there are baby markets and rich white folks are willing to pay for stolen babies., THERE WILL BE INT'L ADOPTION. STRIPPING A CHILD OF THEIR HERITAGE AND NATION IS WRONG. 

[basracer]

@mirfir so as diverse as the cultures are here in america and as we keep so much of what we bring from every other country inside us and share the mix of so many special traits , what is it that a child coming here to america and being raised in this melting pot wont he recieve that Guatamala will give him ? What part of your growing up didnt make you decide who you want to be with all your growing up rebellious choices your parents let you make as you moved into adulthood ?

[basracer]

Respond to this video... sounds like you would rather see ruined lives for as long as makes YOU happy at how it makes YOU feel. During this huge transition, dont expect everyone to have it their way. If rich or poor adoptive parents recieve these children, I doubt very few of them would go through all this if it werent the fact they wanted to give an UNWANTED CHILD love and a chance at life , what is your chance for them ? How long will you want them to wait Till your Happy ???? 

[littlemas2]

Yes of course i understand now. A bureaucrat of some government must be part of the decision or it cannot be the right decision. Private organizations are always evil, and government is always good.

[EuphrasieF]

@littlemas2

How do you propose to handle adoption with zero state involvement, not even family court judges? What do you think the procedures should be?

[littlemas2]

Some of my best friends have an adopted Guatemalan Child, and he is one of my 6 years old son's best friends. He is a great kids with very loving parents, and his family's influence help my wife and I decide to adopt our daughter.

[holidayhouse03]

for the children there is hope...for the government there is no hope

truer words have rarely been spoken

[gilmichelini]

Thanks UNICEF, I hope you all sleep well at night. (5,000 orphans X 4 years) - 35 adopted in Guatemala = ~ 19,965 children growing up in government run orphanages that could have been growing up in loving homes. I love a lump of yack dung for your Halloween campaign!

[HandMeThatHammer]

Look at @return135 youtube page, if you want to see some good old fashion RACISM! Feel free to leave him a comment, and tell him what you think.

[chevydriver1123]

@HandMeThatHammer He sounds like another Pat Buchanan parrot to me. What business is of it of anyone if a couple wants to adopt a child from abroad? The answer is no one.

[rockinandout]

I buy amurican.

[return135]

All the responses to my comment are terrible! And to those who thumbed up their comments, you are all fools!

[ldaly550]

@return135 and that you still don't get it...

[HandMeThatHammer]

@return135 You truly are an idiot!

[rapf777]

@return135 EMOTIONAL GARBAGE????? Have you tried to adopt from America??? There is A LOT more red tape here and adoptions take longer and all with the risk of a birth parent coming back for the child after bonding with the child. The law SUCKs for us adoptive parents here in America!!! We have more rights in a "third world" adoption!!!! I pray that someone in your family does not rely on you for support of their adoption if one goes through!!! GOD BLESS!!! GUATEMALA RULES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[EuphrasieF]

@rapf777

The reason it's harder to adopt from America is because fewer children are placed for adoption. Women who, in the 1950s and 1960s would have given up their children for adoption are, more often, choosing to get abortions or raise their children. Red tape is not the issue.

And as far as U.S. laws go - Do you know that some foreign nationals (Hugh Jackman, for example) adopt children from America because our laws are more favorable to adoptive parents than laws in some other countries?

[FightBadIdeas]

That bureaucrat disgusts me. How can the guy treat the children first and foremost as a means to preserve the country's culture, instead of real people whose best shot at a better life he is throwing away? It is so stupid...

And then he talks about the bad reputation the country had for "exporting" children?! How about a reputation for having kids they don't intend to raise and trowing them in the garbage in the first place? That seems to be the real problem.

[starrychloe]

Needs editing to reduce video time to the salient points. Still don't know the answer after 4m.

[jembeai]

perhaps the greatest ending line I've ever heard. Madre Ines is my new hero(ine)!

[XCritonX]

I always though UNICEF was a bunch of scum bags just like any other UN organization. Turns out I an right.

[tsummerlee]

So, UNICEF is just a shill outfit for cultural relativism. That figures. Tell you whan, though, I love that nun. I think I'll send her a few bucks. Others should do the same.

[hoosierhiver]

Adoption in the States can take years instead of months, there is also alot more red tape and they typically won't let single parents adopt. That's why many go for overseas kids.

[ardana1973]

I will never support or donate to UNICEF again.

[scbumgarner]

@Timasion Sometimes you can't always adopt the children in America first. There are issues. Personally, I don't want a birth mother to change her mind after I've already bonded with a child. International adoption allows the security of knowing your child is yours. I am not a bad person for not wanting to "adopt local."

[EuphrasieF]

@scbumgarner

1) Birth mothers don't have unlimited time to change their minds. It varies from state to state.

2) When you talk about not wanting to deal with birth parents... what are you going to say to the child down the road if/when they become interested in knowing their family, as is the case with a substantial portion of adoptees?

Honestly, unless the bioparents have exceptional issues, like a felony record, I don't sympathize with wanting to cut off all contact with them.

[Timasion]

I don't mean this in a bad way, but there are literally thousands of children in the US available for adoption. Lets look to those children first.

[hoosierhiver]

@Timasion why?

[Timasion]

@hoosierhiver Because we need to take care of our local people? I'm not against helping other nations, but lets make sure we have the mess in the US cleaned up (and this is for citizens of the US; if you're a citizen of another nation, I have no problems with you taking care of your nation's children first either).

[CristiansHelpingHand]

@Timasion We have been trying, unsuccessfully, to adopt in the U.S. for over five years. Our Guatemalan adoption came through within 11 months. Here, there is so much red tape!!

[Timasion]

@CristiansHelpingHand That is truly unfortunate. My sister adopted two boys in the US and I remember the trouble she went through.

That's a criticism of our own system.

[blondecrazygaijin]

Devastating video..! Bravo..! And yet, so sad. God bless u.

[jimisback]

Hell, it is easier than trying to adopt here. Why is it so hard to adopt HERE IN AMERICA???? My wife and I are childless. We are middleclass and could not afford the money to adopt. Thru years of trying. Even other race adopting was frowned on. America needs to fix this. I wish a president would ADOPT this as a cause.

[Lurker1979]

I think these international laws from UNICEF has to do with the UNs zero population policy. Better to have the kid die young then put a burden on the environment. This such sham.

[vonPeterhof]

An English-speaking Russian Orthodox nun from Guatemala? Now I've seen everything.

[Blackhalo325]

My wife and I wanted to adopt a girl from Afghanistan and/or Iraq. I was an infantryman who deployed to both countries and saw the awful conditions for girls in particular there and wanted to raise a girl here to give her a family and a better life. Unfortunately, the laws there aren't conducive to international adoption.  So many children could have better lives in this world.

[baribrad]

Powerful stuff. Another well-done and informative video from Reason. Thank you for bringing these issues to light.

[DuaneEH]

Believing that what children MIGHT be taught about their heritage at some point in the future is MORE important than increasing the odds they will grow up in a loving family is insane. Believing that a child growing up in an orphanage retains more dignity than a child growing up in a loving home is insane.

If that's what UNICEF promotes, then they must be insane.

[humanhiveanomaly]

"For the government there is no hope" The story of every walk of productive life.

[ProjectFreeSelf]

Please don't add a soundtrack to these videos. It's awful and terribly distracting, especially the abrupt endings and beginnings. Please, just let the report stand for itself.

[sensibuddz]

perfect ending

[zz773]

The whole problem is that abortion is very restricted in Guatemala and birth control is also looked down upon too.

What's the solution?

Completely legalize abortion upon request.

[return135]

Yes, we need more third world immigrants! That's exactly what America and other Western nations need... It's not America's responsibility to save everyone, especially if saving others hurts America as a whole.

This video is emotional garbage.

[shamgar001]

@return135 But if Americans want to adopt a child from Guatemala who needs a family, why should UNICEF and the Guatemalan government be allowed to prevent that?

You completely missed the point of this video.

[return135]

@shamgar001 The premise to the video was that people should be allowed to adopt international children from around the world. I disagree with that.

[richardcadbury]

@return135 WTF?? An adopted child is no more a 3rd world immigrant than a natural born American. 1) They're coming into existence as Americans at the request of an American couple 2) They're growing up in America, being raised as Americans.

They aren't being saved by America, but by American couples, *on their own dime*. How does an American, raised from childhood as such, "HARM AMERICA"??? How???

[rascaltaliban]

@richardcadbury the problem is unicef is just an evil tool....................wake up we are 7 billion ; )

[richardcadbury]

@return135 (If you won't provide an answer, then it is the place of others to speculate - perhaps you object because they speak Spanish and have dark skin?)

[TheDeltatide]

@return135 This is about individuals being able to adopt the children they want to and how it is being prohibited. Has nothing to do with us "taking care of the world". It is about a few families who wish to adopt from Guatemala, for whatever reason (maybe thy are Guatemalan, doesn't matter), and cannot.

[CristiansHelpingHand]

@return135 We have been tryign to adopt from the U.S. for over five years! There is so much red tape it is unreal! Our lives and budget have been turned upside down and still no child. In the meantime, we adopted a beautiful son from Guatemala in 11 months. You may call it "emotional garbage" because you are NOT an orphan needing a home!

[zzzzzz522002]

@return135

Your home should be occupied by people like wallstreet

[richardcadbury]

Adoption should be as easy as abortion.

[elricmlbone]

What a surprise? NWO has unintended consequences. Imagine that?

[Theskybluelake]

Every Halloween, if you have children at your door asking for money to donate for UNICEF, just give them candy instead... Boycott UNICEF !!!

[AtibbsSPARTAN]

God Bless these charities and the people trying to help THE CHILDREN

[zassounotsukushi]

oh god, that's terrible.