Abandoned in Guatemala: The Failure of International Adoption Policies

"If we shut down international adoptions, that's 5,000 kids a year whose lives we are ruining, whose lives could have been wonderful, and we're dooming them by shutting them into these institutions. So, to me, that's fundamental evil."

--Harvard law professor Elizabeth Bartholet

In 2007, Guatemala's privately run system of adoption attorneys, orphanages and foster care providers helped nearly 5,000 abandoned children find homes with loving families around the world. But then the Guatemalan government shut down international adoptions, created a centrally controlled adoption agency and nationalized the orphanage system. The plan was to promote in-country adoptions, but that plan hasn't worked. Last year, only 35 children were adopted by Guatemalan families.

Why did the Guatemalan government put an end to a system that was giving thousands of abandoned children a chance at a better life? And what did UNICEF have to do with it? Reason.tv producers Paul Feine and Alex Manning went to Guatemala to find out.

"Abandoned in Guatemala: The Failure of International Adoption Policies" is a film about the promise of international adoption and the sad reality that international adoptions around the world are decreasing, largely due to the influence of UNICEF. It's also a film about a privately run system that worked and a state-run system that is failing. Most of all, "Abandoned in Guatemala" is a film intended to raise awareness about international adoption in the hope that in the near future more abandoned children will be placed with loving families, wherever they happen to live.

Approximately 20 minutes.

Produced by Paul Feine and Alex Manning. Additional camera: Anthony Fisher. Graphics: Sharif Matar. Voice-over translations: Rin Palmer. Special thanks to Lissa Hanckel, Ana Isabel Maria-Gadala Centeno and Madre Ines. Music by Jason Shaw (audionautix.com) and Vate (www.vate.com.mx).

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Category:

News & Politics

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• libertarian
• guatemala
• adoptions
• international adoptions
• child smuggling
• UNICEF

[holidayhouse03]

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

truer words have rarely been spoken

[sniper6081]

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

[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.

[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?

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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

[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!