Vietnam & Guatemala Adoptions Shut Down

Stories like this aren’t what you want to hear when you’re about to adopt. Both Vietnam and Guatemala have halted all foreign adoptions (though the U.S. stopped Guatemala adoptions after April 1, so it’s not clear how new this news is). Ouch. It’s an effort to make sure children aren’t being stolen and mothers aren’t being coerced. It’s a good thing, but tell that to an adoptive parent who’s been waiting for over a year and has a picture of their referred child on their fridge, just waiting to bring the kid home.

Whenever people freak out at the incredible high cost of adoption, this is one of the reasons I point to. Making sure everything is above board and free from corruption is expensive. Putting protective layers of bureaucracy in place is never cheap.

This is also why we picked Ethiopia. The orphanage our child will come from was set up by our agency, an organization with more than 100 years of adoption experience around the world. They know what they’re doing, and the result is a top notch facility. There’s nothing shady going on in the back corner.

And by the way, we’re up to #38.

5 thoughts on “Vietnam & Guatemala Adoptions Shut Down”

  1. My husband and I are currently living in Guatemala overseeing our adoptions and the extreme illegal and Human Rights Violations occurring daily in order to unveil corruption, much of where it does not exist. Hundreds of women, mostly poor and uneducated are being forced into frightening coercive interviews with government officials and denied the presence of their attorneys. Many women emerge confused and brow-beaten and some without child. The PGN is seizing some children for reasons as flimsy as typographical errors in their paperwork. When are we going to open our eyes and see this for the witch-hunt and quota filling agenda that it is. After interviewing only 150 mothers, the PGN had the audacity to state it expects to find 10% of the cases to be corrupt or suspect. They also stated that they will put these children (against the will of their birth mothers) into a state home and at some point make them eligible for adoptions through the new Guatemalan adoption system (CNA) The original adoptive parents who have loved, fought, and financed this child for the last 6 months to 2 years will not be given priority. These U.S. cases signed before January 1, 2008 are supposed to be protected under the old grandfathered laws. These women are supposed to be protected under basic human rights. When is someone going to print this side of the story and come to our aid. If you want to seek out corruption, then seek out corruption! Allow the legal, consensual adoptions to proceed and finalize as promised…harassment and bribery and coercion in the 11th hour was not part of the deal! There are hundreds of children who have been abandoned since January 1 who are suffering and need assistance from the CNA. Why is there so much focus to scrutinize legal cases when their resources could be used to start a new system to serve the children of Guatemala who do not have families to care for them. This is a political agenda and nothing more! The welfare of the children and the birth mothers does not even make the list!

  2. Children in Guatemala are being stolen, forcefully separted from their natural parents. Who’s pain is worse that of a parent being separated from his/her blood child or that of a could be adoptive parent?
    What is the message you are trying to convey? that US could be adoptive parents situations are more important than Guatemala or Vietnam rightful parents?

  3. It’s time to ban ALL foreign adoptions… there is no need of them, since there are so many kids that need adopting right here in the USA!

    Angelina Jolie and Madonna are doing the world no favors by bringing kids back to America with them. I’d be more impressed if these people would adopt American kids, or kids seized from abusive families, or from smokers.

  4. Adopting from smokers? What are you talking about?

    And there’s plenty of need for foreign and domestic adoptions. Foreign adoptions got started because domestic adoption couldn’t happen for whatever reason.

    And it seems like interest in adoption–seeing kids who need families getting them–goes well beyond any nationalistic interest. This is about humanity, not the USA.

  5. When there are 12 million children on one continent who are orphans then there is a need for international adoption. Just as there is a need for domestic adoption and foster care.

    All children deserve to have a home and a family.

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