We Need Your Help!

For anyone visiting this blog for the first time, here's a brief overview of our story. My husband Greg and I battled 6 long years of infertility and finally at the end of last year decided to pursue an adoption. We found a reputable agency and decided to apply to their domestic program and their Guatemala program. In May we were matched with a woman in Connecticut who was looking to place her son for adoption. Two days after the baby was born and an hour before we were supposed to pick him up she changed her mind. It was a very difficult time, and we poured our energy into completing our dossier for Guatemala as we had set that aside due to the domestic match. We were referred a beautiful baby girl, named Ana, on August 6th and have planned to visit her in 6 days! We are now being told that any cases still in process at the first of the year will not continue to be processed. According to current time lines, we most definitely will be one of the still in process cases. As you can imagine, this is a very scary time for us and for thousands of families in the US in the same situation.

I have gone around and around trying to write concisely and clearly an overview of the issues surrounding this crisis. I feel so brain dead, I haven't found the words to explain it all well. I have thus decided to take the "big picture" explanation directly from the Joint Council on International Children's Services (JCICS) website (www.jcics.org):

Guatemalan President Oscar Berger has announced plans to effectively stop all adoptions into the United States including those children who have already been referred to adoptive parents. There will be no 'grandfathering' of adoptions already in process.

Over 5,000 children have been referred

The birthparents for these children have already relinquished their parental rights. As a result, they currently have no family and the Berger suspension will result in these children having no prospect for a permanent, safe and loving family

The government of Guatemala currently does not have the finances or facilities to even provide housing for these 5,000 children. If children referred to families are not allowed to be adopted, they will languish in institutions or foster care.

The Berger plan is a crisis waiting to happen

Where to get more information:
www.guatadopt.com - a fantastic resource on all the issues surrounding adoptions from Guatemala

What you can do:

Please go to these links and read these online petitions:
Guatemala Adoption and DOS Accountability
Media Coverage of Intercountry Adoption

The Call to Action:
The Guatemala 5000 Initiative (This is the big one, please read!)


Additionally, a little information about UNICEF. Always in the best interest of children? Not really...
Families Without Borders
"Dear..." - a letter outlining UNICEF's position on inter country adoption