Illegal adoptions: Guatemala case study

In May 1998, Casa Alianza/Covenant House Latin America reported that it had been working with the Procurator General's Office for more than nine months to stop the marketing of Guatemalan babies through illegal adoptions. Casa Alianza also reported that, since September 1997, it had presented, in conjunction with the Procurator General's Office, 18 criminal cases of anomalies in international adoptions. In August 1998, Casa Alianza issued a press release concerning the first case against an illegal adoption that had been won. On 18 August 1998 the baby boy was returned to his home after the fourth Judge of the First Instance of Minors delivered him to his mother. Casa Alianza considers it urgent that new laws be implemented in order to control and regulate international adoptions and recommends the ratification by Guatemala of the 1993 Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption. Accordingly, before any international adoption takes place, the authorities should exhaust all possibilities of the child being adopted within its own country.

On 27 October 1998, Casa Alianza reported that it welcomed a decision, by the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) in Guatemala, to introduce compulsory DNA testing for all babies being adopted from Guatemala. Casa Alianza reported that the change came into affect on 1 October 1998, in order to "ensure public confidence in the international adoption process in Guatemala", according to a written statement from the Guatemalan Embassy. "DNA testing will be required for all birth mothers and orphan children in cases submitted for adjudication," according to the same release. Casa Alianza further reported that the American Embassy in Guatemala processes some 1000 international adoptions each year, around half of the total number of babies being adopted from the country. This latest decision comes after the U.S. Department of State recently confirmed that "the trafficking of babies is a serious problem in Guatemala", and is part of a package of measures being made by the Embassy's Immigration and Naturalization Service in order to reduce the number of fraudulent adoptions being made from the country. Previously the embassy only undertook DNA tests where they suspected a fraud had been committed. "The US is now following Canada's lead, which has required obligatory DNA testing for several years. Being the largest market for Guatemalan babies, we are pleased that the United States has taken this important step," commented Bruce Harris, the Regional Director of

Casa Alianza.

Casa Alianza/Covenant House Latin America

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