Possibly more abuse of Guatemalan women in the future

I agree, juan3, but the situation is complicated as you probably realize.

The problem is that Guatemala has no controls on the adoption process, and it has gotten way out of control with a profit motive. Part of the reason is that US adoptive parents seem particularly attracted to Guatemalan and Chinese children, so the demand has in recent years led to an adoption craze in Guatemala. I have been in the hotels with the visiting adoptive parents and their children, doing the requisite regular visits leading up to the final adoption.

I've seen the Mayan mothers sitting in the hotel lobbies with lawyers and adoption industry people, and social workers, in a daze as they give up their children. My heart breaks because I see it as a hemorrhaging of the Mayan culture. The same thing happened in the U.S. when Native American children were being adopted by whites and put in boarding schools, and forced to stop speaking their languages or honoring their culture. Not many of the adoptive parents will preserve their Mayan children's link to their heritage. I've seen how quickly the kids adapt to the North American western way. Let me add that I also acknowledge that when the child really needed a home, this is a beautiful thing that there are loving parents who will adopt them, so there is also joy when that is the case.

The adoption craze has led to rampant corruption, including child kidnapping, criminals forcing women to give up their babies, and women selling their babies because they are in fact extraordinarily poor. Others are most certainly victims of rape or abuse with babies they don't want. In the Mayan villages, the already existing rumors about foreigners wanting to steal their children for body parts or sale, are now compounded by the fact that it really seems to be happening in a new kind of black market. They are angry and terrified about it, and that has led to a number of "linchamentos" or lynchings, actually mob vigilante justice attacks.

So Guatemala needs to get a handle on it. That led to the U.S. proposal, which is really trying to diplomatically persuade Guatemala to establish laws and safeguards governing the adoption process. On the horizon are official DNA labs in Guatemala, which could be used to link mother to child as a proof of identity, hence the legal status to give up the child. There has been legislation proposed and battered about in the Guatemalan congress, and if I'm not mistaken, it was passed, but we shall see if it is implemented.

The fact is, Guatemala's legal and justice system is in such disarray that enforcing adoption law may not be high on the list in a country completely corrupted by organized crime, narcotrafficking cartels and extremely violent street gangs.

Like many things in Guatemala, this isn't a black/white, adoption vs. abortion issue. I think maybe there ought to be a moratorium on the adoption of Guatemalan babies into the U.S. as a way of putting pressure on Guatemala to keep addressing the issue. A new president will be elected in early November. If the "hard hand" candidate wins, he's promised to declare a state of emergency in the highest crime areas nationwide, and to put the military back in a full-time policing role (violating the 1996 peace accords). I'm not sure how he'd handle this adoption dilemma. If the center-left intellectual candidate wins, I'm not sure if he'll be strong enough to overcome the true power structure in Guatemala enough to make any real changes. The current president is a lame duck and many projects are being postponed for the next president, since none of them really want to spend any of the public monies on the actual public. Snark.

I'm glad you care about the needs of the Guatemalan women and children. Thanks.

Quetzalibre,

I find it hard to believe, but I agree with 95% of what you said.

You know more about the Mayan culture than I do. What is their reaction to family planning?

The poor GUatemalan women I have worked with have had limited choices if they were pregnant and could not afford to keep their baby. Most of these women have had no husbands or the husbands they have are alcoholic and do not work. THe entire burden of supporting the family falls upon the women's shoulders. THese women live in fear of getting pregnant, once again...it is a constant worry for many of them. THe morning after pill is not available in GUatemala and birth control pills and the patch are beyond the means of the poor.

So for them, only adoption for the child or "llegal" abortion remain as choices and both are used routinely here as "family planning" or rather family crisis resolution. An abortion is almost always done in conditions First World women would find appalling. THen when the woman has to have a D&C, she goes at that point to the Social Security hospital for care (IGSS).As the article cited by the OP states, mortality is an ever present possiblity. Until after the abortion, she has no access to organized medical care to deal with the issue of an untoward pregnancy. For her it is a terrible choice: abortion or adoption and some young women cannot deal with the shame of an unwanted pregnancy. Several young women I know who decide to have the baby anyway and keep it, live with their parents when the man disappears or is unable to support her and her new child. I have seen numerous young women's lives ruined here as a result of unplanned pregnancies. One I know was studying to be a veterinarian and another was the child of a poor family that sacrificed much to provide her with a colegio education in hopes she would help lead the family out of poverty. SHe was pregnant in her last year of school and had to drop out. The school did arrange for her to "graduate" but her dreams of university were dashed and there she sits in the little family tienda selling sodas and chips to the neighborhood children. SHe is unhappy and her family is heartbroken.

On and on I could go with case histories/family stories varying from tragedies down to wasted opportunities all because GUatemala has no viable options for family planning for the poor and culturally does not support family planning for the better off....this must change for GUatemala to progess as a nation, not to mention the happiness of individual families.

The number one need here in GUatemala is family planning: education of the young AND access to safe and reliable means of birth control. There are groups like WIngs in Antigua working on this but they are limited to educational efforts.

I actually know the midwife who was recently featured on the CNN broadcast about Guatemalan adoptions. I know that she assists women place children for adoption. It is so often a heart wrenching decision for women to give up a child and I have counseled with several years after they have adopted out their babies who fear that their child in the USA is being used for nefarious purposes.....the suspicion and fear makes them fear that their child is being mistreated etc.....so very sad. FOr them, it is never over, the worry and concern.

Altough adoption has become a lucrative bussiness, I am glad to when I see loving parents with a guatemalan baby in their arms, I know this child will have a better future, than a future that will expect him here, probably the streets or abused, because as latina alma says, the women that give their babies are usually very young and poor and see the baby as a burden, product of their lack of knowledge about birth control. I have seen guatemalans that were adopted by german families come back to search for their roots, they are curious about Guatemala, but they are mostly grateful to have been able to grow up in a deveolped country with the opportunities that it implies.

Birth rate among indigenous commuities is around 6 or 7 babies per woman. There are also each week abandoned babies in public hospitals