As Susana Luarca reported in her last update on ADA, the registration forms for in-process adoptions have changed; here is a copy to view.

This must be driving the attorneys crazy and that may actually be the motivation behind the changes. Adopting parents who were told that they were registered will now be waiting to hear if the have been “re-registered.” When will this chaos end?

The DOS (Department of State) released this statement... more

Parents with Guatemalan born children are often confronted with skin problems that they are unfamiliar with. I’ve blogged about this in the past, but I’m a little more knowledgeable now that Ella and I have paid several visits to the dermatologist.

If your child has white patches on their skin, chances are they have pityriasis alba, a form of eczema. It initially presents as a patch of raised bumps, often quite small in diameter that eventually becomes red and rash like. After the rash disappears, the pigment in the skin also disappears and what is left is a white spot.

There... more

Susana Luarca’s latest blog has caused panic in the Guatemalan adoption community. According to her, the new registration process with the Central Authority is just not taking place.

In my last blog, I reported that registration was underway, and a friend reported to me that her agency confirmed that her daughter’s case had been registered with the new Central Authority.

However, according to Susana, who is usually pretty accurate, the registration forms are being changed weekly, the Central Authority adding more required information all the time. The latest requirement for the forms is a photo of the... more

I’m constantly searching for more information on the registration process for in-process adoptions. This is what I have found to date.

The lawyer handling your adoption must complete the paperwork (a copy of which you can see here) and then submit it to the new Central Authority. In addition to details about the adoption case, these forms require the finger and footprints of the child to be adopted. Apparently a lot of the information on these forms relates to the Power of Attorney (POA) document. Perhaps this is an indication that the POA will be the requirement to be grandfathered in under the... more

Fully prepared to be infuriated by yet another attack on Guatemalan adoptions, I was surprised to find that Dateline NBC did a fairly decent piece on the problems that existed in the now defunct adoption system in Guatemala.

Yes, they highlighted the bad and ugly. The facilitator by the name Thanasis is what I consider the scum of the earth; a person whose greed for money overrides any moral and ethical behavior on his part. The children, such as Angie and her two sisters who were victims of his plots, are physically and/or emotionally scarred for life, and their parents left to grieve for children they had no intention of giving up for adoption. The prospective adopting parents... more

One week away from my computer and much has been going on in Guatemala. The new president, Alvaro Colom has already replaced three members of the new Central Authority. Rumors are rampant on the reasons for these changes; such as the members replaced might not have been objective enough.

I don’t doubt that there are also politics involved; after all, most newly elected officials want “their” people in important positions of power. What concerns me is that we still don’t have a stable committee doing what they were appointed to do. Hopefully they will now be able to get down to the serious task of registering the in-process adoptions so they can be completed. There is no need to keep... more

Dateline NBC has set up a website in preparation for their show on Guatemalan adoptions airing Sunday, January 20th, at 7 pm (ET). On this webpage you can enter a photo or video and share your family’s adoption story with the possibility of it being shown on Dateline. Personally I will not be sending anything in as I’m more than wary of the context it could be put in.

An article by NBC correspondent Victoria Corderi "graces" the front page of the webpage. One sentence in the first paragraph immediately angered me. “The market is driven by the demand for adoptions from prospective parents... more

Elizabeth Larsen's latest article on Guatemalan adoption issues raises several points that I would like to address. First and foremost I would like to say that given the climate surrounding Guatemalan adoptions right now, and the fact that thousands of families and children are not being united because their adoptions are not being processed, if, like Elizabeth Larsen, I was asked the question "what will we tell our children" by two adoption researchers I would tell them that right now I’m focusing on the children that are stuck in limbo. There is something smug, self-centered... more

Alvaro Colom will take over the reigns from Oscar Berger today and lead Guatemala for the next four years. An industrial engineer and one time vice minister of economy, he will hopefully be the president who creates a new political climate where the welfare of all the people will be of concern to the President, and not just the fortunate few.

The country needs a strong, but compassionate leader to bring them out of the years of corruption, poverty and crime. As his vice-president Dr. Rafael Espada (a world renowned cardio-thoracic surgeon) says: "Guatemala is sick, very sick, in intensive care."... more

Last night the members of the new Central Authority for adoption were sworn in. This council, technically known as the “National Council for Adoptions"(CAN) is composed of: Anabella Morfin from the Foreign Ministry, Nery Soto Ovalle from the Supreme Court, and Mynor Rabanales of the Social Welfare Department. Lawyers will no longer have any part in the adoption process.

Apparently there are already 2000 cases waiting for the council’s action and some 800 in PGN. I’m not sure just how accurate this number is, but this is what was reported.

I would consider this a positive step in the direction of getting a new adoption committee up and running, and hopefully enable a registration... more