Guatemala Adoption

While not directly related to Guatemalan adoption issues, it's of note to mention that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton visited (and subsequently addressed) the Guatemalan Embassy staff and their families on March 5, 2010, as released on the U.S. Department of State's website. Citing this as her third visit, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton states she was pleased to "meet not only with President Colom and officials of the Government of Guatemala, but also presidents, prime ministers, and other representatives of the countries in the region who came for this important meeting." She continues: I am well aware that Guatemala is a country with great potential, but also with one – one that… [more]

Up until this past November, Beauty had a speech therapist coming to the house each week to help her advance her language skills. It made a world of difference, but our move in late November derailed that progress a bit. Paperwork was lost, and information misguided. Beauty was "on the list" for a reevaluation, but missing all the past reports of her speech therapist seemed to keep pushing us back farther and farther. Last week, we were assigned to a new branch of Child and Family Connections (CFC) and we've already had a partial reevaluation, which I detailed a bit here. For whatever reason, though, they did not book us an evaluation with a physical therapist (scheduling… [more]

Guatemala 900 recently linked a very interesting article entitled International Adoption: Unicef's and Other Critics' War Against International Adoption. While it discusses international adoption as a whole, the Guatemala adoption program (generally speaking) is cited specifically in greater detail. The article makes some fairly strong claims, as shown here: UNICEF’s tough and effective pressure tactics and  lobbying efforts towards developing nations calling for ratification of the Hague Treaty for the Protection of Children and implementation of adoption law and policy models which effectively serve to close programs completely or almost completely to foreign adopters belies a misguided, unrealistic and out of touch policy contrary to the best interests of hundreds of thousands of legitimately orphaned and abandoned children around the world. The… [more]

It's been almost a month since I last blogged here (in the Guatemala blog, that is), and a lot has happened in that time! Bear became a big brother once again, and now...Beauty is no longer the baby. She is a brand new big sister, and (mostly) excited and proud of said role. We've had lots of interesting conversations around here lately. Beauty can't always vocalize what she's thinking as a result of some of her developmental delays, but her comprehension is excellent. Earlier today, Beauty and Bear had the following exchange: Beauty: New baby? Bear: Yup, her name is Bella. Beauty: Ohhhh, new Bella. Guatemala? Bear: Nope, she wasn't born in Guatemala. Beauty: Babies from Guatemala. Bear: But not Bella. Beauty: Babies from Guatemala. Bear: Nuh-uh… [more]

I've been dreaming of travel as of late. Maybe it's a touch of wanderlust, or maybe it's the cold, dreary Chicago weather that has me longing for sunshine and warmth. While I'll never refuse a trip to Jamaica and while I'd love to take the kids to see a certain big-name rodent, my thoughts have been wandering toward Central America. I've been longing to visit Guatemala. In part, I think this stems from the fact that I have never been; we weren't able to take a visit trip and I was not able to travel for Beauty's homecoming. I would love so much to go, to soak in the sights and sounds of a country I love as deeply as… [more]

The statuses of both past and present (i.e., still in process) Guatemalan adoptions have made the headlines more than once or twice over the past few years. Most of the highly publicized information relates tales of scandal and scam, of heartbreak and broken homes. Recently, Guatemala 900 linked to an incredibly interesting article authored by John Stossel (co-anchor of ABC News 20/20) entitled USA Makes Adoption Harder. And for once, the article isn't toiling over how Guatemalan adoptions are corrupt; instead, it's offering a different perspective. Stossel explores The State Department's belief in a required central authority to oversee adoptions as it relates to Guatemala; he states: Last December, the U.S. consul even butted his way into the Guatemalan… [more]

I'm signed up for the mailing lists for many 'big name" adoption agencies. To be honest, in part it's just my sheer nosiness. I like to be "in the know" of what's being said by the agencies regarding any number of programs being offered. Recently, I received an email from an agency located in the U.S. stating the following claim, "Guatemala Adoption Program coming soon!" Uh, no. Actually, that's completely incorrect. At this time, there are no solid plans to resume Guatemalan adoptions in the U.S. whatsoever. Actually, at this time, the countries have yet to be selected for the pilot program when adoptions do reopen on a limited basis. This troubles me immensely. I sent a rather innocent and… [more]

In my previous Guatemala blog, I wrote about the question of whether to learn Spanish (or your child's native language) prior to completing his or her adoption. This blog is an offshoot of that topic; should you raise your adopted child to be fluently bilingual? If you have at least one bi- or multi-lingual member of your immediate family, this decision might be an easy one to say the least. But what if your family looks something like mine: we speak English exclusively. We both know a bit of Spanish, but not enough to carry a full conversation at a normal pace. And sure, Dora the Explorer (coincidentally, Beauty's very favorite show) has helped me brush up my… [more]

Once we decided to adopt from Guatemala, we made the decision to learn Spanish so we could better communicate with our daughter and everyone we would encounter on our homecoming trip. We had every intention of purchasing a big-name program and learning the language accordingly. We both had grandiose plans of "wowing" our friends and family, our daughter's foster mom, and everyone we encountered in Guatemala. Do you see where this is going? Enter December 2007, while my husband frantically packed for Beauty's homecoming trip and I paced around equally as frantic. So go ahead and ask the infamous question: how much Spanish did he (or I, for that matter) have under his belt before hopping a plane to Guatemala? The… [more]

This being my final post of the year, I wanted to include several noteworthy elements about Guatemala and Guatemalan adoptions. First and foremost, The Office of Children's Issues, US Department of State recently released an update on adoptions in Guatemala. It's important to note that there is absolutely no information confirming any plans to reopen Guatemalan adoptions to the United States. I can't stress this enough! If you follow information about Guatemalan adoptions at other locations on the web, you might have noticed the rumor mill is heavy with predictions that the US will be processing new adoptions by the end of 2010. This is not and has not been confirmed anywhere. It is strictly hearsay. Until otherwise… [more]