If you read my last blog early this morning, you might want to reread it as it has been fine tuned and edited. My friend and fellow blogger Sandra and another friend and fellow adoptive parent Julie, were kind enough to point out a few, shall we say, type errors and inaccuracies. This is the result of blogging late at night (actually it was early morning), my spell check wouldn't work, and I couldn't get it to work probably because I wasn't as clear headed as I am during daylight hours.... more

For two days I did not have the time to blog or even read the news due to being away at a family wedding in Las Vegas. This morning after seven good hours of sleep (we arrived home at 2:30 AM) I quickly turned on my laptop before "Sleeping Beauty," aka Ella Paola, awoke from slumber land. I was eager to see any good news about Guatemalan adoptions, including the eagerly awaited announcement from Guatemalan President, Oscar Berger in which he would formally declare his support for the amendment to the Ortega Bill that would have all "in process adoptions" (abandonments and relinquishments) officially and legally grandfathered in before the Hague Treaty on International Adoptions takes effect.

It... more

It is 10:45 AM and I’m sitting here wishing I was blogging about Guatemalan President Oscar Berger’s press release. Apparently today is the day he is going to officially announce his stand on in process adoption cases and clarify some of the cloudier issues I’ve been discussing.

Whether or not Senor Berger decides to endorse the grandfathering amendment to the Ortega Clause which should be voted on after the elections in early November is not life or death to the amendment, but it is very important to many of us in the adoption world. Senor Berger and his wife Wendy have not... more

A few days ago I blogged about a rumor that Oscar Berger would support grandfathering cases in the system before the Hague is implemented. No official announcement has been made to date, but according to the JCICS (Joint Council on International Children’s Services) we can anticipate one on October 19th. Guatadopt reported today that “President Berger publicly... more

In yesterday’s blog, I reported that apparently Oscar Berger had decided to support the amendment to the Ortega Bill that would grandfather adoptions in process. Although this bill still has to pass congress, it was a decent thing for the president to do, especially in light of the horrific article his vice president wrote claiming that some children are adopted for their organs. I’ve yet... more

Photo: Oscar Berger and friend (Google Images)

I can’t reveal my sources, but today I heard that the president of Guatemala, Oscar Berger, has finally agreed to support an amendment to the recently approved adoption law allowing in process adoptions to continue under the current laws. If this is indeed fact and not fiction, hurrah and it is about time! As I’ve mentioned in several previous blogs, this amendment should be voted on after the November elections. Let me insert a caveat: governments are predictably unpredictable and it could be later or perhaps even... more

Recently I’ve seen several posts on web groups questioning the effect and effectiveness of signing petitions and writing letters protesting some of the harmful changes in the Guatemalan adoption process.

We need only look at the progress made in the last couple weeks to answer this question. The US Department of State has already posted a revised statement supporting grandfathering all adoptions in process before the Hague is implemented in Guatemala.

UNICEF Guatemala has almost come out with... more

The vice president of Guatemala, Eduardo Stein, wrote a scathing anti-adoption article for prensa libre. In it among other things he says that adopted children are "stolen" for their organs. This “organ stealing” theory was started years ago during the Civil War, when army personnel took away orphaned children, supposedly to orphanages. The indigenous population was told that the orphaned children were then sold for their organs. They are still being told by anti-adoption groups that this is the case. As chronic victims of racism, they often find... more

Apparently UNICEF Guatemala has seen the light and decided to support the grandfather clause in the Ortega Bill. Now we need UNICEF NY to publicly support the completion of Guatemalan adoptions currently in process. Apparently this is where our focus should be. So send your emails to Ann Veneman, the Executive Director of UNICEF, NY aveneman@unicef.org.

The JCICS has translated the amendment to Bill #3217 (Ortega Bill). It will be reviewed... more

Last week we saw the passing of the Ortega Law, a law that is so anti-adoption that it threatens to stop adoptions all together. Since then, rumors of important amendments to this law are rampant.

According to the JCICS (Joint Council on International Children’s Services), a grandfather clause was drafted by the Children’s Committee. However, amendments will probably not be voted on until after the November elections.

The JCICS also reported on October 5th, 2007 that the Hague Permanent... more