Sitting here today I can’t help but think of the future of Guatemalan adoptions. What will be happening one year from now?

At this point, most of us involved in Guatemalan adoptions are tremendously relieved that adoptions in process will be grandfathered. Fear that they wouldn’t kept many people awake at night, but Guatemala obviously came under pressure from the US and is going to do the right thing and let those adoptions being completed.

However I cannot help but feel helpless and a bit hopeless about the future. A new Central Authority will be in charge of adoptions. This new Central Authority, comprised of one representative from the Supreme Court, one from Social Welfare,... more

I had hoped to have all the information about the changes in the Guatemalan adoption laws by now, but the Guatemalan government has not been forthcoming. I do have some partial information; please remember that this information is not official.

The adoption agency I used has provided the following information on the status of adoptions in Guatemala.

1. All pending adoptions that have a power of attorney dated before December 31, 2007 and are registered with the new Guatemalan Central Authority within 30 days after the new law goes into effect, will... more

Ella is terrified of doctors. She is also terrified of buildings that look like they may contain doctor’s offices, and walking into any office can be a nightmare. A trip to my accountant induces a meltdown!

Today we spent four hours in the car getting Ella to a pediatric ENT to have her ears checked. We were no longer impressed with our local ENT’s short, mumbled responses to our questions, and less than impressive treatment options. “Tubes again,” is about all we can get out of him.

I was expecting Ella to start screaming the instant we got out of the car... more

This year many children being adopted from Guatemala are coming home older than they have been in the last couple years. Although anyone getting to bring their child home is initially just plain grateful that the adoption is completed during these turbulent times, it is good to be aware of challenges that come with an older child.

The older the child, the more traumatic the adoption will be. Crying, tantrums, eating and sleeping issues are common responses to this huge change in their life. Some children may refuse to be held or touched by one parent or the other and seem inconsolable.

This is heartbreaking for new parents, but it is generally temporary until your child learns... more

In Central America, gangs are a serious problem. Wherever they are found, violence, murder, extortion and intimidation are prevalent. In Guatemala, government forces and citizen vigilante groups are trying to crack down on these gangs, their members easily recognizable by their tattoos, baggy pants and tank tops. With over 100,000 gang members throughout Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua, enforcing strict anti-gang policies is becoming increasingly common.

Two... more

If you’d like to read an interesting and introspective blog, let me send you to one written by a Guatemalan adoptee, who recently adopted from Guatemala herself. One could say that she has a double perspective on adoption. She is also refreshingly positive and comfortable in her role as adopted daughter and adoptive mother.

However, like many of us out there, Meredith is not comfortable with the some of the adoptee rhetoric she hears.

“One thing that is making me sad is that I've seen so many adult adoptees who have written about how adoption is, in... more

Elizabeth Larsen, author of "Did I Steal My Daughter - the tribulations of global adoption" has written a new article in “Mother Jones” called "International Adoption - It's a One-Way Dialogue." Amongst other things, she bemoans the fact that “there are viewpoints that aren't given a lot of real estate, most notably the perspectives of people—adoptees, birth families, adoptive parents—who are deeply critical of adoption.”

Well, I’d like to point out that she failed to mention the viewpoints that are never heard; the children in Guatemala who will... more

Today I came to the realization that the terrible twos are a dress rehearsal for adolescence. The temper tantrums, picky appetite, mood swings and love-hate relationship with everything are none other than previews for the “big one,” when our wonderful children become rebellious adolescents.

So I’m digging around in my rather empty memory bank for some of the skills I mastered getting through adolescence with my three boys. Patience, a sense of humor and not taking anything too personally were always good choices, but alas, it appears that girls are much different than boys. There is often such intensity in their responses!

For example, when my boys didn’t want to eat something,... more

This day will no doubt go down in Guatemalan history as the day the Adoption Law was passed, and the Guatemalan adoption process changed forever. The law is scheduled to be implemented on December 31st, 2007

The new Central Authority will be called the Consejo Nacional de Adopciones (CNA), and its directors will include one representative from the Supreme Court, The Social Welfare, and The Foreign Affairs Ministry. They have two weeks to choose a representative and sixty days to write regulations.

Adoptions in process have to be registered within thirty days of the law going into effect; how exactly this will be done is still a huge unknown. At what stage the adoption is grandfathered... more

Our family in the adoption process is not close enough to pick up time for us to let out a sigh of relief, but nonetheless there was progress in their adoption since my last blog. Although the final vote on the new adoption legislation has not taken place, it is not looking too encouraging for families still in process, but I can promise you that this family will not give up or despait.

Now let’s find out what is new!

1. It has been over two weeks since the last time... more