According to Guatemalan newspapers, members of the Guatemalan Congress have come up with some new legislation for the adoption process in Guatemala. This legislation could be voted on as early as next week.

Apparently this legislation calls for pushing back the implementation of the Hague Convention to April to coincide with the estimated time that the US will implement the Hague. In addition, one Guatemalan newspaper claimed that the legislation called for an April date for the implementation of the Ortega Law.

Other items in the new legislation were: a strong grandfather clause, 5 million quetzals to create a Central Authority to monitor and process adoptions, a new government entity to function as the Central Authority, creating a budget for child welfare services, and continuing to allow single PAPs (Prospective Adopting Parents) to apply to adopt. There are other items as well and you can read them here.

Obviously the Guatemalan Congress is feeling the pressure from the US government, who in turn have been getting tremendous pressure from pro-Guatemalan adoption advocates. So much can happen to this proposed legislation that we definitely need to be cautiously optimistic, but isn’t it nice to feel optimistic for a change?

Just to give you some idea of the effect of the lobbying we’ve been doing over the last month or so, the JCICS reported that:

“Through our collective efforts, the Guatemala 5000 Initiative has resulted in 203 Members of the United States Congress supporting the completion of all in-process adoptions via their signature on letters being sent today, October 31, 2007 to Guatemalan President Oscar Berger, UNICEF Executive Director Ann Veneman and UNICEF Guatemala Director Manuel Manrique. The 203 Senators and Representatives represent the largest number in the 22 year history of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption and the first time the Coalition has addressed UNICEF.”

However, we need to remember that ultimately the Guatemalan Congress will decide what direction to take with adoptions. The stigma of a country “exporting babies” is not one that sits well with the people of Guatemala. But if egos are put aside, the welfare of the children of Guatemala should be the main consideration in any legislation, and guide the Congress in making challenging decisions in such a conflict saturated subject as adoption.

Kudos to the co-chairs of the (US)Congressional Coalition on Adoption, Senators Norm Coleman and Mary Landrieu who are strong advocates of domestic and international adoption and adoptees' rights. On October 31st, they sent two separate letters – one to Oscar Berger and one to UNICEF, encouraging these entities to grandfather adoption cases that were begun before January 1st. To read more about these letters, click here.

photo credit