New Requirements For PGN


According to the Center for Adoption Policy and the newspaper Prensa Libre, there will be some additional requirements in PGN, effective May 2nd.

“Prensa Libre reports that in accordance with the Manual of Good Practice a new "Adoption Registrar" will be established on May 2. Every adoption will require filings with this office disclosing information about the biological and potential adoptive parents. The article states that the purpose of the new office is to make adoption in Guatemala legal, open and transparent.”

There are 42 new lines of required information now needed, such as:

- date of birth
- current photos of the child
- name of child
- birth place
- hospital address
-Folio# and Book# of registered birth at Civil Registry and Date registered
- who was present at birth (doctor, midwives, etc.): names and info
- municipal inscriptions
- current caretaker's name, address, religious affiliation if any
- name of hogar (director’s name/personal info), registration number
- photos at time of relinquishing, including palm and foot print
- name of lawyer/judge determining orphan status
- bio-parents’ names, birthplace, cedula info and
- current telephone number(s) and address(es) of bio-parents
- names of adoptive parents plus: their country of origin, place of
birth, telephone and address,identification data & passport info, name of
the adoption agency and lawyers they are working with

In essence, most of this information is found throughout the adoption file, but I’m assuming they want it organized in one file for easy access. I don’t think this is unreasonable, and who knows, maybe it will shorten the process in PGN (one can only hope). However, I don't see this as a dramatic change in the adoption process.

Adoption Facts

The May-June 2007 online issue of Adoptive Parents released some interesting fast facts about Guatemalan adoptions:

Number of Adoptions from Guatemala:
2006: 4,135
2005: 3,783
2004: 3,252
2003: 2,328
2002: 2,219

- estimated cost of adoptions: $25,000 to $30,000
- INS Immigration Statistics reported that 51% of the children adopted
in 2005 were female; 79% were under one year of age, and 18% were
between 1-4 years of age.
While the adoption of females is very prevalent in many countries, Guatemala is almost even. At least no one can complain that baby boys are not being requested.

Also in this month’s issue of Adoptive Parents, the results of a recent study found that on average adoptive parents spend more time in parent-child activities (i.e. reading, talking, eating together), than parents of biological children. Researchers think that parents of adopted children consciously struggle against the theory that children do best with their biological parents, and as a result, work harder at parenting. The study done by the U.S. Department of Education was based on data from over 13,000 households.

More info about changes in Guatemalan adoptions.
More info about parenting the adopted/foster child.