Open letter to thank Lisa S for her wonderful blog: Dear Lisa, I am so sad to hear that you will not be blogging anymore. My husband and I adopted a baby girl from Guatemala 5 years ago. I have really enjoyed your well written blogs. I regret that I have never commented and praised your blogs in the past. My family was so busy during the last two years that we were completely unaware of the problems going on in Guatemala until we heard the outright lies and distortions about Guatemalan adoptions in the infamous 09/19/2007 NPR radio story. I have read all your blogs since then and I have gone back and read many of your older blogs. I hope one day that you will write again about Guatemalan adoptions and other Guatemalan issues. Your blogs have been such a comfort to me during this time of incessant media attacks on our families. I had a couple of questions to ask you. Do you read Adoptive Families Magazine? Although I have enjoyed reading the magazine and I am pleased that it helped out with the Guatemala 5000 campaign, I am pretty disappointed with the magazine for not standing up to the media’s false statements about Guatemalan adoptions. We submitted a “Thumbs Down” to Adoptive Families Magazine regarding NPR’s 09/19/2007 story. We were disappointed that Adoptive Families didn’t publish it. In fact, I do not think that Adoptive Families has ever taken the media to task for any of the lies said about Guatemalan adoptions. Do you know why or have you heard anything about this? I have to believe that hundreds of people have sent similar “Thumbs Down” requests. I have read that magazine for seven years, and it has frequently given “Thumbs Downs” to media outlets that made false statements about other intercountry adoptions programs such as China’s program. Although it is true that there have been some tragic cases of corruption in Guatemalan adoptions, it would have been nice if that magazine had taken a stand for us and pointed out that the vast majority of Guatemalan adoptions are NOT tainted. The magazine also could have taken the media to task for falsely stating that parents who adopted from Guatemala did not have to go through the same kind of home study visits and rigorous background checks as people who adopt from the US or China. Sorry for my long rant, but I had been meaning to write to you for some time now. By the way, I meant to tell you how appalled I was with that preschool teacher who treated Ella so poorly. My friend’s daughter had a similar experience with her first preschool. It was very upsetting to all of us. I meant to reassure you that Ella will be fine without preschool this year. My friend’s daughter is doing well in kindergarten now. Will you be writing for any other websites such as www.guatadopt.com? Best wishes to you and your family. Thank you again for your wonderful blogs!
Blessings, Shelly.

How will you explain to your adopted child that her loving mother was tricked into selling her? When she's old enough she will definitely do research and Guatemala is such a small country it will be easy for her to find her birth mother?
I just returned from Guatemala and must say it is a bit of a mess right now but at least they are trying to do the right thing for the children and parents. Too many people and agency's there were baby brokering for profit. They were going into villages and tricking illiterate and poverty stricken family's to give up a child for a kickback. In desperation and ignorance, many did. Many foreigners were not adopting children they were buying them as they would a new puppy. Its unethical and wrong. Being poor is not a reason to take a child away from a family. Many children adopted by foreigners were taken away from families that loved and cherished their children. To those that really want to make a difference in a Guatemalan child's life donate food, clothing and money to the current organizations that are trying to keep the children with their family's instead of buying their children from them. God would want that and thank God the US and Guatemalan gov't's have finally stepped in. If you have adopted a child from Guatemala, I would check to make sure that the child's parents really did want to give the child up because you child may have ignorantly bought a child from a loving family now devastated by the sale. If you want to find children that really need a family, I suggest going to the Guatemalan city dump. Many homeless children live there and are being ignored because they are not newborns.

My Daughter is adopted from Guatemala and I take great offense from you. First, and foremost my daughter is loved and cherished. I am sure it was a hard thing for her birth mother to give her up, but she already had another child, and was not able to do for that one what she wanted. How do you propose that I as a parent go about asking if she really wanted to give her up. Would that not be cruel at this point. She and my child came together again when my daughter was three months old to do DNA testing. She could have stopped procedings at that point. She would have had enough time to think about it. I thought that was a cruel thing to do to her but in retrospect I have thought it a good thing. A "one last time to make sure" meeting. Then she appears in court to relinquish her parental rights. Another chance to change her mind. What kind of trick do you speak of. Poverty is not an indication of stupidity. It shows my babies birth mother a great deal of disrespect to presume she could be tricked into giving up her child. You make it sound like we stole our children, or bought them. Shame on you. As for the city dump. Just try to bring one of those children home. It is impossible. I have been there and believe me, you would have years of unraveling to do, if you ever could. I would bring them all home if I could, babies or not.
I understand what you say about proverty: It does'nt mean there is'nt love. My child's birth mother made the greatest sacrafice of love a mother can make for her child. She gave her a chance for an education and a better lifestyle. Not MORE love. I hope that someday we can find her and thank her and help her and her other children, and believe me there will be more children. I thank God and Her everyday for the gift of my precious child.