With the exception of my Thursday blog about Ella, last week I was the voice of doom. Of course I was keeping my readers up to date on the situation in Guatemala, but I was also ignoring the fact that wonderful things are happening simultaneously. All I needed to do was go searching on several Guatemalan adoption blogs to find them.

For example, people continue to make successful visit trips to Guatemala without incident. Smiling faces and hugs fill the photos posted online, and parents wistfully return home leaving their hearts in Guatemala. As difficult as it is to leave the children behind, few people ever regret the trip.

Moving on, children are still coming home regardless of the Casa Quivira incident and the tightening of the noose around the adoption process. Second DNA samples are done quickly and efficiently, and the beloved pink slips are being issued. Parents who have spent months preparing for the big day are finally holding their children in their arms forever.

While Ella was napping today, I went to the U.S. Department of State website to find out how many children have been adopted from Guatemala since 1990; it is just under 25,000. Why did I do this?

For starters, I wanted to verify the number. But mostly, I wanted to try to put human faces to these numbers. That is a lot of children and a lot of family members and friends who are blessed by adoption from Guatemala.

With all the criticism of Guatemala, it is important to remember that their doors have been open to adoption since the 1980’s. Even though adoption is not a popular phenomenon in their culture, children have been allowed to leave their country.

I am well aware of the thousands of children still in need and the challenges in the adoption process, but I would like to say this to the country of Guatemala:

Thank you for trusting us with your children. Thank you for my daughter.

Intercountry Adoption Statistics

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