Trading Places: Interviewing a Journalist about Guatemalan Adoptions

Many of us in the blogging and adoption world have given interviews to the media; few of us are ever truly happy with the results. A couple months ago I gave a long interview to Robert, a reporter for a well known American newspaper. He asked intelligent questions, was polite, patient and very pleasant. When the article came out, I was disappointed and told him so. He was kind enough to explain a few things and I calmed down.

Before the article came out, I had asked for an interview by email. After I jumped down his throat about the article, I wasn’t sure I’d get a response from him. I did and I am truly delighted to be able to share his responses with you. Actually I think this is the kind of writing his newspaper should print.

Robert’s description of what Guatemala means to him is poignant and optimistic.

How long have you been in Guatemala and how much longer will you be there? What are your impressions of the country and the people?

I’ve been here since April of this year and plan to stay through next year at least. I moved here in part because I was drawn to the natural and cultural beauty. When I was making the decision to come last year I remember I was on a flat-bottomed canoe caulked with tar and held together by the sheer willpower of the old man who rowed it. He took me out from Santiago to look at some ruins on the volcano facing the town and when we were on the slope looking out over the towns along the lake shore I saw only the roofs of houses poking out from a flat pool of wood smoke. I could smell it even at that distance. It seemed nostalgic, if that’s the word, invoking visions of women in woven blouses patting tortillas over those steel wood-heated planchas. About 6 years ago I was learning Spanish in Quetzaltenango then stayed with a guy and his family who had become a friend in one of the towns on the lake. I remember waking every morning to the sound of his wife patting tortillas.

Now that I live here I’m actually a little scared of this country. I was a robbery magnet in Costa Rica where I lived for a few years and here I gather that robberies have a better chance of turning violent. But my overall understanding of the country is that Guatemala’s otherwise rapid development is checked in part by drug traffickers, who have infiltrated politics and even the basic economy by driving up real estate, etc. to launder money, and by gangs. I don’t think I’m being overly optimistic, however, in saying that there is nothing that will thwart this country on its path to eventual full development, though change is a long time in coming

Then I went on to ask Robert some questions about adoption and here are his responses.

Have you talked to any Guatemalan citizens about adoption? What do they have to say?

I spoke with 8 people – 6 professionals of which two were 20-something women and four were men aged 30-45, one 20-something man with a college education and a male taxi driver whose education level I didn’t ask, also in his 20s. Unprompted except by the initial question “what do you think about international adoption?” they unanimously said that adoption helps poor Guatemalan mothers and their children but corruption must be checked to avoid both baby stealing and a baby selling business.

At the time of asking, news reports had just been published about thefts of babies by hospital workers at a public hospital, so those who had heard the reports were quick to mention it in their answers. One of the female professionals told a story of a former neighbor who gave birth to nine healthy children with the help of a midwife, but three of her children she had in a public hospital and took them back for check-ups after birth and she was told they had died while at the hospital and she was not allowed to see their bodies. Whether the story is true or not, it follows the pattern used by the hospital workers who were arrested for baby theft.

Have you had the opportunity to talk to any birth mothers who’ve relinquished their children to adoption? What kind of information did they share with you?

Sorry, no opportunity.

Do you sense anti-adoption sentiments in Guatemala?

I did not hear any anti-adoption sentiments, as I said, just positive support for adoptions done with legal safeguards for the birth mothers. I asked if there was any resentment about a possible “drain” of Guatemalans from their country into the US, for example and nobody felt that was an issue and were, instead, happy for the mothers and the children who got help they needed.

I understand that you are living in an area where many US parents are fostering their own children during the adoption process. Have you spoken to any of them? Do you see or hear any antagonism towards these adoptive parents from the local residents?
I’ve spoken with only a handful and have not come across antagonism. Some foreign couples (not all are from the US) raise their adopted children here and some raise their adopted children as single parents. I’ve seen a few apparently single-sex couples with apparently adopted children, too, but I can’t vouch for it because I didn’t talk with them.

Is there much press coverage of the adoption issues in the Guatemalan press; how is it presented to the citizens of Guatemala?

The majority of press coverage focuses on the change in the law, debates in the legislature and the criminal suits against baby thieves. Although, I don’t read the more populist papers, so there might be something different in those. It’s not just because I’m a snob, either, it’s because I also have a day job and no time.

Next blog you will hear what he has to say about his interview with Barrios, the Deputy Attorney General of PGN.

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