Last night the members of the new Central Authority for adoption were sworn in. This council, technically known as the “National Council for Adoptions"(CAN) is composed of: Anabella Morfin from the Foreign Ministry, Nery Soto Ovalle from the Supreme Court, and Mynor Rabanales of the Social Welfare Department. Lawyers will no longer have any part in the adoption process.

Apparently there are already 2000 cases waiting for the council’s action and some 800 in PGN. I’m not sure just how accurate this number is, but this is what was reported.

I would consider this a positive step in the direction of getting a new adoption committee up and running, and hopefully enable a registration to begin for in process adoptions. There may be new information on the registration process next week. Meanwhile, PGN has released an address for the Central Authority:

32nd street
9-34 zone 11
Colonia Las Charcas, Guatemala City

The council states that their mission is to “seek to provide transparency and streamline the way administrative records and then move it to a judge to issue the final decision and the statement of adoptability of minors.” This is translated from Spanish and as such is rather awkwardly written in English.

Under the new system, children will be available for international adoption only after an attempt has been made to have them placed within the extended family or adopted by a Guatemalan family. How they will be cared for during this period has yet to be explained. If this process is lengthy, I have little doubt that the children will suffer. The earlier they are adopted into their “forever family” the better.

Meanwhile, some cases have exited PGN and families whose cases have completed the 2nd DNA and review at the US Embassy in Guatemala are being issued pink (a direct email to the family) and bringing their children home. My concern is for families that are a long way from completion, or families who are interested in starting new adoptions from Guatemalan.

And on another note, Dateline NBC is going to be running a program on Guatemalan adoptions next Sunday, January 20th. Rumor has it that they may even open a page online for parents to post photos and tell adoption stories. What we will see on the program, however, will probably raise the ire of many of us adoptive parents, which will be nothing new. We’ve gotten good at mass responses to unfair accusations, exaggerations and biased reports of the Guatemalan adoption process. Given the opportunity, we should once again respond whenever we can honestly and accurately, making it clear that we support an ethical adoption process in Guatemala that protects all the members of the adoption triad, but does not threaten to wipe out adoptions all together.

Just a side note: my personal blog site is up and running. Come visit!