DOS: Adoption Alert Guatemala Update

Guatemala Adoption Alert
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Bureau of Consular Affairs
Office of Children’s Issues

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Hogar Listserv Updates

The Office of Children’s Issues provides regular updates to families and adoption service providers specifically affected by legal actions taken regarding hogares or child care centers for children awaiting intercountry adoptions. If you received this e-mail in error and do not wish to receive future updates please notify AskCI@state.gov using the subject line: Remove My Name from the Guatemala Hogar List Serv. Similarly, if you have friends or colleagues who would like to receive these updates, ask them to contact AskCI@state.gov using the subject line: Add My Name to the Guatemala Hogar List Serv. These updates will focus on recent developments; for a comprehensive review of intercountry adoptions in Guatemala, please consult the Guatemala section of the Office of Children’s Issues general website http://www.adoption.state.gov/ .

The following are brief updates on issues or related developments that may be of general interest. We take this opportunity to remind adopting parents and others that the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala is not officially notified of investigations of individual hogars. Many of the investigations going on in Guatemala involve allegations of criminal wrongdoing. Further, the U.S. Government does not have any official legal standing in these cases, thus we may not be informed, but may also be officially barred from receiving routine information.

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Casa Quivira

Our records show adoption petitions are still pending for about 8 of the original 46 children who were taken into custody from Casa Quivira. In several of the cases, the Solicitor General’s Office (PGN) has identified irregularities and these cases must be processed as abandonment cases through the National Council for Adoptions (CNA). The Guatemalan government has agreed that these cases (if all requirements have been complied with) can be processed as transition cases and will not have to wait for the new Hague procedures to be implemented.

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Semillas de Amor

In early August, the court in Chimaltenango separated five of the Semillas de Amor cases, allowing them to proceed. Some of those children already have visas and will hopefully be able to depart soon. Several of the five cases have been sent to the PGN for final adjudication. We are awaiting additional information on these cases.

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Santa Lucia de las Flores

The Embassy learned in 2009 that Asociacion Santa Lucia de las Flores Silvestres had been under investigation by the Guatemalan Attorney General’s office since 2008. The Embassy has been in contact with some of the prospective adoptive parents. We understand there were at least five children indentified for adoption by American citizens being cared for at this home. It is our understanding that many of the children taken from this orphanage are now living in various hogares until a judge decides on their cases. The investigation is still underway.

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Asociación Primavera

On August 13, 2009, the Embassy learned about an action by Guatemalan authorities involving 17 children from the Hogar Asociación Primavera, 16 of whom had been matched with U.S. adoptive families. We have since learned that the children were transferred to various hogares in Guatemala City. A police investigation continues. The judge in Esquintla who approved many of the abandonment cases from Hogar Primavera, was recently stripped of his immunity and could now face criminal charges.

On December 16, 2009, the Guatemalan press reported that Susana Maria Luarca Saracho, a facilitator of international adoptions for Asociación Primavera, was arrested by the Ministerio Publico on charges of irregular adoptions. She was later released on Q50,000 bail (just over $6,000) and is under house arrest while the investigation continues.

As reported in the press, a lawyer linked to various illegal adoption cases, Alma Beatriz Valle Flores de Mejia, was charged in Guatemala on April 22, 2010 with human trafficking and using false documents, among other charges. Valle de Mejia was implicated in 158 cases of irregular adoptions in 2008 as part of her involvement with Asociación Primavera. According to the charges, she formed part of a network engaged in illegal adoptions. This network included attorney Susana Luarca Saracho mentioned above.

Press reports state that Valle de Mejia was deported from the United States on April 22, 2010 after she was captured in Texas for remaining in the United States illegally after her visa expired.

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Rosalinda Rivera’s Hogar

On May 6, 2008, an action was taken against a hogar on 11 Avenida 7-51, Zona 11, Quinta Samayoa, Guatemala City. Rosalinda Rivera was apprehended at this location and 9 infants were removed from her custody. Ms. Rivera did not provide the necessary paperwork to prove this was an authorized home. The children are all living in other hogares awaiting a decision on their case.

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Embassy and USCIS consultations with the Government of Guatemala

The following are brief updates on issues or related developments on pending adoption cases that are not under investigation or in the courts:

•Consular officers and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) officers in Guatemala City are in regular contact with Guatemalan officials about the current situation and to look for approaches that could streamline the process, coordinate the flow of information to adoptive families, and permit all adoptions to move forward. In some instances, the Ambassador has been directly involved in discussions with Guatemalan officials on the adoption situation in Guatemala. Senior State Department officials also regularly raise adoption issues with their Guatemalan counterparts.

•In light of allegations regarding the integrity of Guatemala’s former adoption process, Guatemalan Government authorities are making a concerted effort to confirm all aspects of every case. Because of the large number of investigations, progress overall continues to be extremely slow.

•The Consular Section continues to process visa applications as soon as the files are complete.

The Department of State reminds prospective adoptive parents of the worldwide DNA testing procedures. All second DNA tests for adoptions must be scheduled with the U.S. Embassy’s Consular Section. Information is available from the Consular Section at: adoptguatemala@state.gov or http://guatemala.usembassy.gov/adop20091221.html .

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Publication of adoption law regulations

The National Council for Adoptions (CNA) was confirmed as the lead agency for adoptions of Guatemalan children for both domestic and foreign adoptive parents. New procedures implementing the December 2007 adoption law were published by the CNA in the official newspaper in Guatemala and went into effect on July 13, 2010.

Under these rules, Guatemalan parents will be the first to be considered for adoption and foreigners will be considered subsequently. According to the new regulations, a multidisciplinary team composed of psychologists, medical doctors, lawyers and social workers will determine whether a child can be adopted and then will evaluate the prospective adoptive parents to make a decision on whether to allow the adoption of that child.

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Reminder - CNA rules and procedures for Guatemala adoptions

Adopting parents are reminded that CNA issued a statement last year telling parents they should not hire private attorneys or notaries to process their adoptions. This announcement applies only to cases that the CNA is processing at this time, i.e., pre-Convention abandonment cases or others that cannot be processed by the PGN.

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Special Advisor for International Children’s Issues Appointed

On July 1, 2010, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced the appointment of Ambassador Susan S. Jacobs as the Special Advisor to the Office of Children’s Issues. This new foreign policy position will address intercountry adoption and international parental child abduction. In her new role, Special Advisor Jacobs will actively engage with foreign government officials to protect the welfare and interests of children. Ambassador Jacobs plans to go to Guatemala in the coming months and will meet and advocate on behalf of all adopting parents whose cases were properly registered and are pending.

Special Advisor Jacobs has recently served as a Senior Policy Advisor in the Department of State’s Bureau of Consular Affairs. She is a former Ambassador to Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu and her Foreign Service career has included tours in Caracas, Tel Aviv, New Delhi, Bucharest, and San Salvador.

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Members of Congress ask Guatemala’s President to expedite adoptions

U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and 75 other Members of Congress signed a letter that was sent to the President of Guatemala, Alvaro Colom, and other key Guatemalan officials, asking them to facilitate the adoptions of approximately 400 cases. The letter discusses the fact that these cases have been pending since at least the 2007 adoption system reform was enacted and the continued concern that these cases have been inexplicably delayed.

The letter asks President Colom to create a transparent system to protect the children, birth parents, and adopting parents.

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Survey of Pending Adoption Cases

Joint Council on International Children’s Services (JCICS), the Congressional Coalition on Adoptions Institute (CCAI) and the Guatemala 900 group are conducting a survey on behalf of the U.S. Congress and the Guatemalan Embassy to ensure that they have up-to-date case information on behalf of all families with pending Guatemalan adoption cases. If you have not already responded to the survey, you may do so at: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Guatemala2010

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USCIS Updates

As of June 30, 2010, USCIS Guatemala City had 396 active cases. (Note: This total may include cases in which the petitioner has subsequently decided to abandon the case but did not inform USCIS.) Of these cases:

◦355 are pre-approved and pending action by the Government of Guatemala
◦33 are pending U.S. petitioner action
◦4 cases are pending USCIS or other U.S. Government action
◦4 cases were transferred to Consular Section to schedule the final appointment
USCIS Field Office Guatemala City reminds prospective adoptive parents of the procedures for the 1st DNA test required in relinquishment cases. All 1st DNA appointments must be scheduled by USCIS. For more information or to schedule an appointment for DNA collection, please contact USCIS at: Guatemala.Adoptions@dhs.gov .

In response to frequent questions regarding transition cases in Guatemala, USCIS developed an InfoSheet entitled Keeping Required USCIS Documents Valid for Transition Cases. Please note this InfoSheet is only applicable to intercountry adoption cases in Guatemala as outlined in the
document.

http://adoption.state.gov/news/guatemala.html

Ethics, Transparency, Support
~ What All Adoptions Deserve.
http://www.pear-now.org/

PEAR's Response to "The Baby Business"

The Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism asked a number of experts, practitioners, and advocates in international adoption to respond to “The Baby Business,” Democracy Journal, Summer 2010 by E. J. Graff. You may read all the responses .

This is PEAR's response:

It is an unfortunate truth that international adoption is plagued by corruption. We appreciate E.J. Graff’s coverage of the issues leading to corrupt practices and her well-thought-out solutions. Parents for Ethical Adoption Reform (PEAR) appreciates the opportunity to share our comments. As an organization dedicated to reforming adoption law and policy, we would like to focus our comments on the eight proposed improvements to international adoption.

Our current system of adoption policy and regulation is too often reactionary rather than preventative, increasing the risk of corruption and adoption failure. PEAR believes that by requiring federal licensing/accreditation and oversight of agencies; criminalizing the purchase and sale of children for adoption; and severely curtailing fees by limiting to them to true costs for services and eliminating mandatory donations, international adoption has the best chance of becoming ethical and transparent.

1. Prohibition against cash transfers.

PEAR agrees that prohibiting cash transactions in payment for adoption-related services can go a long way to eliminating corrupt practices. Eliminating cash transactions and requiring receipts for all payments as well as requiring adopting parents to provide a sworn accounting during their I600 process would help clean up corruption on the foreign side of the adoption process. Untraceable sums can delay or prevent investigative bodies from connecting the perpetrators to any child-trafficking crime.

2. Hold U.S. adoption agencies accountable for all their overseas partners’ actions.

PEAR believes that adoption agencies need to be responsible for the actions of their overseas providers whether they are “supervised” or “unsupervised” under U.S. State Department regulations.

That all agencies do not thoroughly investigate documents submitted by independent parties, which can identify irregular documentation, promote the reunification of children with their families of origin, and eventually prevent the improper separation of children from their families, is unconscionable.

Fraudulent documentation—either declaring an identified child as an unknown abandoned child, or with falsified birth parent information—has been proven in Vietnam¹, Cambodia², India³, Guatemala⁴, Nepal⁵, Samoa⁶, Ethiopia⁷, and China⁸. Adoptees are doubly victimized by these practices. First, they denied their natural right to be raised by their willing and capable birth families; second, they are robbed of the opportunity to find or know their birth family and medical histories due to the obliteration of their identities.

3. Third, limit and track adoptions’ overseas fees in more detail.

PEAR also believes that changes need to be made where there are mandatory donations required of adopting families. First, we disapprove of mandatory donations. We believe that mandatory fees create a dependency upon international adoption and encourage corruption in how children enter the adoption system. We also believe that these mandatory donations are unethical in that countries are charging a fee and being relieved of the financial obligation of raising parentless children. It is a win-win situation for the governments that often provides little benefit to the children residing in institutional care. However, as a realistic response to the existence of these fees, where these fees exist as part of a foreign government’s adoption law (such as in China), we believe that all “mandatory” donations should be payable through an NGO or government entity with full accountability for the disbursement of these funds.

Without any transparency about how much money goes directly to foreign governments and/or orphanages, PEAR is concerned that it becomes impossible to discover what percentage of adoption fees ever reaches its intended destination. It is imperative that there is complete transparency with all adoption fees, and that agencies disclose exactly where all adoption fees are spent.

4. Fourth, limit and track how much agencies can pay their overseas partners, workers, and independent contractors.

PEAR believes that fee transparency would prevent overcharging of clients. Financial gain from the large amount of untraceable in-country payments is the source of many “paper orphans.” Since these sums can run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, far in excess of normal fees to child-welfare workers, corruption often soon follows. It is very difficult for those who are paid a pittance in difficult circumstances to resist the temptation of large amounts of cash, but child-welfare workers should not be motivated by profit to steal, purchase, or solicit children for placement.

5. Fifth, earmark some small amount of federal funds for CoA investigations.

PEAR believes that accrediting bodies need to be appropriately funded so they may thoroughly investigate agencies, their in-country partners, and the complaints submitted. They need to have funding beyond the application fees and adoption lobby support to do so. Otherwise, regulations are meaningless.

6. Sixth, inform the American public about individual adoption agencies’ records.
Pre-adoptive parents can be either unaware of the corruption in international adoption or in denial about it even when documented by media or other adoptive parents. Parents are hindered by the lack of unbiased and publicly provided information about the records and histories of agencies, their employees, and in-country partners. PEAR believes that the U.S. State Department should provide information about each agency’s history of orphan visa denials.


In addition, the State Department should require accrediting bodies (The Council on Accreditation and The Colorado Department of Human Services) to reveal the status of all accreditation applications. Currently, only approved and denied agencies are reported, not new, pending, or withdrawn applications. An agency’s application for accreditation can be pending for months or years, indicating potential issues, but this information is not publicly available.

Furthermore, under current COA practices, previously filed complaints are disregarded when reviewing a new accreditation application of a previously denied agency. This is counterproductive. Families need the ability to see the status of all applications so that they can file or re-file their complaints.

We also suggest that Congress amend the current regulations to allow public record of the reasons for denial of Hague accreditation. Under the current regulations, reasons for denial are kept confidential between the agency and the accrediting body. Prospective adoptive parents adopting from non-Hague countries and the public are kept in the dark as to the reasons for denial and often misled by denied agencies concerning the denials. It is impossible for prospective clients to make informed decisions about agency selection without having full information concerning the agency.

7. Seventh, enable the State Department to heighten the scrutiny of, or suspend accepting, an individual adoption agency’s visa applications from a particular country, whether that country is “Hague” or not.

The State Department should be expressly authorized by Congress to investigate adoptions by specific agencies, facilitators, or orphanages that have shown patterns of problems. The State Department should be able to restrict or eliminate orphan visas from agencies, facilitators, or orphanages known to have produced fraudulent documentation for visa applications. Problems or patterns should be publicly reported so that prospective parents can make informed choices. If adoption agency personnel or contractors have been associated with trafficking or other criminal behavior involving adoptee identity issues, the State Department should be required to inform U.S. citizens who used their services, even if the findings come many years after the adoptions took place.

Lastly, we believe that all immigrant orphan visas, not just Hague country visas, should go through State Department investigation prior to a family traveling overseas. We recognize that this limitation is in place because there is no agreement between the sending country and the U.S. which authorizes the State Department to investigate. We suggest that the U.S. enter into bilateral agreements with all non-Hague countries authorizing the State Department to investigate orphan status and visa eligibility prior to the adoption being finalized in-country.

8. Eighth, criminalize the purchase of children for international adoption.

PEAR believes that one of the most important steps to help eliminate corruption is to criminalize the purchase of children for international adoption. It seems intuitive that purchase of children for any purpose would be illegal, yet the trafficking or purchase of children for adoption in a non-Hague adoption is not illegal under current U.S. law. This oversight in U.S. laws must be corrected, and meaningful punishment instituted for individuals and organizations involved in such reprehensible behavior.

In addition, practices of soliciting children for adoption and tricking or coercing birth families into relinquishment should be criminalized. In the culture of some placing countries—particularly in Pacific Island⁹ and African nations¹⁰ —parents may not understand that adoption means the permanent legal severing of ties with their child.

In PEAR’s opinion, Lauryn Galindo¹¹ in Cambodia, Scott & Karen Banks¹² in Samoa, and others have received ludicrously light or negligible sentences after conviction of crimes connected to the trafficking of children. If potential adoption-trafficking charges were more severe—and were enforced by the courts—we believe that agencies and their facilitators would be less likely to be lured by greed or misguided intentions and would have to abide by higher ethical standards.

Ethics, Transparency, Support
~ What All Adoptions Deserve.
http://www.pear-now.org/

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¹ U.S. Embassy Hanoi, Summary of Irregularities in Adoptions in Vietnam (April 25 2008).


² United States of America vs Lauryn Galindo, Plea Agreement (June 23, 2004).


³ Rory Callinan, Stolen Children (Time August 21, 2008).

Asha Krishnakumar, The Adoption Market (Frontline, India, May 21, 2005).


⁴ Victoria Corderi, To Catch a Baby Broker (NBC Dateline, January 20, 2008).

Juan Carlos Llorca, US couple almost adopted stolen Guatemalan baby (AP July 31 2008).

Juan Carlos Llorca, To save adopted girl, Calif. couple gives her up (AP, November 22, 2008).


⁵ UNICEF and Terre des homes Foundation, Adopting: The Rights of the Child (2008).


⁶ Kirsten Stewart, U.S. families stunned and angry (Salt Lake Tribune, June 17, 2007).

Lisa Rosetta, Dreams of parents in two worlds shattered by scandal (Salt Lake Tribune. June 6, 2007).


⁷ John Nicol, Canadian parents raise concerns (CBC News, March 19, 2009).

Von Andrea Rexer, Kindergeld (Profil, January 19, 2009).


⁸ Barbara Demick, Chinese babies stolen by officials for foreign adoption (Los Angeles Times, September 20, 2009).

Peter S. Goodman, Stealing Babies for Adoption (Washington Post, March 12, 2006).

Barbara Demick, A family in China made babies their business (LA Times, January, 24, 2010).

Jimmy Wang, China's Kidnapped Children (New York Times, April 4 2009).


⁹ Jini L. Roby and Stephanie Matsumura, If I Give You My Child, Aren’t We Family? A Study of Birthmothers Participating in Marshall Islands - U.S. Adoptions (Adoption Quarterly Volume 5, Issue 4 June 2002).

Galvin Law, International Adoption–The Good, the Bad and the Ugly; A South Pacific Perspective, Samoa – The “Sending State". A Brief Outline of Customary Child Adoption Practices in Samoa (September 1, 2005).


¹⁰ Katharine Houreld, Africa adoptions clouded by uncertainty and confusion (South Coast Today, March 9, 2008).

Nadene Ghouri, Liberia: Children for Sale (BBC Crossing Continents, November, 13, 2008).


¹¹ U.S. Department of Justice, Hawaiian resident sentenced to 18 months in prison in Cambodian adoption conspiracy (United States Attorney, Western District of Washington, November 19, 2004).


¹² U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Defendants sentenced in Samoan adoption scam (Feb 25, 2009).

Brett L. Tolman and Brett Parkinson, Sentencing Memorandum (United States District Court, District of Utah, Northern Division, Case No. 1:07-CR-19 DS, Feb, 24,2009).

DOS Adoption Alert: Sierra Leone

Adoption Alert

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Bureau of Consular Affairs
Office of Children’s Issues
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September 17, 2009

Suspension of Adoptions in Sierra Leone

The Government of Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children's Affairs suspended adoptions on May 29, 2009 due to concerns on the legality of adoptions and the welfare of adoptees. An interagency committee has been established by the Ministry to work on new adoption laws and procedures.

The U.S. Embassy has been informed that the committee hopes to present a new bill to Parliament for a vote this calendar year. The Ministry has indicated that no adoption cases will be processed or approved while the suspension remains in effect. Adoption cases approved before the suspension remain valid.

Please continue to monitor Adoption.State.Gov for updated information
http://adoption.state.gov/news/sierra%20leone.html

Ethics, Transparency, Support
~ What All Adoptions Deserve.
http://www.pear-now.org/