As I wrote a while back, there's a new mess boiling with Guatemalan adoptions at the moment, and the fallout is forming the toxic atmosphere it's renown for.

Not unexpectedly, the US Government is well into it now.

Here is what the State Department has issued:

In light of a number of problems with Guatemala’s intercountry adoption process, the U.S. Department of State strongly cautions American prospective adoptive parents contemplating pursuing adoptions in Guatemala to carefully consider their options at this time. The arrest in the United States of a well-known adoption facilitator as well as concern about unethical behavior and practices by others involved with adoptions in Guatemala indicate that the adoption process in Guatemala is not adequately protecting all children.

In its investigation related to the arrest of the adoption facilitator mentioned above, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have found evidence of the smuggling into the United States of Guatemalan children who had been candidates for adoption. They have also found evidence of fraudulent documents concerning adoption and visa status, and misrepresentation of the health condition of children involved.

Separately, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services field office in Guatemala has denied adoption visa petitions for many reasons indicating wrong and unethical practices in Guatemala. These include cases where the purported biological mother of a child is not the true biological mother but an impostor and cases where the biological parent or parents have been deceived and there has been no true relinquishment of parental rights.

Activity of this nature is against U.S. law and also counter to the principles of the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption, which the United States will join this year.

The adoption situation in Guatemala is volatile and unpredictable. The United States, because of ongoing investigations that affect adoption cases, may be unable to process cases quickly and is likely to review all pending cases with more scrutiny. More detailed investigations may be warranted to determine that a child is truly eligible for adoption as an orphan. However, the U.S. Department of State is not planning an immediate shutdown of adoptions at this time.

The U.S. Government supports adoption reform efforts in Guatemala and is working closely with the Government of Guatemala to help encourage the implementation of reforms to protect children in the intercountry adoption process. The U.S. Government also supports Guatemalan Government efforts to implement the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption and establish new case-processing procedures and an appropriate transition mechanism to the good practices of the Convention.

We will update our website (www.travel.state.gov) should new information become available. Our e-mail address is: AskCI@state.gov.

Need I remind anyone that the suspension on Cambodian adoptions that was imposed in December 2001 remains in place today, and with no sign of any progress toward eventually allowing Cambodian-born children the option of adoption by Americans?

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