Concerned....

On the US Department of State website today, there was a post that has the adoption community raising great concern. Apparently, there was a facilitator in no way related to our agency, who was arrested for wrong-doing. This has caused some concern with our government. Our agency comes highly recommended, and we have full confidence in their fair practices. Jeff and I are so early in the process, so we are unsure of what this means for us. We spoke with our agency who really has no answers - no one does, just to pray and keep going. It is a scary and difficult process as it is, but this really makes it more difficult. I know that this may hit the news, so I thought that I would pass it along to you. Keep all of the families, including us, in your prayers. It does seem that is all that we can do. This process is going to have its ups and downs, and I will share it all. We are going forward with concern at this point.

From the website: "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."