Some Good News from Guatemala

For those of you who have been reading my blog already know, there has been a lot going on regarding the Hague Treaty and the Ortega Law recently passed by the Guatemalan Congress which seems to have put all adoption cases at risk as of January 1, 2008. Today, Guatadopt posted the following information:

Grandfathering in cases....the intent is "official"

President Berger publicly confirmed the intent to grandfather current cases (I assume this means the 3700 cases that are REGISTERED). The Guatemalan press reported this with a statement by Berger:

"I have never said that I want to stop adoptions. What my government wants is full respect for the legislation that is about to be approved and full compliance with the Hague (Convention)."

The Guatemalan Press also reported the following:

Congressman Rolando Morales, one of the proponents of the new legislation, said that the intention with the pending adoptions is a full review to verify the identity of the woman that is relinquishing the rights on the child, that she is the natural mother, and that the child is given for adoption without coercion, and verify that the child was not abducted (stolen babies). Morales also mentioned that the final version of the new Adoption Law which will be published in the following weeks will not affect the almost 3,700 processes in the pipeline.

These changes (even if they delay the process a few days) are in the best interest of everyone in the process, specifically our main concern, the children.

Fortunately, the U.S. already requires DNA testing be completed at the beginning of the process to determine that the mother relinquishing the child is in fact the biological mother and a 2nd DNA test is required to verify that no switching of babies took place during the process. The social worker interview that is conducted during the process is in place to help determine that the bio mother was not coerced into relinquishing her child. Therefore, steps are already in place on both the U.S. and Guatemala side to address these concerns.

We are feeling more hope now that our case will continue to be processed and Lili will come home.