"BACHMANN ENCOURAGES GUATEMALA TO MAKE ADOPTION PROGRESS"

WASHINGTON, DC - - Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (MN-06), the Republican Co-Chair of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption, issued the following statement calling on the government of Guatemala to reopen intercountry adoptions:

"Everyone benefits when children can be cared for in permanent loving families. On behalf of Minnesota families waiting for children for whom they’ve prayed, and on behalf of children in Guatemala who have dreamt of the moment when they could settle down with the parents with whom they've been corresponding – many for nearly four years – I urge Guatemala’s government to not let adoptions be stagnant for another day."

Bachmann, a mother of five children and 23 foster children, is acutely aware of the strain on many Minnesotans who are waiting to provide forever families to Guatemalan children. Guatemala closed the door on intercountry adoptions in 2007. Some members of the bipartisan Congressional Coalition on Adoption are in Guatemala interacting with officials. Bachmann was unable to attend, but because of the importance of the issue she sent her Deputy Chief of Staff, Brooke Bialke, to travel with the delegation, which is in Guatemala April 22-27.