Letter Campaign Guatemala

To our Guatemala Families,

As you may be aware, the Guatemalan government has announced that all intercountry adoptions with the U.S. and other countries will be suspended on January 1 2008. Their announcement also indicated that there will be no "grandfathering" of adoptions already in process. This runs contrary to an existing Guatemalan law that states when a new law is passed in cannot be retroactive. In meeting with 8 attorneys last week, each one espressed their opinion that once a case is registered, it will complete. The definition of "registered" in the eyes of Guatemala for U.S. adoptions is that the DNA consent is received from the U.S. Embassy. The definition of "registered" in the eyes of the U.S. government in Guatemala means that the family has submitted their I-171H, the G-28, and the I-600 filled out with the name of the specific child they are adopting. Upon receipt and review of these three documents, the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala will issue the Consent for DNA.

IFS has also contacted other U.S. adoption agencies specializing specifically in Guatemala to get their interpretation of the recent statements and how their agency plans on preceding. From what IFS has learned we are acting conservatively and giving solid direction to our families.

The letter writing/phone call campaign is important to your case and to many other adoptive families. PLEASE ask everyone you know to participate. We need to put as much pressure of the President of Guatemala as possible, to continue on with the cases as Guatemala law says he must. Although the law is on our side, the policies can cause some grief and legal maneuvering that no one wants to participate in. It would be much eaiser for all to convince the President of Guatemala, by our lobbying efforts, to grandfather in all of the cases. ... Please, Please tell everyone you know about the lobbying campaign.

Thank you,

Carol
Carol Mardock, Executive Director, International Family Services