Guatemalan held in illegal adoption case
Guatemalan held in illegal adoption case
By RODRIGO ESTRADA – 3 hours ago
GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — The sister of a Guatemalan congressman was charged Wednesday with running an illegal adoption ring after police found nine children in her home.
Police raided Rosalina Rivera's house Tuesday in search of a kidnapped 4-year-old boy, Attorney General Baudilio Portillo said. Officers did not find the boy, but stumbled upon nine children between seven and 12 months of age instead.
Rosalina Rivera was taken into custody and released on bail early Wednesday, Guillermo Melgar, a spokesman for Guatemala's judicial system, told The Associated Press.
"She said she was just taking care of the babies while their mothers were at work," but she was unable to say where the birth mothers were, Melgar said.
Rivera is the sister of congressman Gudy Rivera, president of a congressional committee on minors and family affairs.
Last week, the attorney general announced a full case-by-case review of all of Guatemala's 2,286 pending foreign adoptions, as authorities overhaul an adoptions system plagued by fraud and corruption.
Rep. Rivera's committee asked the national Adoptions Council to freeze all foreign adoptions for at least a month to allow for the review.
Guatemala has been the No. 2 source of adopted babies for U.S. parents after China, largely because its system is relatively easy to navigate. Prospective parents paid notaries as much as US$30,000 (euro19,400) to walk them through the process from start to finish.
Vietnam, where growing numbers of Americans have turned to adopt children, last week announced it will stop processing new adoption applications from U.S. citizens in July, following allegations of baby-selling, corruption and fraud.
A U.S. Embassy report in Hanoi outlined rampant abuses, including hospitals selling infants whose mothers could not pay their bills, brokers scouring villages for babies and a grandmother who gave away her grandchild without telling the child's mother.
Vietnam's International Adoption Agency has called those allegations groundless.
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