U.S. Embassy Announcement about Casa Quivira

Guatemala,

On Saturday August 11, Guatemalan law enforcement authorities exercised a court order and took control of the Casa Quivira children’s center near Antigua. The Guatemalan Solicitor General’s Office (Procuradoría General de la Nación, PGN) informed the Embassy that the operation was the result of an ongoing investigation in response to complaints that the police and district attorney’s office (Ministerio Público) had received against the center.

The U.S. Embassy's main interest continues to be the well-being of the children at Casa Quivira. At this time we are advising families directly affected by this event to maintain close contact with their local lawyers in Guatemala in order to stay abreast of the status of individual children in the adoption process.

When custody is granted to Casa Quivira parents with final adoptions, the Embassy will expedite immigrant visa interviews for the affected adopting families. For families without scheduled interviews, we will continue to keep the most current information and warnings regarding adoptions on our website.

Please visit http://guatemala.usembassy.gov/adoptions.html for information updates in the future.

As the Embassy and Department of State continue to advise, the adoption situation in Guatemala remains volatile and unpredictable. Prospective adoptive parents should be aware that the laws regulating intercountry adoption in Guatemala are conflicting.

Nearly all intercountry adoptions in Guatemala are processed under a “notarial” system. Information the Embassy has received so far indicates that the children in Casa Quivira are in various stages of the notarial adoption process. However, the 2003 “PINA” law for the protection of children and adolescents, created additional requirements for adoption cases, including the obligation that caretakers of children in adoption processing obtain court-determined legal custody. These provisions established by the 2003 law have not been enforced previously. The Embassy has been informed, however, that one factor in the takeover of Casa Quivira is that no court custody orders were located for any of the children.

The U.S. Embassy cannot act as legal representative for Americans in any legal proceedings, including adoptions. However, we stand ready to consult with parents on these cases and to provide the most current possible information regarding the adoption cases of children at Casa Quivira.

The U.S. Embassy maintains a list of Guatemalan English speaking attorneys available directly from the American Citizen Services Unit or the Embassy website at http://guatemala.usembassy.gov/uploads/images/ZRzQeBYTqu9t0Gy4PD-nbA/acseattorneys.pdf. The Embassy is unable to provide a listing of attorneys specializing in adoption as there are currently more than 600 Guatemalan attorneys participating in this process