Guatemala closed to international adoption

For Ontario adoption agency St. Anne Adoption Centre, www.stanneadoption.org, the closing of adoptions from Guatemala marked the end of 12 years of adoption work in Guatemala. The agency has facilitated over 400 adoptions to Canada since 1989, handling the majority of Guatemalan adoptions, not just in Ontario, but across Canada. In 2001, 22 children from Guatemala were adopted into Canada, most to Ontario. That's a drop from 68 children in 2000, and 74 in 1999.

Beryl Mercer, bmercer@stanneadoption.org, Executive Director of St. Anne Adoption Centre, wrote on Sept. 26, 2001 to Robin Hilborn of Family Helper web site, "Ontario has suspended adoptions from Guatemala. Various organizations monitoring adoptions in Guatemala continue to suspect unethical practices. There are no statistics to point out how many of the adoptions are unethical or illegal but there is a perception that the cases exist. Therefore, the only practical way to protect biological families and their children is for Guatemala to implement the Hague Convention. Ontario and Quebec have now both suspended adoptions from Guatemala and it would not surprise me if other provinces and countries follow suit. In the meantime St. Anne's is finishing the files that are allowed to come to completion."