Hogar Listserve updates

The Office of Children’s Issues is attempting to provide regular updates to families and adoption service providers specifically affected by legal actions taken regarding hogares or child care centers for children awaiting international adoptions.  If you received this e-mail in error and do not wish to receive future updates please notify AskCI@state.gov using the subject line: Remove My Name from the Guatemala Hogar List Serve.  Similarly, if you have friends or colleagues who would like to receive these updates, ask them to contact AskCI@state.gov using the subject line: Add My Name to the Guatemala Hogar List Serve.  These updates will focus only on recent developments; for a comprehensive review of intercountry adoptions in Guatemala, please consult the Guatemala section of the Office of Children’s Issues general website www.Adoption.State.Gov.

Thank you for the feedback on the first update that was sent out in September of this year.  The following are brief updates on issues or related developments.  We remind everyone that the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala is not officially notified of investigations of individual hogars.  Many of the investigations involve allegations of criminal wrongdoing.  Further, the United States Government does not have any official legal standing in these cases, thus we may not be informed, but may also be officially barred from receiving routine information. 

Casa Quivira

According to our records, adoptions petitions are still pending for 16 of the original 46 children who were taken into custody from Casa Quivira.  For several of the cases, the Solicitor General’s Office (PGN) has identified irregularities and these cases will have to be processed as abandonment cases through the CNA.  The Guatemalan government has agreed that these cases (if all requirements have been complied with) can be processed as transition cases and will not have to wait for the new procedures to be drafted and implemented.

A decision was issued by Judge Mena earlier this year determining adoptability of the children including those already adopted and living in the United States.  However, some errors were found in the final resolution and the Office of the Solicitor General (PGN) appealed the judge’s decision.  The appeals Court, “Sala,” agreed with the decision of Judge Mena and sent the case back to her for the technical corrections.  There was no appeal to the Sala’s decision.   

Semillas de Amor

In March 2009, the Guatemala judiciary scheduled hearings for more than 50 Semillas de Amor cases to determine the eligibility of the children for adoption, including some who were already adopted and living in the United States.  On the last day of closing arguments, a petition was filed with the Court of Appeals (Sala) asking the presiding judge to be removed.

On September 10, we learned that the Sala ruled against the removal request, allowing the original judge to resume her proceedings at the same place where they were stopped on the last day of closing arguments.  The proceedings were re-scheduled for December 4, 2009. 

On December 4, however, motions were filed by some prospective adoptive parents challenging PGN’s requests to return some of the children to extended families.  If this plan had been accepted by the judge, it would have meant the end of the adoption process for these adopting parents. 

All Semillas de Amor cases are under one court docket number.  Thus, the appeals create a new timeline for all cases.

Santa Lucia de las Flores

The Embassy learned in 2009 that Asociacion Santa Lucia de la Flores Silvestres had been under investigation by the Guatemalan Attorney General’s office since 2008.  The Embassy has been in contact with some of the prospective adoptive parents.  We understand there were at least five children indentified for adoption by American citizens being cared for at this home.  Many of the children taken from this orphanage are now living in various hogares until a judge decides on their cases.

Asociacion Primavera

On August 13, the Embassy learned about an action by Guatemalan authorities involving 17 children from the hogar, Asociacion Primavera, 16 of whom had been matched with U.S. adoptive families.  We have since learned that the children were transferred to the following hogares: Casa Alegría, Casa Bernabé, and Amor del Niño. A police investigation continues, and the judge in Esquintla who approved many of the abandonment cases from Hogar Primavera is now under criminal investigation.

On December 16, the Guatemalan press reported that Susana Maria Luarca Saracho, a facilitator of international adoptions for Asociacion Primavera, was arrested by the Ministerio Publico on charges of irregular adoptions.  She was later released on Q50,000 bail (just over $6,000) and is under house arrest. 

Rosalinda Rivera’s Hogar

On May 6, 2008 an action was taken against a hogar on 11 Avenida 7-51, zona 11, Quinta Samayoa, Guatemala City.  Rosalinda Rivera was apprehended at this location and 9 infants were removed from her custody.  Ms. Rivera did not provide the necessary paperwork to prove this was an authorized home.  The children are all living in other hogares awaiting a decision on their case.

CNA’s announcement of a Two-year Limited Pilot Program

On November 20, 2009 the Department of State received a letter from the Guatemalan National Council on Adoptions (CNA) – the Guatemalan Central Authority -- announcing its intention to launch a limited two-year pilot program that will allow for the adoption of a small number of older children, groups of siblings, and children with special needs.  The CNA invited the Central Authorities of Hague Convention partner countries to express interest in participating in this program, in which no more than four countries will be chosen to participate among countries that express interest.  The program is designed to re-open Guatemala’s intercountry adoptions while ensuring compliance with the Hague Convention.  The CNA has so far provided little detail about how the pilot program would function.

The Department of State, after consultation with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), sent an expression of interest in the pilot program  to the CNA.  Although we remain deeply concerned about the history of malfeasance in intercountry adoptions from Guatemala, we responded positively because of our strong interest in assisting Guatemala to reform its adoption system. 

This expression of interest on the part of the United States does not mean that new adoptions from Guatemala will start any time soon, and prospective parents should not make any plans to start new adoptions in Guatemala at this time.  Our expression of interest does not in any way signal that DOS has found Guatemala’s intercountry adoption procedures in compliance with the Hague Convention on Adoption.  There is no pilot program yet, only a statement of intent from the CNA to start one.  Although the United States has expressed interest in learning more about the proposed pilot program, we cannot commit to participating until we know more about the details of the program.  We do not know if the CNA will accept the United States as one of the participants.  We also cannot predict how the pilot program will affect grandfathered cases currently being processed by the Guatemalan government.

We will keep you updated on how the Guatemalan pilot program develops and whether the United States will be a participant.