Should the US federal govt help the indigenous families find their children adopted by US parents?

Question

There are hundreds of birthmothers and families standing up to get the Guatemalan gov't to help them recover their young children that were illegally adopted. The US gov't has records of all adoptions, should our gov't do the right thing and help these indigenous people or should we just write them off and let the adoptive parents keep stolen babies?

Answer 1

There are two parts here.

First of all, adoptions resulting from coersion.  Currently, the Fed govt. nor state governments provide no protections against coercive adoptions IN THIS COUNTRY.  Why would they care about it in another?  That is the first reality. Until natural mothers are provided with seperate counsel or even allowed to talk to a judge, this will continue to happen.  Fathers rights as well are pretty much lacking in all states.  Despite the fact that an investigator can find virtually anybody in a day, adoption agencies are allowed to pursue a pattern of least likely to cause them problems by only having to publish in a local paper or moving the mother-to-be to a a-parent friendly state (i.e. one that does not require notification such as Texas or Utah).

If the parents reported the child kidnapped, well, there you have a case of childnapping and that is illegal and the child should be returned.  I forsee this as the ONLY thing that the Fed Government would do anything about.

Ultimately, if it becomes a political bru-ha-ha, the most they are likely to do is stop giving visas to children adopted in Guatemala and do nothing about the adoptions already completed.

Answer 2

This is a terrible situation for everyone involved.  Those whose children were stolen, the adoptive parents who believed the children they adopted were legally relinquished and most of all, the children stuck in the middle.

It really has no easy answers.  

I think there is not a whole lot that the US government CAN do.  If the adoption records were tampered with, names, places dates falsified, it makes it extremely difficult to figure out which children adopted from Guatemala were adopted legally and which ones were stolen.  Also, people have been adopting from Guatemala for a long time, you have school age children, teens and even adults that were adopted as infants.  Returning an infant is one thing, but taking a child that has lived with their family for ten years or more, then returning them to Guatemala to a family they don't remember is something else entirely.  Not to mention the US citizenship factor.  So where is the "statute of limitations"?  

I think the US should do what it can, but I'm not overly optimistic on what it can do.  I agree that the US will probably see it as a Guatemalan problem, suspend visas and see if the Guatemalan govt can stop the illegal activities.

Very sad, all around.

Answer 3

They should, yes.  However, last year this Federal government voted against the United Nations declaration of the rights of indigenous peoples.

Answer 4

Hi Independant,

I'm assuming there are no papers signed by the "birth families."  

Imo, these are kidnapping cases.  If we as Americans would want our kidnapped children returned from a foreign country, then it only makes sense that we do the same for Guatemala.   The adoption agencies involved should be held accountable and prosecuted.  Although my heart goes out to the adoptive parents, its only right that stolen children be returned to their families.  There is no room for kidnapping in the realm of adoption.  It discredits  and tarnishes all adoptions.

Answer 5

I cannot imagine the pain these first moms must be feeling. To voluntarily relinquish a child to adoption is one thing, but to have your child stolen... well, that's a fresh kind of h**l.

I also cannot imagine the pain the adoptive parents must be going through with the uncertainty regarding whether or not their child was stolen, and if there is going to be a knock on the door to take them back.

I honestly don't believe that the U.S. government will effectively DO anything. I am fairly certain they see this as a Guatemalan problem and do not want to partake in what could only be a huge bureaucratic nightmare and public relations disaster that would inevitbly come from taking babies and small children from their adoptive parents.

Like the above poster said, the only action I see the U.S. government taking is to halt issuing Visas for adoption through that country.

This is a sickening situation and my heart goes out to everyone involved: first parents, adoptive parents and most importantly, the children.

Answer 6

i agree with the fist comment!