| Abstract: | The United States will be entering into force the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption by the end of 2007. At this time, all intercountry adoptions that occur between the United States and one of the 70 other countries that also have entered the Hague Convention into force must be done according to Hague protocol. Guatemala has entered the Convention into force but its adoption practices do not currently align themselves with Convention requirements. The U.S. State Department has threatened that intercountry adoptions between the United States and Guatemala will come to a complete stop if Guatemala's conditions are not reformed. One out of every 100 children born in Guatemala is adopted by an American family and in the 2006 fiscal year, the United States adopted 4,135 Guatemalan babies. This high number placed Guatemala as the second country from which the United States adopted the most children in 2006 second only to China. A structured compromise must be established between the United States and Guatemala in order to ensure the continued provision of homes to Guatemala babies in America while Guatemala reforms its malignant adoption practices. |
