OK, here it goes.
I’ve long ago broken away from my original effort not to get too opinionated here, so I figure I might as well address the latest goings on in the press. As some of you know, reports about Guatemalan adoptions were so numerous and fouled up late last year that I had to actually make an announcement at church to calm everyone’s fears. I don’t mind doing this, because people are genuinely concerned about us and about Carmen.
Sunday night, Dateline got pretty darn specific about some of the corruption that takes place in Guatemalan adoption. The story that aired profiled 2 specific cases - a baby broker that kidnaps and abuses children in an effort to have them adopted, and another adoption facilitator that bilks American’s out of money, cheats the system, and falsifies documents. This was not in its essence a story about Guatemalan adoptions, but these specific examples of corruption and abuse. You have all heard me complain that the media does a terrible job reporting on adoption issues, and a terrible job even referencing adopted kids when those adoptions are not pertinent to the story at hand. Not sure that I have a lot to complain about here.
If you missed the TV story, check out all the features on MSNBC.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22731006/
This really isn’t a piece about adoption in the same sense that your used to reading about on this blog. The 2 undercover stories are about people breaking known adoption laws and getting away with it. One a kidnapping scheme and the other a banned adoption facilitator. Still, they expose the need for adoption reform to protect children and families.
Right off the bat, I question the timing of the story because putting them in context of adoption has become a moot point. Guatemala is currently enacting legislation that removes facilitators(corrupt or otherwise) from the process completely. So why bother “exposing” them now? Supposedly, story was ready back in the fall. So it’s possible they originally tabled the story before it aired, then needed to fill more time due to the writer’s strike so went with a 2 hour dateline this weekend. Oh well.
The first source of information shown is UNICEF. I immediately rolled my eyes and started off worried about what Dateline might be up to here. If you don’t already know, UNICEF is known to be generally opposed to international adoptions, and have distorted the truth in order to make their case. Google it all you want, I’m not going to get too deep into that.
The story shifts quickly to the story of a little Candida who was kidnapped along with her 2 sisters and passed off for roughly half her age to an American couple who wished to adopt her. Turns out a sick adoption broker named Mayra (who’s wanted by Guatemalan police) was behind the scheme. Amazingly, Candida is re-united with her family and one sister. The youngest girl is still missing and possibly already adopted to America. The story is heart wrenching, but I also somehow found it inspiring. To see this re-united (albeit partially) family is a beautiful thing. I can’t imagine being a part of ripping that apart. I’m amazed at the American couple’s resilience in seeing justice done in that case once they learned the truth.
The story moves on to Dateline’s investigation of “Teo” - a well known, but banned adoption facilitator who’s bilked American’s out of their life savings, falsified paperwork, and coerced mothers into relinquishing their babies. During this segment, I went from sad to mad. Angry. Furious. Sickened. The guy shows up at a meeting with a fake agency (posed by Dateline) with children in tow, offering them for adoption. Then he proceeds to suggest they falsify a homestudy, bribe American law enforcement, and freely admits that he used to bribe PGN. Let me be very clear here - Teo has been banned by the US Embassy, so it’s been illegal to work with the creep for years now. How does he get away with it? Easy, since he’s in charge - his name rarely appears on any official documents. I’d already read a lot about Teo prior to this story and even found the blog of one of the people profiled in the story. Find Stacy’s blog here (linked with permission). I didn’t know the blogger was going to be on TV, but I can tell you her story is heart wrenching. Worse than her having been lied to, the natural mother and foster mom were clearly intimidated by Teo. Sick, Sick, Sick.
Teo is not alone, there are other facilitators and agencies like him. Fortunately, NOT the majority. In fact, most Guatemalan adoptions follow the rule of law and are perfectly ethical. This is partly what angers me so much about Teo and his ilk. These types of abuses are what led to the US Embassy institute a 2nd DNA test - to prevent baby switching (something that Teo’s been accused of). It also prompted the embassy and PGN to more closely scrutinize cases before issuing approvals to search for these types of shady practices. I agree with these extra steps as a safeguard to protect children and families, but for legit cases, it’s not in the best interest of the child to delay their homecoming. I guess the almighty dollar is the ruler for some people - the rest of us can just deal with the mess they leave in their wake.
Let me be very clear here. I’m not writing all of this to justify our adoption of Carmen. I don’t believe adoptive parents should have to do anything like that. But because there are ethical quandaries involved with all types of adoption, I believe we have a responsibility to speak up for high moral values in this area and not just circle the wagons blindly. I found it entirely appropriate for them to end on a more positive note by featuring Troy from Guatadopt to speak for parents who do value ethics. I will disagree with him slightly, we should not necessarily be adopting even more kids. Perhaps in the short term; but long term - we should be working toward eliminating the conditions that create the need for adoption in the first place. Of course, I could make a case for this point for domestic adoption as well.
All in all, the Dateline story was well done. Like I said, it was perhaps a few months too late, but I don’t feel like they were questioning the notion of adoption or suggesting anything about Guatemalan adoptions as a whole. The feature itself was more about the ills of a nation, rather than anything inherently wrong with adoption. They clearly spent many months in Guatemala researching the story and getting to know about the problems in that beautiful and impoverished country. Dateline can be commended for that.
As you all know, the red-head and I feel a real connection with Guatemala, so it’s painful to see reports such as this and some of the extra features on MSNBC’s web site. The place has so much potential, new leadership, and neighbors to the North that ache with them.
Posted on January 22nd, 2008 by admin
Filed under: Adoption, Guatemala Adoptions, Thoughts
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