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Guatemala Alert

The Ministry of Children and Family Development, Adoption Services would like to bring the following information to the attention of adoptive parents who are considering adoption from Guatemala.

  • In July 1999 the United Nation Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography visited Guatemala. The resulting report focussed on the sale of babies and young children for the purpose of intercountry adoption and the lack of legislation, policy or infrastructure to prevent such trafficking.
  • Since October 25, 2001 adoptions of children from Guatemala have not been facilitated in British Columbia. At that time, exceptions were made for those who had already completed homestudies and had applied to adopt in Guatemala prior to October 25, 2001.
  • On November 26, 2002 Guatemala acceded to the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption. This law came into force in Guatemala in March 2003 and procedures in line with the Convention were implemented in March 2003.

In July 2003 the Government of Canada, with the unanimous support of the provinces/territories raised an objection to Guatemala's accession to the Hague Convention, thereby allowing the Government of Guatemala sufficient time to incorporate the standards and requirements of the Convention into its adoption procedures. (The Netherlands, Germany and Spain also objected to Guatemala's accession.) Once these measures are put in place, the Government of Canada will review its objection with a view to having it withdrawn.

Raising such an objection does not affect Guatemala's accession to the Convention, but it does prevent the facilitation of intercountry adoptions between the acceding state and the Contracting state (Article 44.3), that is between Guatemala and all the provinces/territories.

The Canadian Embassy in Guatemala reports that the conditions which led to the suspension of adoptions in 2001 continue to exist, and issues of child trafficking continue to arise.

A temporary term and condition has been placed on British Columbia agency licenses disallowing them from participating in any adoption from Guatemala except for relative adoptions. Home studies completed by British Columbia licensed agencies must have a notation in the body and on the sign off page that indicates it cannot be used for adoption from Guatemala. Given that Canada has raised an objection to Guatemala's accession to the Convention, Article 44.3 prevents the facilitation of intercountry adoptions between the acceding state and the Contracting state, that is between Guatemala and all the provinces/territories.

This situation will be reviewed regularly by the Director of Adoption and will continue until the situation in Guatemala is rectified.